Former England coach Glenn Hoddle says Newcastle United can avoid relegation - if they stick together.
Defeat on Saturday night at Brighton left Newcastle hovering just two points above the dropzone as the Premier League broke up for international week. The performance for the 3-0 defeat has left many concerns amongst the Toon Army, with the Newcastle United Supporters' Trust urging manager Steve Bruce to resign.
For Hoddle, the best chance of Newcastle avoiding the drop is by the players and manager sticking together and supporting eachother. Indeed, he insists the focus should be off the owner Mike Ashley and be on the players if they're to arrest the current slide.
Hoddle said on his podcast ' The Glenn Hoddle Footy Show': "At the moment, it can't be what Mike Ashley can do - he can't play centre-forward and score goals. He can't pick the team and be the manager. It's out of his hands."
Hoddle says it's now about fighting for eachother and developing a unity amongst the squad and staff if they're to stay up.
He continued: "It's down to Steve and this group of players. They need to stick together and be in harmony. Everyone needs to have eachother's back. They need to fight for every aerial challenge. Fight for everyone free ball and to win matches it's got to be that.
"They need to have that spirit amongst them.
"They need to try their best. Sometimes it's not enough, but they need to try. They need to harmonise that group of players.
"Because easily they can start feeling sorry for themselves. Fear can overtake you."
Hoddle says fear when a team is fighting against relegation has the potential of overwhelming players and it's the one thing Newcastle must fight against.
"That's the problem. You have to fight against fear. The only way you can fight against fear is by pulling together and making sure every single player does his job.
"Whatever the manager asks you to do, do your job. Do it for the club. Do it for the manager, do it for yourselves. Then you give yourself the best possible chance to get out of any trouble."
Hoddle admits he can see that Newcastle clearly are scrambling at this point in the season.
"They are sliding. They are sliding. So they need to do that. If you haven't got that mentality or spirit... talent is one thing, but you have got to have that desire and spirit to be brave enough on the ball, to be brave enough as a team. To discard fear coming into your play and to have belief that you can stay up."
Listen to this week's full episode of 'The Glenn Hoddle Footy Show' - a Tribal Football partner - below: