Ryan Fraser has vowed that the Newcastle United dressing room will 'make sure' that the Magpies are not relegated this season after the players got 'stuff off their chests' following the 3-0 defeat against Brighton.
Newcastle had the chance to leapfrog the Seagulls in the table and move five points clear of the relegation zone following 18th-placed Fulham's defeat against Leeds 24 hours previously.
However, Steve Bruce's side put in a shockingly passive display at the Amex and Leandro Trossard, Danny Welbeck and Neal Maupay fired Brighton to a comfortable victory.
Newcastle have now won just two of their last 20 games in all competitions and there are some tough fixtures to come against Spurs, West Ham, Liverpool, Arsenal, Leicester and Man City following the final international break of the campaign.
If Newcastle are outthought, outfought and outclassed by a relegation rival, it is hard to see where the wins are coming from between now and the end of the season.
The return of Callum Wilson and Allan Saint-Maximin will be a huge boost next month, but Newcastle simply can't afford any more performances like this.
"It's horrible," Fraser told NUFC TV. "No one's going to be happy about it. Everyone is down, no one is speaking in there. We've obviously spoken to each other as well and got stuff off our chests.
"We can't be too down. We're still not in the bottom three. We don't want to be in there. We've still got games to save it and I know we keep saying our next game is massive but it really is.
"Every game between now and the end of the season - it doesn't matter who it's against - is a cup final. This club can't go down and we'll make sure that it doesn't."
