Steve Bruce has spoken about his "biggest frustration" at Newcastle United since taking over as boss in summer 2019.
The Magpies crashed to a 2-0 defeat last Friday night to end a mini unbeaten run of two matches but more concerningly under Bruce, United have never strung together more than two wins on the spin in the Premier League - a statistic that must change if he is to keep critics at bay.
United have a blank weekend to lick their wounds after the loss on the South Coast but Bruce knows there is work to do when the players start tickling back next week with some of them on international duty.
Opening up about the lack of consistency, Bruce said: "It's the biggest frustration that I have.
"Since I have been here in the last 18 months we didn't look anywhere near that (vs Everton).
"It's right, it is the inconsistency is the big thing that upsets me the most because we didn't look anywhere near where we were the game before.
"We were nowhere near where we'd been five days earlier."
Newcastle will take on Chelsea a week on Saturday with Frank Lampard's Blues unbeaten in 11 matches from open play (losing a penalty shoot-out loss against Spurs in the EFL Cup), and they are already classed as underdogs at 11/2 to beat the 2020 FA Cup runners-up at St James' Park in their lunchtime showdown.
Bruce has already hinted he will make changes for the big game, he added: "I'll dwell on it and there are certainly positions up for grabs that's for sure.
"We just have to wait until after the international break."
