Shay Given says fans should lay-off Newcastle United boss Sam Allardyce after Saturday's dismal home defeat to Liverpool.

"It's about sticking together and grinding out results. It's not about pointing the finger at the manager," said a player experienced enough to have encountered such fraught situations in his St James's Park past. "It's about getting a positive result (at Blackburn) next week. When the supporters boo the manager, in essence they're booing the team, because we're the ones out there. It's up to us to do the business on the pitch and we didn't do that."

Given didn't hide from the criticism.

"The supporters are entitled to their opinion and I'm not going to suggest it was wrong for them to boo us," he told The Journal. "This wasn't good enough for Newcastle United. This performance was down there with the worst of them. We've got fantastic fans here. The game was a sell-out despite a bad defeat (Newcastle lost 4-1 against Portsmouth in the club's last home fixture). The stadium is always full because Newcastle's supporters are so passionate about the team and the players who don't understand that will do soon. The expectation levels are huge here and that wasn't good enough."

The response to the latest defeat - the club's third in a four-game winless run - did not surprise Given, although players who arrived this summer looked stunned as the game came to an end.

He said: "I've been here 10 years, but for some of the new players that was a lesson about the expectation levels here.

"The crowd's reaction will ensure those players understand what to expect when pulling on a Newcastle shirt. They'll learn fast. We're all a bit shell-shocked after the last two home games, our confidence is suffering and we've got to raise our game.

"Some lads here haven't played in the Premier League before and it will take time to settle in. The hustle and bustle and the pace means it is like no other league.

"They've got to speed things up and do things quicker."