Everton defender Phil Jagielka hopes the morale of the players can be boosted by manager David Moyes following another negative result on the weekend.
The Toffees were arguably the better side in their 2-1 loss to Newcastle United at St James' Park on Saturday, which left them 17th on the league table, and the England international is looking for things to improve at Goodison Park, beginning with the confidence and morale of the playing group.
"Unfortunately it has been the tale of our season so far," Jagielka told the Daily Express. "I won't say we've gone up there and played brilliantly, but we've been okay in patches and created chances and not taken them.
"At the other end, any sort of mistake that happens they've seized on. Tim Howard hasn't had much to do, but they've scored two goals.
"Morale is not good. I'd be lying if I said we were all high-fiving each other in the changing room. We're all absolutely gutted, managers and coaches included.
"I don't think we would have expected to have got so few points from this run. That's five out of six we've lost.
"We've been in games, at least 70 or 80 minutes, and in the past we might have nicked a draw or a win. The manager has got a hard job to do now in terms of getting confidence and moral back up."
