Newcastle United defender Ciaran Clark admits the players were not up for their game against Brighton.

The Magpies were hammered 3-0 by a hungrier Brighton team, and now find themselves only two points ahead of Fulham who are in the third relegation spot in the Premier League.

Clark and his teammates will have to improve their levels after the international break if they are to stand any chance of survival.

He told the Press Association: "Three games before, we had three draws and we could have won two of those games.

"We've been pretty confident and we have been for the last couple of weeks.

"On Saturday night, we weren't up for it as a group of players.

"For some reason, it didn't work for us.

"That was the most disappointing thing, the way we were playing the weeks beforehand, we didn't take into the game, such a big game as well."