Newcastle boss Sam Allardyce forced his players to watch a “video nasty” during an inquest into the sudden loss of form of his team.

The video of saturday’s mauling, at the hands of Portsmouth, made for some uncomfortable viewing for the players. While Newcastle have performed well at home this season, it took just 11 minutes for Portsmouth to take a 3-0 lead and effectively wrap up the game.

Newcastle, who have suffered away from the confines of St James Park play local rivals Sunderland at Stadium of Light this weekend in a must win game. They face six of the top seven clubs in the premiership in the games following Sunderland.

While Big Sam insists that there is no crisis, he did recognise that there is a problem by suggesting,  “It’s back to basics and back to square one. It’s back to rolling our sleeves up and digging in.”

Portsmouth meanwhile, quietly slipped into the Premiership top five following their impressive victory.