TIME continues to run out for Newcastle United. Thanks to Jason Puncheon's winner for Crystal Palace against Norwich City, the gap between the Magpies and the 17th-placed Canaries remains at six points, but if Rafael Benitez's men are going to avoid relegation, then sooner or later they must start to help themselves. And with only six matches left, 'later' is no longer an option.

Help themselves is exactly what they failed to do at Southampton on Saturday. Basic defensive errors allowed the home side to score three goals, and any improvement in the final thirty minutes was always going to be too little, too late to avoid a ninth defeat in succession away from home.

If there is a positive, it is that four of those last six matches are at St James' Park. And even one of the two away games looks winnable, against Aston Villa. There would surely be no better time for Newcastle to exorcise any ghosts from the 1-0 defeat at Villa Park in 2009 that consigned them to their last relegation.

But they will have to improve on Saturday's showing, because even doomed Villa might capitalise on the type of defending on view on the South Coast. After three minutes, Vernun Anita – again a square peg in the left back role – failed to make a challenge as Southampton's Shane Long wandered unhindered towards the Newcastle penalty area, and Steven Taylor appeared to have put down roots on the 18-yard line as Long swerved past him before shooting low past Karl Darlow.

Southampton's second goal was the result of a positioning error by Daryl Janmaat that was so bad that it would have been comical if the fullback had not gone off injured immediately afterwards, having injured his groin as he tried in vain to readjust in time to intercept Sadio Mane's pass.

And the third came as three players were caught out by a quickly-taken corner-kick before Mane skipped past Giorginio Wijnaldum to set up a shot for Saints skipper Jose Fonte. Darlow blocked that one, but could not reach Victor Wanyama's follow-up.

Why do these errors keep occurring? According to Wijnaldum, the team is a collective bundle of nerves even before things start to go wrong – which almost guarantees that they will continue to do so.

“I don't understand why we're nervous,” the Dutchman said. “We're in a situation now where we're second-bottom of the league. We know if we play without confidence, and if you're nervous, it's going to be not good. You're going to play bad. Why not give your best and try to change things? That's something I don't understand. It's not the first game that this has happened. It's difficult to win a game in this situation. The way they made the goals, it doesn't look like they have to try their best to score."

Manager Rafael Benitez suggested after the game that he has tried everything to solve the team's psychological problem – what he had called a “mental block” last week. “We've changed a lot of things, the commitment, the passion, the character and the way that we play,” he said.

Personnel, then? Janmaat's groin injury could rule him out of next weekend's home game with Swansea City, and Paul Dummett, fit enough to return to the bench, needs to take over at left back as soon as possible.

Most importantly, the undoubted talent in the team needs to come to the fore earlier. Andros Townsend's consolation strike after 65 minutes was the best goal of the game and was a reminder of the fact that the former Tottenham Hotspur wide man was once seen as part of a bright new England future. But until Newcastle were 3-0 down, few would have picked him out as such. He got little change out of Saints left back Ryan Bertrand, who is much closer to being part of England's present.

Wijnaldum, too, had difficulty getting into the game. “We're in a situation now where it is difficult to change the game, especially when you go behind,” he said. “We did it against a lot of teams, but now it's a difficult situation. There's no confidence and if you go behind in the fourth minute, it's hard to change it.

“As long as there is a chance to stay up, you must believe. It's difficult. We don't have the results we want and the results that give you confidence. We must keep the faith and try to get the confidence that we can survive. But it has to start now. We have six games to go, and that's not a lot."