STEVE McCLAREN has described his Newcastle United side as “fragile”, and admitted he does not know what level of performance to expect from one week to the next.

Newcastle produced arguably their worst display of the season at the weekend as they crashed to a 3-0 home defeat to Leicester City that left them just a point clear of the relegation zone.

Jamie Vardy equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of scoring in ten consecutive Premier League matches, and with Leonardo Ulloa and Shinji Okazaki also finding the net in the second half, Leicester’s players completely outclassed their opponents as they moved to the top of the table.

Newcastle had shown signs of an improvement in performance in last month’s matches with Norwich, Sunderland and Stoke, but having been fortunate to win at Bournemouth despite playing poorly, Saturday’s game once more exposed the chronic failings within McClaren’s squad.

The Magpies continue to look frail, collapsing at the first sign of adversity, and McClaren admits a lack of consistency is another major issue.

“The players know what they are capable of, and there have been times when they have shown it,” said the head coach. “We have seen it in the last five or six games, and even by digging in to get the result at Bournemouth. They showed a different set of qualities there.

“They know how to do it, but it is hard work doing it and that is what it takes. Lots of things come into it, but we had collected seven points from the last four games so there were signs.

“I have been saying all along, though, that it is not that easy. And we are not at a level yet where we can have a degree of consistency week in, week out. At the moment, we do not know what we are going to get.

“I thought we looked fragile out there and that is something that can only be solved from within, both within each individual and within the dressing room as a whole.  That is what we keeping working towards, and stress that is what we need to win in the Premier League.”

Saturday’s defeat was Newcastle’s seventh league reverse of the season, and while others have been more emphatic, the complete lack of anything positive in the Magpies’ play made it especially alarming.

Despite playing at home, Newcastle could only muster one attempt on target, with lone striker Aleksandar Mitrovic proving ineffectual in attack and no one providing even a semblance of support from midfield.

Leicester controlled things throughout, and after a chorus of boos rang around St James’ Park at the final whistle, McClaren conceded it was the most disappointing day of his reign.

“We can see there is talent there, and a capability of winning games,” he said. “But we also saw that if we are not right, we are capable of losing. That is very frustrating and disappointing.

“It is probably the most disappointed I have been during and after a game. People can talk about winning or losing but I look at performance – that is what gets you results. It has done that for us in recent games, but you will not get any results with a performance like that.

“To be honest though, I would not really say it was a shock. We have always known what the job is, and it is a tough one. We know we are going to have bad days and this was certainly one of them.

“We have to recover from that now. That is the key. Have we recovered before? Yes. We need to do it again.”

Newcastle’s next game takes them to Crystal Palace on Saturday, and a reunion with their former manager, Alan Pardew. Cheick Tiote suffered a thigh injury in the early stages of this weekend’s defeat, but it is hoped the Ivory Coast international will be available at Selhurst Park.

“We will have a look at Cheick in the next few days, but we hope it is not too serious,” said McClaren. “Losing him was a big blow. We are not making excuses, but we have already got (Jack) Colback out and once we lost Cheick, there were not a lot of midfield options.”