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"Someone's got to release themselves from the fear that they're showing. They're playing with fear, for me. They look apprehensive, they're not playing on the front foot and from a defensive point of view they're standing off the opposition.”

Allardyce is determined to bring in a number of players in the new year, but will have to offload a few to free up space in the squad for new signings.

Schalke defender Joel Matip is one of his preferred options, and he is not convinced he will be able to sign a Premier League based player, seemingly ruling out the likes of West Ham’s James Collins.

“Certainly the centre of defence we need to strengthen because we've lost Younes Kaboul for six to eight weeks or so, so I think that area's the first one we've got to try to strengthen,” said Allardyce.

“We've got to get back to being a resilient defensive unit. It starts with the front but the backline and the goalkeeper have to be the ones that ultimately secure those clean sheets, so a defender's my first priority, a central defender. Then we'll move on from there.

“Whether we can find one good enough is another matter. It'll have to be probably from abroad, by the looks of what's about and available in this country.

“I think it would be very difficult to secure a player from any club in the Premier League because I don't think they'd want to let anybody go. So for me it looks like it might be from abroad, and then see where we go from there.”