MANAGER Sam Allardyce last night sympathised with the travelling Newcastle supporters who criticised the woeful performance at Wigan.

There were more than 5,000 that made the journey to witness yet another pitiful display at the JJB Stadium - the club's fourth consecutive 1-0 defeat at the ground.

The Magpies supporters' Boxing Day good humour turned once Ryan Taylor scored just after the hour mark. Although Allardyce was not the target chants such as we're s**t and we're sick of it', attack, attack, attack', and Shearer, Shearer' were the response to the a hapless display.

Allardyce believes they had every right to turn on their team and agreed with their assessment.

"I don't blame the fans," said Allardyce. "If I was them I would be singing what they were singing because it was not good enough.

"I am a top man in my field and I know it was not good enough. It does not take much for them to know. They have been watching long enough to know it is not good enough. They are not daft."

Allardyce acknowledged there were several under-par performances from his players and admitted the lack of consistency is a concern for him. But while there might have been a temptation for him to move a few of his under performing players on next month in the January transfer window, the former Bolton boss says the lack of numbers in his squad won't allow him that luxury.

"We can't get anyone out because we have four players leaving for the African Nations Cup,"

said Allardyce. "We only have 15 players to select from.

"We don't ride with a big squad and we're not riding with the performances we were riding with at the start of the season.

"We have got to make sure we turn it around as quickly as possible this time.

"We needed to try and win it if we could but then make sure we didn't lose it, but we've tossed it away and we have put ourselves under extreme pressure again.

"These are the players I have got. Some I have bought, some I have not. Most of them have showed me what they can do with the good side of it but too many are showing me what they can do on the bad side of it.

"The level of form they drop to is unacceptable. Everyone can have an off day but ours are really off and that is our problem at the moment. We hit a level of performance which is very good but the consistency does not stay. The next performance seems to be between 20 and 30 per cent below their best.

"This cannot happen in the Premier League because there are no easy games."