Aston Villa's under-pressure manager Paul Lambert admitted his side are short of self-belief as the moved back into the relegation zone with Tuesday's defeat at Hull.
Villa are now 18th in the table and appear increasingly toothless, having failed to add to their dismal tally of 12 goals all season.
Lambert made no attempt to downplay the gravity of their situation as they face a relegation battle.
"I can't describe how we feel as a group," he said. "It's as flat as you'd probably guess. But I've just said to the lads there's two ways to go -- you can meet it head on or you buckle under it. Make sure you don't buckle for your own career.
"You can't feel sorry for yourself, you've got to pick yourself up and go again.
"The supporters expect a reaction. No matter what you do you've got to make sure you're out of the bottom.
"It's the biggest 13 games of their careers coming up."
Information from Press Association was used in this report.