Manager Felix Magath believes Fulham's players have only belatedly realised the full extent of their predicament at the foot of the Premier League and suggested his squad has been complacent over their top-flight future.
The Cottagers play Newcastle on Saturday in desperate need of Magath's first win at the fourth attempt as the German -- the third manager of the season -- seeks to steer them to survival.
#INSERT type:image caption:Felix Magath is still in search of his first win at Fulham. END#
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"The whole season they haven't realised that they are at the bottom of the table," Magath said.
"At the beginning of the season nobody thought about a relegation fight.
"The team was not built for a fight against relegation. Now they realise.
"We have to work with the players, to talk with them. Now it's a relegation fight. It's the only thing which counts.
"That is the reason until now they don't have the right results.
"It is an extraordinary situation here. We have to stick together and all have to fight now."
Magath has questioned whether many of his players have the right attributes in a do-or-die struggle at the foot of the table and on Friday appeared to question their laid-back approach to a run-in in which he has targeted six wins from the
remaining nine games.
"The players tell me 'Oh, we have 12 games left (on Magath's appointment), we have an easy schedule, we are able to manage this'," he said.
"I think they were tempted by the situation that they are too secure to manage this.
"They don't say they are quite relaxed, but they say 'Oh, we have 12 games, games are not so difficult'."