De Jong - "We Need To Keep Our Heads Up"

By Dan King - Newcastle United Digital Editor

Siem de Jong believes Newcastle United must go back to basics if they are to escape relegation this season.

The Magpies were disappointing at Southampton on Saturday, particularly in the opening 45 minutes, and remain six points from safety after a 3-1 defeat on the South Coast.

De Jong - who helped to inspire an improved second-half showing at St. Mary's - admits that the team's confidence has been affected by their recent results.

But he knows that Newcastle can't continue to give themselves a mountain to climb and believes a more "simple" approach could pay dividends in the final six matches of the campaign.

The former Ajax captain told nufcTV: "You have more confidence when you win games, everybody knows that, and now is maybe not the time to do what you do when you have (more) confidence.

"Maybe we should play a bit more simple, keep it easy and work to at least not concede a goal in the first half. Then sometimes in the second half, you just need one chance.

"Confidence is a thing you gain by winning games. I think you need to win one first without playing really good football and then the confidence should grow.

"We don't have a lot of games left so we need to start real quick if we want to do anything."

United fell behind after just four minutes on Saturday as Shane Long jinked into the box and beat Karl Darlow.

Graziano Pellè and Victor Wanyama added further goals either side of the interval, meaning that Andros Townsend's stunning second-half strike was a mere consolation - and not much of a one at that.

"We started really bad and we gave the game away in the first half," said De Jong.

"It's been a few games in a row now where we don't start as good as we end the game. In the second half we created a little bit more, but the start was bad and that cost us the whole game.

He added: "Last week (at Norwich) we started alright and then when they got a chance, we dropped a little bit back and gave them more time instead of continuing the way we want to play.

"I think (Saturday) was the same; they get a chance straight away and they score straight away. I think we dropped our heads a bit and you can't play like that.

"We need to keep our heads up and in the second half we tried to correct it, but that's not the way it should be."

Saturday was United's ninth successive away defeat and the Magpies have only won twice on the road all season.

But four of their six remaining fixtures are at St. James' Park, starting with Saturday's clash against Swansea City (kick-off 3pm).

And De Jong - who scored against the Swans on Tyneside last season - believes that home advantage could be crucial for Rafa Benitez's side.

"The home games have been our better games, but we need to believe," he said.

"I think the crowd can help with that, of course, but we need to show (something to) the crowd as well."

You can watch the full nufcTV interview with Siem de Jong here