Burnley boss Scott Parker accused his players of lacking belief and rolling over following a “powderpuff” display in a limp 2-0 Premier League defeat at Brighton.
The second-bottom Clarets slipped to an 11th successive top-flight game without victory after Seagulls pair Georginio Rutter and Yasin Ayari struck either side of half-time.
Parker, who believes he retains the support of his club’s owners, admits his side are certain to suffer relegation if they do not improve.
Despite collecting just two points from a possible 33 since October, Burnley remain only six points below 17th-placed Nottingham Forest.
“We lacked belief and I didn’t feel for one second that it was a team or group that ever believed they could come here and get a result really,” said Parker.
“You can lose football matches but there are ways of losing and I just felt we looked at times powderpuff.
“We were never in the game. We didn’t deserve anything from the game just from our general approach and our general body language and the way we went about it.
“The (winless) run is the run. But you need to bring a certain something about you as a group.
“Today what concerns me, what angers me, frustrates me, and makes me hugely disappointed was we didn’t show that. We just rolled over.
“If you perform like we did today, you ain’t collecting enough points to stay in this division, no chance.”
Burnley wing-back Lucas Pires threatened an equaliser following Rutter’s 29th-minute opener before substitute Loum Tchaouna saw a header turned on to the crossbar by Ferdi Kadioglu after Ayari doubled Brighton’s lead early in the second half.
But the Clarets created little for most of the contest and were comfortably second best on a bitterly-cold afternoon at the Amex Stadium.
Asked about his future, Parker, who led Burnley to promotion last term, said: “That’s out of my hands. I have the utmost support from ownership, from everyone at the football club.
“I’m fully committed and I feel like everyone at the football club is as well. We’re all hurting, we’re all disappointed but we’ll keep going.”
Brighton soared to eighth place in the table by snapping a six-match winless run.
The Seagulls began the day in 14th position after picking up only three points from 18 available during December.
Albion head coach Fabian Hurzeler said: “The run wasn’t great but we always stuck together.
“We had good performances in this run, we had some not so good performances. But overall I think the effort from the players, the effort from the staff, how we work together, it’s always good, it’s always like we want to have it.
“I always emphasis that when you work hard at one point you get what you deserve and that’s what we have to keep doing.
“It was a good game, not a great game, we controlled the game. We kept a clean sheet, we created chances, we could score more goals, but overall we are pleased.”
