Newcastle players must overcome fear factor to survive, says Rafael Benitez

Rafael Benitez has admitted his "scared" players need help to build the mental toughness to drag Newcastle away from an increasingly likely Premier League relegation.

Newcastle capitulated 3-1 at Southampton on Saturday as a fearful defensive showing gifted the hosts a stroll to victory.

Shane Long, Graziano Pelle and Victor Wanyama consigned Newcastle to their sixth defeat in a seven-match winless run, leaving them six points adrift of safety with six games to play.

"Obviously we go into games a little bit scared and once we make the first mistake everybody loses the belief," said Benitez.

"And it's something that we have to change one way or another. Some of them think they are strong enough mentally, but some of them need help.

"And we will try to help them one way or another. But we need to see which players we can count on and who can give what we are expecting."

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Steven Taylor, who allowed Long to drift past him for Southampton's opener, was withdrawn at half-time in a move that Benitez later insisted owed everything to a niggly injury.

The Newcastle manager admitted he was furious with his players at half-time, but said there will be no finger-pointing as Newcastle target four wins from four home matches as an unlikely route to safety.

"Steven felt a bit of stiffness so I think it was a big risk to keep a player with problems on the pitch, especially with the problems we have in defence," said Benitez. "So we had to change him, and that's it.

"At half-time, that could be the angriest I've been so far, yes. But it's not a question of shouting but saying the right things.

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"You have to be upset, and I was really upset. I was telling them that the performance of the first half was not acceptable. We had to change and start with the commitment, passion and character, and after with the way we were playing.

"We had to change players, move some from one side to the other. It was obvious that we couldn't win with this mentality and playing in this way.

"We were making mistakes at the beginning of the game and we paid for it. We cannot start like this and we cannot concede after four minutes when we are trying to avoid relegation."

"My concern was I couldn't believe how we started the first half after the hard work that the players were doing during the week.

"The games at home are crucial for us. So we have to approach them as one. The confidence we must improve a lot, we have to get three points and that can change everything if we are capable of doing that.

"It's not the time to complain and blame each other, it's time to realise we have to stick together. We have four games at home and that is the key if we want to stay in the Premier League."

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