Magpies will steal fourth: Robson
An angry Shepherd hit out following the team's 1-0 defeat by Blackburn at St James' Park on Sunday, which capped a disappointing Christmas programme.
Newcastle head into 2004 lying seventh in the Premiership table after 19 games, 20 points adrift of leaders Manchester United and, perhaps more worryingly, six points worse off than they were at the same point last season and 13 shy of the mark they had set 12 months earlier.
However, while acknowledging the first half of the current campaign which included the shock and costly exit in the Champions League qualifiers against Partizan Belgrade has simply not been good enough, Robson is ready to come out fighting.
"We do know that had we won on Sunday we didn't we were one point from fourth, and, after our dismal start, that would have been a pretty fair achievement," he said.
"But because we lost, we've lost a little bit of ground.
"My reaction to the supporters, not to the chairman, is that 19 games have been played, 19 games are yet to play, it's halfway-house and if we can improve our second-half performance of the season compared to our first-half performance and we think we can then we're in a position to possibly get the fourth position.
"That seems to be the one that's remaining. Everybody seems to think numbers one, two and three are already shouted for probably they're right.
"Who will win the championship? I don't know between those three. It looks as though it will go to the last game or the last two games."
United, Arsenal and Chelsea have left the rest trailing, with the gap between the Blues in third and fourth-placed Charlton currently 12 points.
Robson and his players admit they are extremely unlikely to make significant inroads into that lead, but they are aware they have let themselves down at times over the last few months and are keen to make amends, starting with Saturday's FA Cup trip to Southampton.
"The chairman has come out with this strong situation and I understand it," said Robson. "He's the chairman, he has the right.
"I'm not cribbing about it at all. He's saying all our feelings we all feel the same. I can tell you, on Sunday night nobody was more disappointed or disheartened than the players and myself.
"We're four points from fourth with half the season to go. We have to make sure that what doesn't happen is that the players lose their confidence and we don't get shattered by it.
"But it's up to the players, nobody else. The chairman is right to say those sorts of things, but the whole affair is in the hands of the players. It will be what the players do.
"The players are aware of what happened on Sunday, that we lost a vital opportunity, but it's not the end of it. We have a resolve in the club."
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