David Meyler insists Hull City are not blind to the threat of relegation to League One after a dismal 1-0 defeat to Sunderland left them one point above the Championship’s bottom team.
Joel Asoro’s first-half strike condemned the Tigers to a fourth consecutive away defeat at the Stadium of Light as another inviting opportunity to pull clear of danger passed Nigel Adkins’ toothless side by.
City are, again, reliant on goal difference to keep them out of the drop zone following a run of seven games without a victory and Meyler accepts something has to change if back-to-back relegations are to be avoided.
“I speak for myself and I know what situation we’re in,” said Meyler. “I know that Daws (Michael Dawson), Greggsy (Allan McGregor) all know what situation we’re in.
“If I’m going to be honest, yes we probably were sleepwalking and didn’t believe where we were.
“Four months ago we’d admit it was a disappointing result and then move into the next game to put it right. But it doesn’t work like that.
“We’ve got 18 games to go and we’re going to have to win a good chunk of them, but we understand what we need to do.
“We can’t accept this. We have fans that travel and they don’t want to see us losing.
“I’ll go home after this and not want to talk to my family because we’ve lost. I’m annoyed and frustrated.”
Losing at the Stadium of Light was the latest inglorious chapter in a season on the slide. City have won only three times since August and just one of those, beating Brentford 3-2 last month, has come in the past 15 games.
The Tigers now find themselves only a point above bottom club Burton Albion and will be dragged into the bottom three if they are beaten at home to Leeds when returning to Championship action on Tuesday week.
“No team is too good to go down. If you go down, you deserve to go down,” said Meyler.
“It’s 46 games and, if you don’t do enough across the season, you deserve to go down.
“We’re in this situation and so are Sunderland. It’s crazy to think, eight months ago we were competing in the Premier League. Now we find ourselves at the wrong end of the Championship.
“We have to look at ourselves in the mirror and address the situation head on. It’s not been good enough and it’s not acceptable.”
Meyler almost rescued a point for City when denied by Sunderland goalkeeper Robbin Ruiter in stoppage-time, but the Tigers’ failings were laid bare by a costly defeat on Wearside.
The depleted hosts found the spirit to push City on to the back foot and, though the visitors rallied after the break, it proved to be insufficient.
“We let the manager down with that performance in the first half,” said Meyler, who will be part of a City side that turns its attentions to an FA Cup date with Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
“We were 1-0 down and it was basic stuff. It wasn’t good enough and we were behind.
“We got going and started to create chances, but we didn’t take them. It’s frustrating, because it’s small margins. We find ourselves in this situation and it’s only us that get us out.”