Leeds United head coach Jesse Marsch has affirmed that he "understands the fans' frustration" but he is determined to improve his side's fortunes following the 3-2 home defeat against Fulham on Sunday.
After Rodrigo opened the scoring for the Whites, goals from Aleksander Mitrovic, Bobby Decordova-Reid and Willian turned the game on its head for the Cottagers, and although Crysencio Summerville pulled one back in stoppage time, the visitors held on to condemn Marsch's men to their fourth successive league defeat.
Since beating Chelsea 3-0 on home soil back in August, Leeds have failed to win each of their last eight league games, and they have now slipped into the relegation zone after both Aston Villa and Leicester City secured convincing 4-0 victories against Brentford and Wolverhampton Wanderers respectively.
The West Yorkshire outfit have now accumulated just nine points from their first 11 Premier League games, their fewest at this stage of a league campaign since 2003-04 when they were last relegated from the top flight.
Marsch took to the pitch to applaud the supporters at full time, but boos were directed towards the American and his team, while chants of 'sack the board' rang out from the South Stand at Elland Road.
The 48-year-old believes that his side "gave the game away" as he rued defensive errors from set-pieces for their downfall against Fulham.
"I don't think our fans want to hear a lot of tactical analysis right now. We have a good start to the game and you feel like after the goal that we were going to get control of things," Marsch said in a post-match interview via @LUFC.
"But we found ways to hurt ourselves and to give up goals in ways that we don't think we should be, and then we put games in balance. In the second half, even when it's 1-1, you can see that our confidence isn't at its highest, and then we find a way to give the game away.
"Set-piece defending we take a lot of pride in. So basically it's two corners and then a throw in as well where we don't defend well enough and we're not ready for those moments. It's painful and unacceptable. We have to do better."
Marsch accepts that the responsibility lies with him and he remains fully committed to help his team climb away from danger.
"I understand [the fans] frustration. We're all in that boat. I'm responsible. I'm responsible for making this team better," Marsch added. "I'm going to work tirelessly to try to help them gain their confidence, to have solutions, to show belief in them to challenge them to stay strong and keep pushing, but I accept responsibility for the team we have to do better.
"I've said I'm here from the beginning for the long term. I love this club, investing everything I have to try to make us better. We always knew that the league is incredibly difficult. We never took anything for granted, even staying up last year.
"We're going to use our mentality and our commitment even to the end you see us pushed today and we're going to use that that character that we have in the group to figure out a way to get out of this and figure out ways to get better."
With pressure mounting on Marsch's shoulders, the Leeds head coach has the support of Fulham boss Marco Silva, who believes that the American has the "quality" to turn the Whites' fortunes around.
"Of course, football is really tough. Sometimes a defeat or a win makes a huge difference," Silva told Match of the Day.
"All of us live under pressure. You know that in football if you have time to work with your players, if you have the quality the things will come in the right way. Marsch has shown last season the quality he has."
Leeds have three more Premier League games before the World Cup, with an away trip to an out-of-sorts Liverpool outfit up next on Saturday, before facing Bournemouth and Tottenham Hotspur in November. body check tags ::
