Newcastle United midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum has admitted that the team deserved the criticism that they received after dropping into the Premier League's relegation zone.

The Magpies ended a run of four games without a win as they defeated Liverpool 2-0 at St James' Park on Sunday, with Wijnaldum bagging the crucial second goal.

The Dutchman feels that Steve McClaren's men delivered a much improved team performance against the Reds.

"Of course it's hard, criticism is always hard to get, but a lot of the criticism, to my mind, was right because we didn't have good performances," Wijnaldum told Newcastle's official website.

"You can lose games, but the way we were losing games was really bad because the performance was not good and we didn't do it as a team. I don't want to say that everyone wasn't giving their all - I think everyone did - but we didn't do it as a team. If everyone plays their own game, then it is difficult to win the game.

"But we have learnt from that and today, we did it differently. We fought as a team and fought to get the points, and that's why it's a big win."

Newcastle are now level on points with Bournemouth and Norwich City in 18th place.