Norwich City manager Chris Hughton has urged the club's supporters not to make any judgement until the end of the campaign.
The Canaries are currently six points above the relegation zone following a run of results that has seen them not win any of their last nine Premier League encounters.
However, despite admitting that he can understand the frustration of the fans, Hughton has called upon everyone at the club to be realistic.
"For us there is only one statistic and one opinion that really counts and that's the one at the end of the season," the Eastern Daily Press quotes him as saying.
"If we've managed to accumulate enough points to be where we'd like to be in this division then it's been a good season. I know there are going to be times when the fans are disappointed, I know there are times when the fans are elated because of what they're seeing.
"For clubs like us, you can't perform at that level all of the time and you just hope that when you're not at your best you can still pick up results. And probably when we weren't at our best, we weren't doing that a few weeks ago. We're not at our best at the moment, but we're not losing."
Hughton took charge of the Norfolk-based side last summer.
