STEVE Bruce has warned of a "long winter ahead" as Hull City face up to the reality of a fight for Premier League survival in 2015.
The Tigers have now gone 10 games without a win after losing 1-0 at home to Swansea City on Saturday and, in 19th position, find themselves under increasing scrutiny ahead of a vital festive programme.
City's deep slump is a far cry from the optimism that coursed through the KC Stadium at the start of the campaign but Bruce accepts improvements are now essential.
"The players know that there lies a long winter ahead. That's what the Premier League is," he said.
"We're Hull City who are 15 months into the Premier League. It's only our fourth season in our history of playing at this level.
"We all expected to be higher up the table, I don't dispute that, but we're still only separated from a lot of teams by four or five points.
"We've had a wonderful couple of years here and now we're up against it for the first time.
"The players have got to accept the criticism because the performance warranted it.
"I'll take responsibility too. We simply weren't good enough."
The full-time whistle in a drab defeat to Swansea, the Tigers' eighth loss of the campaign, was followed by jeers from sections of the KC crowd.
"You expect that," added Bruce. "We've won one game here all season. We had seven wins here last season.
"Rightly so (they've booed). They've paid their hard-earned money and they've witnessed a performance in the second half that wasn't good enough.
"Getting boos is part and parcel of playing at this level. You've got to take it."
There was no disguising the disappointment felt in the City camp as a game targeted for a timely victory fell so awfully flat.
Once the occasional brightness of the first half evaporated and City were forced to chase the game after Ki Sung-Yeung's deflected goal, Bruce saw his side run out of attacking ideas.
It was the seventh time in the last nine games that the Tigers had failed to score and heightened the pressure ahead of facing fellow strugglers Sunderland and Leicester in the final matches of 2014.
City's resources will be stretched further still for those games. Jake Livermore misses the Boxing Day trip to the Stadium of Light following a fifth yellow card of the season, while Alex Bruce (calf) and Curtis Davies (shin) are rated as early doubts.
Bruce said: "We can look for all sorts of excuses but unfortunately we've got too many of our big players sitting in the stands. Big performers, the players that made us look like a good team.
"That's the frustration but it's typical. When you're up against it, you always seem to be down to the bare bones through injury and suspension. It seems to go hand in hand.
"It's going to be a struggle. To be without four or five, maybe six now, it's too much. That needs to change."
The dearth of options will force Bruce into his action this week and he suggested over the weekend that both Tom Ince, currently with Nottingham Forest, and Maynor Figueroa, out at Wigan, will be recalled from their loan deals.
