“I know that is hard but the fans have to stick with us,” said the Dutch keeper. “I understand why everybody’s frustrated because we’ve got 12 points and that’s the hard facts.

“I have been through bad spells at other clubs but we were playing really badly.

“I go home and ask myself the same questions. What can we change? They were ruthless and we were not. But you couldn’t say Villa played great.

“The only way we’re going to change this around is just work our socks off and believe in each other, because if we start pointing fingers then that will end in bigger trouble.”

Krul admits the Canaries’ face a mammoth task to pull off an unlikely relegation escape. City return to action swiftly on Saturday at home to Tottenham.

“It seems like the last six, seven games, we’ve been saying the same thing.

“And it’s not what people want to hear,” he said. “But you have to be objective and see the facts, we’re playing some great football, we are creating chances. But whatever it is, luck, a bit of quality, in the end we’re lacking at the moment.

“We created enough to walk away with three points. They make a clearance off the line from Alex (Tettey), I just don’t understand how he does that.

“I think we should have at least 20 points, in my opinion by this stage of the season for how well we have played.

“We have to look at ourselves because we are the only ones who can change this around in 2020.

“Obviously we’ve got a game in 40-odd hours. We need to be up and ready for that. We can’t sulk, we can’t feel sorry for ourselves that the luck is not on our side, or coming out with all that. The only way we’re going to turn it around is by ourselves.

“We can’t keep hoping for other teams to drop points.