Steve McClaren does not know if he will be given time to try and put things right at St James’ Park with Mike Ashley, Newcastle United’s owner, in silent mode .

“It’s football so you never know,” conceded the former England coach whose struggling side have won only two Premier League games all season, were beaten 5-1 at Crystal Palace last Saturday and could probably do without Sunday’s home game against a resurgent Liverpool. “You go into every job knowing the impatience of football and that you need results. We know the situation is game to game and that we’re fighting for results.”

Despite holding an amicable, pre-planned, meeting with Lee Charnley, Newcastle’s chief executive, earlier this week, the 54-year-old has received no reassurances about his job security and is sufficiently realistic not to have requested any. “I wouldn’t ask for that and I wouldn’t expect that,” said McClaren, who has had no recent contact with Ashley.

“But I’m still here doing a job and that’s it. I know the process. I know what needs doing. Will we be given time? We need to get results to keep that [the job] going, we know that.”

There are multiple, deep seated, problems at one of English football’s most dysfunctional clubs. Flawed player recruitment and lack of on-field leadership remain foremost among them but confidence, or the lack of it, is also debilitating a squad that has recorded only five Premier League victories during 2015.

Tellingly McClaren, who succeeded John Carver six months ago, used the word “confidence” 34 times during his media briefing on Thursday and revealed it had been a key topic during a chat with the under-achieving France midfielder Moussa Sissoko this week.

“It was an interesting conversation with Moussa,” he said. “Five wins in a year doesn’t bode well for belief and that’s one of the things we have to turn around. Many people say that the players don’t care or don’t try but in any sport confidence is a major, major word. Our confidence is, at the present moment, very fragile. That’s not to say we’re not trying or we don’t care. It would appear that way sometimes but that’s not the case.”

Asked if he wanted time to turn things round or whether he was tempted to quit, McClaren’s replies were an unequivocal “absolutely” and “absolutely not”.

These messages are being transmitted to the dressing room. “We’ve said to the players ‘please don’t give up, don’t give up on each other, don’t give up on yourselves’,” he said.

Commendably good humoured and calm, McClaren did not appear remotely ruffled, let alone riled, by criticism about his perceived lack of gameplans from Alan Shearer, Newcastle’s former captain and caretaker manager, on Match of the Day. “You respect that opinion from people who have played football at the highest, highest level,” he said. “One or two things [he said] are very interesting.

“Nobody’s happy at this football club but we have to get on with it. We all have to live with criticism, we have to stick together and know that we’ll come through it. We have to claw our way back up to the top, see some light and keep going.”

He could also do with some luck. No sooner had Mike Williamson been recalled from a loan stint at Wolves than the centre-half sustained a hamstring injury in training. This may prevent McClaren from taking the dramatic, politically freighted, step of dropping his captain, Fabricio Coloccini, for a meeting with Jürgen Klopp’s side in which Newcastle may road-test a new 3-5-2 formation featuring Jack Colback at left wing-back.