Newcastle United’s first-team squad held an “inquest” yesterday into their dramatic loss of form, with Sam Allardyce admitting that he has returned to square one in his bid to revive the club’s fortunes this season. While Chris Mort, the chairman, insisted that reports casting doubt on the manager’s position were “ludicrous”, a familiar degree of pressure has returned to St James’ Park.

Consecutive Barclays Premier League defeats - particularly the 4-1 loss at home to Portsmouth on Saturday – have had a destabilising effect on Tyneside, where rumours require little encouragement to blossom. Some supporters have questioned Allardyce’s tactics and player recruitment, heightening intrigue in a week that culminates with a derby match against Sunderland.

Allardyce has done little to minimise the trauma of Portsmouth’s victory. “We were looking very comfortable playing at home and defensively we were allowing our attacking flair players to go and create and score goals,” he said. “But it’s all gone out of the window. It’s back to basics and back to square one. It’s back to rolling our sleeves up and digging in.”

First on the agenda has been to revisit Saturday’s debacle, when Newcastle conceded three goals in the opening 11 minutes, with Allardyce making his players watch a videotape of their performance. The message was timely given that his side face six of the present top-seven sides after the match against Sunderland. “You can’t play football on ability alone,” he said.

The recording made for uncomfortable viewing. “It wasn’t great, but we needed to see it,” Steve Harper, the goalkeeper, said. “We looked at the video and had a bit of an inquest. We felt we had to analyse what happened in those 11 minutes. By 12 minutes past three, it was almost like a bomb had gone off. It was one of those days when everything that could have gone wrong did.

“We were totally gutted. The manager was very angry and rightly so. Saturday wasn’t great, but it’s history now. Thankfully, those days are few and far between and we’ve identified the things to be worked on. It was as constructive as it could be.

“We’ve dealt with it and put it to bed. We have to put this behind us because we have a monumental game coming up against Sunderland.”

Suggestions that Allardyce may be vulnerable – Mark Hughes, the Blackburn Rovers manager, has been linked with the role – have been rejected. “This kind of story doesn’t merit a response,” Mort said. Mike Ashley, Newcastle’s billionaire owner, remains elusive, despite his colourful presence at most matches, but he has invested heavily in Allardyce’s backroom staff and training requirements.

Alan Shearer, the former Newcastle captain, record goalscorer and still an ambassador for the club, has long been viewed as a future manager of his home-town team. He is understood to have formed a solid relationship with Mort and Ashley, but is in no rush to forsake his television duties – he works as a pundit for the BBC – in favour of the dugout.

“I finished my A licence last May, which was a two-year course, and I still have the [mandatory] Pro Licence to do, but I’m not in any hurry to do that at all,” Shearer said recently. “I am just enjoying my life. I am having a good time with a good combination of work and play if you like.

“It’s really good for me . . . I am in no hurry to get back [into football], but management certainly interests me one day.”

On the pitch, a priority for Allardyce will be to preserve Harper’s fitness. Having returned to the side at the expense of Shay Given, who has suffered another groin injury, Harper has only Fraser Forster as cover, with Tim Krul on loan at Falkirk, the Scottish club. “Even the two younger lads we’ve got are injured at the moment,” Harper said. “I’m sure they’d have to go down the emergency route if anything was to happen to me.”