Tim Sherwood says Aston Villa cannot drop any more points

Aston Villa boss Tim Sherwood has piled the pressure on his players by insisting they cannot drop anymore points in their bid to avoid relegation.

Sherwood saw his side put in a spirited display at Newcastle but Papiss Cisse’s first-half strike was enough to hand Villa their seventh consecutive league defeat.

And the Villa boss believes his side need to take points from every one of their 11 remaining games if they are to maintain their top flight status.

“The dressing room is very disappointed but the nature of the game is onwards and upwards,” Sherwood told Sky Sports.

“I’m ramping up the pressure on them. I’m telling them we can’t drop any more points.

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“Let’s take it upon ourselves. Everyone tries to pile the pressure on us but we put more pressure on ourselves. We have to take points in every game we play. Simple as that.”

Aston Villa twice had the ball in the back of the Newcastle net through Gabriel Agbonlahor and Christian Benteke but on both occasions the strikes were ruled out for offside.

Benteke, Scott Sinclair and Tom Cleverley all missed chances and Sherwood believes his side need to show better quality under pressure, claiming they are not too good to go down.

He added: “People say we’re too good to go down with all this quality. It’s all nonsense. You have to prove it on the pitch. You have to go out there and do it.

"People say it’s all about guts and desire in a relegation fight. They’ve got that. They showed me that today. We need to show quality under pressure. That’s what we need to do.”