SÉBASTIEN Bassong has urged Newcastle’s supporters not to give up on an Alan Shearer inspired revival as United look to cling on to their Premier League status.

The Magpies face an arduous trip to Anfield to take on title-chasing Liverpool this weekend having failed to beat Portsmouth at home earlier this week.

That left Newcastle three points behind fourth-bottom Hull City, who travel to Aston Villa on Monday night, and many fans are starting to resign themselves to the fact they will be watching Championship football next season.

But Bassong is adamant Newcastle can still avoid the drop as he praised the way Shearer had kept spirits high while forging a strong team spirit, even though he has taken just two points from a possible 12 as manager.

“Alan Shearer has brought us magnificent spirit,” said Bassong, who will not contemplate his future at Newcastle until he knows which division they are in next season.

“He brought a new lease of life for a lot of the players because they had lost a lot of confidence.

“He is a good manager. He has a lot of good experience in football. The spirit is better, it was low before he came. When a new manager comes in everyone is desperate to show what they can do, but it is even better because Alan Shearer is the boss.

“He is a legend in Newcastle so you have to want to show him what you can do.

“Like every player, I knew about him because he was a great player, a great striker. I know he was a fighter and a good leader and that is what he tries to bring to us as a manager.

“When he talks, he is talking with the heart. He knows St James’s Park, and the fans and what it is like. He is talking with experience and the players like that and respond to that.”

Shearer has refused to allow any of his players to wallow in self pity following the costly goalless draw with Portsmouth and Bassong was keen to maintain an upbeat theme, despite the prospect of another heavy defeat at

Liverpool on Sunday following the 5-1 home reverse back in December.

“There is still hope and faith in the team, so the supporters should not give up. We need them,” said Bassong, who was speaking at the launch of Newcastle United’s new healthy eating Match Fit project at the city’s Westgate Centre for Sport. “We have to be confident and we have to try and enjoy the trip to Anfield. If we don’t, it’s going to be even harder for us. It’s going to be a tough game, we know that.

“We are still confident. If we don’t believe we can get anything out of this then we may as well stop straight away. We have to concentrate on trying to take the maximum amount of points we can and see where we are at the end of the season.

“It would be a high point in our season if we can come back from Liverpool with a positive result. We will try and get the maximum, I can’t say anything more now, we have to see on Sunday.”

And, despite their failure to convert any of the chances that came their way against Portsmouth, Bassong still feels Newcastle’s increasingly-criticised strike-force is good enough to fire the team to safety over the next four games.

He added: “I’m still confident the strikers will score the goals we need. If I do not believe in my teammates I may as well give up.

“I believe in the midfield, the defence and the strikers. They have the ability to strike, but the biggest thing in football is confidence.

“If they are not confident they will not score and Alan is trying to give them that confidence back. He is working with the strikers on the training ground to get them back to scoring, he is working with them a lot.They will score goals for us in the next four games. It will be hard on Sunday against Liverpool but they will score goals.”