GUDNI Bergsson insisted today that he and his beleaguered Bolton team-mates must shoulder the responsibility of beating the Premiership relegation trap.
The Wanderers' captain says the players' survival fate is in their own hands and no-one else can be blamed if they fail in their quest.
" We've got a big squad here and we've got good enough players to deal with the situation and get the necessary points we need to stay in the Premiership.
"If we get one or two other players then fine but, if not, we can't point any fingers or blame anyone other than ourselves if things don't go according to plan.
"We're not really too concerned or speculating very much about the transfer market. You just get on with it - players normally do. We just have to make sure we are in a better mood in May."
Morale took a beating at the Reebok on Tuesday night when Wanderers, without a win since Boxing Day and now having scored just two goals in six league games, were punished for a tame performance by David Moyes' Everton. Sam Allardyce, bitterly disappointed by the decline in performance six days after being encouraged by the display in defeat at Newcastle, echoed the fans' fears when he conceded his team was in "grave, grave danger" of losing their Premiership status.
Now the manager is worried that mounting pressures will make an already difficult situation even more precarious with successive games against relegation rivals Birmingham on Saturday and West Brom a week later.
But Allardyce has been given assurances that there is enough experience to take the strain.
Per Frandsen, who never wavered in his belief that Wanderers would beat the drop last season, is as confident as ever that they still have what it takes to book themselves a third term of top flight football for the first time in 40 years.
"I'm sure we can stay up," the determined Dane insisted, "We have 13 games to play and, although we had a bad game the other night, you get that from time to time."
Like the manager, Frandsen was at a loss to explain the drop in performance after Wanderers had played so well at St James' Park but Bergsson suggested the onus of being the home side was a key factor.
"The pressure was perhaps off us in a way at Newcastle but now the pressure will certainly be on because we were really going for the three points the other night and we weren't good enough in that respect.
"But we have to live with that now. This is a pressurised position we are in and we just have to deal with it. The thing to remember is that we are not actually in the relegation zone ... we're too close for comfort and we are in a relegation battle and if we're going to stay in the Premiership, we're going to have to do better than Tuesday night."
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