Alan Curbishley described the last-minute defeat to Tottenham as "naïve", but said he felt encouraged by the players' effort and work rate.
"At 3-2 up we were looking at getting a fourth," he said. "I think naïve is the word. That has happened three times this season now; it was similar to what happened when we were in the lead against Fulham and Newcastle.
"It was a lack of confidence and a lack of mental toughness, of knowing how to close the game out.
"The one thing that has happened here today is that they've worked as hard as they can and the stats will show that. That's the positive we can take and it hasn't happened in previous games.
"But what has happened lately is that anything that can go wrong has gone wrong for us."
Reflecting on a flurry of press coverage this week, Curbs said: "Negative stuff is following us around. We're a big club in the bottom three and we're fair game at the moment. I understand that.
"But it doesn't help. The negativity around us is affecting the players. Every day seems to throw something new up. There are 20 Premiership clubs and you don't seem to hear much about the other 19.
"Some of the stuff is sensationalised, things that happen in other clubs every week. And the stories about there being no discipline here are totally off the mark. We've changed the discipline structure here and it's heavier now.
"We want to be talking about football and hopefully we can do that in the coming weeks."