Chris Hughton knows only too well criticism comes with the territory in the Premier League.

Both City's boss and his players came in for their fair share after last weekend's Liverpool mauling, with centre back Michael Turner singled out in some quarters for his pivotal role in a defence terrorised by Luis Suarez.

'No, that was not fair in my eyes because it is a team performance,' said Hughton. 'No, I have never been one for digging out individuals.

'It is very much a team responsibility, but I understand supporters are emotional and they want their team to win and I understand anybody watching will have their opinions.

'Players have to be big enough to take that on the chin. The same way when things go well and you are on the back of a good result there are generally plaudits that go with it. So when it is the other way around and there is criticism towards players and myself we have to be big enough to take that on the chin as well.'

Hughton is drawing on plenty of experience within the game as a classy player, coach and now manager to put City's patchy Premier League start to his reign in perspective.

'Every game you go through you experience the highs and lows and the emotion of it,' he said. 'The good performances bring a feel good factor and the confidence flows. The disappointments come when you are not getting the results you need. We are playing in a very tough division.

'Every team at a similar level to ourselves will experience the same – the good months and the bad – but we have a belief in the team and what we are doing. My experience as a manager is that you have to ride the tougher times.

'Perhaps the game before Liverpool we weren't talking in such terms, maybe points-wise, but we had been on the back of four good performances. You have to come through the difficult periods and look forward to the next one.'

Hughton believes the scale of the Liverpool defeat should not disguise plenty of positive early signs.

'Sometimes at the start of the season everything clicks and the results come,' he said.

'If we had got the win we deserved and we had been two points better off now then even coming off the back of a poor result last weekend there is a different outlook to how things are going.'