Paddy McNair says Ian Baraclough has the full backing of the Northern Ireland squad despite the manager facing a number of boos when conducting a post-match interview after Sunday’s frustrating 2-2 draw with Cyprus.
Cyprus led 2-0 at Windsor Park before McNair pulled a goal back and Jonny Evans gabbed a draw in injury time.
“We’re all in it together, win, lose or draw,” said the 27-year-old midfielder.
“I don’t think now is the time to be digging people out.”
The Middlesbrough player added: “It is a tough time at the minute results-wise but we need to stick together and I’m confident things will change.
“I think sometimes as a team you just go through these rough spells. The main thing is that we all stick together and things will get better.”
Prior to the Nations League quadruple-header, Baraclough had targeted four wins from four. However, an opening-game defeat by Greece was followed by a goalless draw in Cyprus and a 3-2 defeat away to Kosovo before Sunday’s draw in Belfast.
McNair admits his side are frustrated with their performances as Northern Ireland’s search for a Nations League victory stretches to 14 games, with Baraclough’s record as manager standing at three victories from 20 competitive matches.
“It was a game we were going into confident we were going to win and I thought we conceded two poor goals,” McNair added.
“From there it was always going to be tough to get back into the game. Fair play to the lads, we dug in deep and got what we deserved but overall it is disappointing.
“If you said to us coming into the games we would get two points out of 12 we would definitely not have taken that. Results-wise it’s been disappointing, it’s as simple as that.”
