The 58-year-old questioned his side's effort and desire after losing 1-0 against Sheffield at Bramall Lane, with the Reds slipping to a fourth Championship defeat in seven outings to slip to 18th in the table.

While Wrexham have shown their quality at times, notably in impressive wins against Millwall, Southampton and Preston, Parkinson believes there have been too many occasions when his team have failed to resemble the hard-working side that supporters have become accustomed to over the past five years.

"Some of the games - Millwall away, probably the best away performance we've had in the Championship, Southampton at home, Preston - but there's just been performances where we've come away thinking that's not a kind of Wrexham performance what we're used to seeing," he said.

"I think that's a very fair assessment of where we are this season.

"There's been dips in the team work ethic out of possession, making it difficult for the opposition and being aggressive in our play, which in every division we've played at in, we've had that hard shape difficult to break down.

"So if you don't play well, you're tight as a team and we were too loose and we're too open."

Parkinson also suggested too many players failed to dig each other out of trouble when they were put under pressure by the Blades.

"I said to the lads that I'm honest and I review myself, and sometimes you can say 'we should have done this or we should have done that', but it's not about that," he said.

"It's about making sure it's 11 v 11 out there and if your team-mate's having a bad day, go and help him, or if we're getting pulled around, go and sprint back for one of your team-mates.

"While we're suffering in the game as a team, we show a resilience to come through it and we didn't show that enough.

"We've got to be frustrated with the performance. I'm frustrated with my performance, the lads have got to be honest as well and they will be."

Parkinson questioned whether his side are currently giving supporters what they have come to expect from a Wrexham team, regardless of the result.

"All the people who have followed us over the last five years know that my mantra is when supporters pay good money to watch us play, I like them driving away thinking, 'they've given everything'," he said.

"And if we haven't won, we still go and clap them and they clap us off because they've seen an unbelievable, spirited performance.

"I know at the moment we are lacking spark at the top of the pitch. Callum O'Hare, Nathan Broadhead and Windass, real talent but they're injured.

"But while we wait for those to come back, we've got to fight harder as a team and I've got to pick a side on Wednesday night (at home to Middlesbrough) which I can see is going to do that."