Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish has called for the club's staff and supporters to "stick together" as speculation surrounding Frank de Boer's position as manager continues to intensify.

A 1-0 defeat by Burnley at Turf Moor left Palace with a return of no points and no goals scored from its first four league games of the season, which is the worst start to a campaign by any team in Premier League history.

After the loss, Parish posted a series of responses to messages from fans on Twitter, in which he refuted accusations of failing to adequately strengthen the squad during the transfer window.

Parish, who led a consortium that purchased the club in 2010, told fans: "We are four games in, it's a terrible start but we have to stick together.

"People are frustrated, I'm frustrated, so are the management and players. We know we are better than this.

"I'm defending everyone at the club who is working their arse off to turn this round. Football teams lose games — it happens."

Only two players arrived at Selhurst Park during the transfer window – Jairo Riedewald from Ajax and Mamadou Sakho from Liverpool.

Palace finished 14th in the Premier League last season, but defeats to Huddersfield Town, Liverpool, Swansea City and Burnley have left supporters angry that further signings were not made.

Parish responded to questions over the club's transfer activity, saying: "We spent over £30 million on top of the £40 million plus loan fees and wages in January. We can't just keep on spending and spending.

"Ninety per cent of fans wanted Sakho, which was always going to limit what we could do.

"Let me ask you a question, who has the better squad us or Burnley? We had a much weaker squad when we finished 11th [in 2013-2014].

"Could this squad have beaten Huddersfield [Town], Swansea [City] and Burnley? And, on our day, Liverpool?"

He added: "I'll stand my record up against any chairman we've had in 118 years."

Palace's star wing Wilfried Zaha also called for calm on his Twitter account.