Fletcher admits the players' belief is at rock bottom after Sunday night's 2-1 defeat.
On his feelings about the defeat, he remarked afterwards: “Mixed really. I thought we started okay and then the (first Brighton) goal knocked the stuffing out of us and we didn’t really create the tempo after that. We didn’t play enough balls in behind and test them and I think our passing was quite slow, so I challenged them at half-time.
"It was similar to the game in midweek (against Burnley) - move the ball with composure, but you need to move the ball with tempo and that was difficult. I thought we created enough chances, then to go 2-0 down was disappointing but the lads responded well. When we got back to 2-1, I thought ‘here we go’.
"The crowd was up, the energy was up, but ultimately we couldn’t get over the line and get an equalising goal. But I think you can see the players are fragile and they need to build themselves up well because it’s up to them now, they’ve got to respond.”
The Scot continued: “Without a doubt (the squad is devoid of confidence) and then you concede a goal and the confidence hits them as well. Confidence is one of the most powerful things in football so when you don’t have confidence, you have (to) dig deep, battle, grind, fight, work, win games and then the confidence comes back.
"But they are experienced players, they are talented players and, as I said, I challenge them to regroup and it’s over to them. Someone is going to come in and lead them and they need to make sure that they’ve got a lot to play for this season. This team’s still good enough to achieve success this season but they’ve got to dig deep and find a way within themselves.”
As for the biggest challenge facing the incoming manager, Fletcher says the priority must be the players' confidence.
He stated: “Confidence and potentially being used to playing a certain style and formation - that’s difficult to adapt from. But as I said, they’ve just got to come together. The biggest thing for me is that the group, the players, whoever leads them comes together.
"It’s only them in the situation, it’s only them that can do something about it, build the confidence through grinding out maybe some results. You want to play nice football but you’ve got to find a way to win first and, once you do that, hard work, attitude, application. It might not be pretty at times but from there you can grow and build and then fast, exciting football can come.”