Australia head coach Justin Langer has claimed the Ashes have been "a lot closer than we think", despite his side retaining the urn inside 12 days.
Australia have comfortably won the first three Tests in the series, beating England by nine wickets in Brisbane, 275 runs in Adelaide and an innings and 14 runs in Melbourne.
However, speaking to BT Sport during the fourth Test, Langer insisted that England are "a very good cricket team".
He said: "I think it's been a lot closer than we think. One thing I've learned in cricket, and we learn this as young kids: catches win matches. There's been some dropped catches in this series, and that has an impact.
"England are a very good cricket team. They've got an outstanding bowling attack, and we've just been able to counter it a bit better."
Langer's current contract as head coach is due to expire in May and, after leading Australia to success in the T20 World Cup and the Ashes, he is keen to stay on.
"I've never thought differently to be honest," Langer said. "I've been consistent with what I've said for the last four years.
"I love my job. And the boys are playing well. No doubt about it. It's a great team to be involved in. So nothing's changed from my point of view."
However, Cricket Australia chief Nick Hockley has remained tight-lipped about Langer's future, saying: "We always said we're going to be really focused on the two upcoming campaigns.
"That's the T20 World Cup and the T20 team did fantastically to bring that trophy home and same for the Ashes.
"I know JL, I know the team, they are very, very focused on this series and what we have said before the summer, we'll be sitting down at the end of the season, to review where we go from there."
