Russell Martin bemoaned the individual errors made by his Swansea City side as they were beaten 4-1 by Nottingham Forest.
The Swans were emphatically punished for failing to take their first-half chances as Steve Cooper's men struck four times in the second-half in south Wales to take victory on Saturday.
And the head coach was unable to hide his frustration over the way Swansea defended after half-time.
"We had the better chances," Martin said.
"We should be 1-0 or 2-0 up at half-time. I thought we were great in the first half.
"I think they got near our goal twice in the first half on the counter attack, which was their game plan which we thought it would be. They have real pace and athleticism at the top end of the pitch.
"Joel [Piroe] misses an open goal and we've just been punished for those moments. We concede a goal too early in the second half, don't react well enough to that and concede again.
"It's just happened too many times. When we concede, for the next five minutes, we weren't us. We got back into the game, worked so hard. And then another individual error punishes us and the game becomes open because we're trying to score.
"In the last three games we've created more than we have all season. We said when we sat here when we weren't creating as much early on in the season, but we were keeping the back door shut more often.
"If we cut out the individual mistakes we'll be more than fine. We're being punished for individual errors at the moment, but we will get there. We've got a group of young men who have come a long way in a short space of time.
"My message to you hasn't changed since I came in. We're asking the players to do something so different.
"It really hurts to lose by that scoreline. But it's a bump in the road. We have to show real courage to get back on it and start picking up results again."
Philip Zinckernagel and Lewis Grabban both struck shortly after the break before Joel Piroe pulled a goal back for Swansea.
But Brennan Johnson and Cafu added to Forest's tally as Cooper's side claimed all three points in south Wales, and former Swans boss Cooper says his side were fully aware of how they could exploit Russell Martin's men.
"Tactically we were perfect," Cooper said.
"We came here to win, full of confidence, expecting to win the game, but we knew we had to do it in a certain way.
“The guys played the game plan exactly as we wanted it to go. We accepted Swansea would have more of the ball and make more passes but where that happens is the most important thing."
On his return to Swansea, Cooper commented: “The person who thought about coming back the least was me, I was just so focused on the game.
“I will never change my opinion of here – brilliant football club, I loved my two years here. But I am all in now at Forest. I have moved on, they have moved on.
“Apart from days like today I wish them well.”
Swansea return to action against Queens Park Rangers next weekend.
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