Remi Garde wasn't a happy man on Saturday afternoon, after his Aston Villa side took a beating at Goodison Park - losing 4-0 to Roberto Martinez's Everton.
Having resisted Everton's advances early on, the Villa defence eventually crumbled, and were 3-0 down by half-time thanks to Ross Barkley's brace being sandwiched by a Romelu Lukaku header.
Although Lukaku added another in the second half to make it four, Garde conceded that it was that early salvo that did the damage, explaining that "when you're 3-0 down, the game is over".
First half blew Villa away, admits Garde
He felt that his side "couldn't answer" the questions that Everton posed to their defence, and this was "disappointing" for both him and the players, who he said "competed well" before the opening goal.
There was some positivity to be had, with the Frenchman praising the second half performance of his players, saying that they "had more winning challenges and duels", although this wasn't hard as they "weren't strong enough" for the first 45 minutes.
Villa manager praises Toffees
Despite Villa's lacklusture performance, credit has to go to the Toffees, who dismantled Garde's men with a stellar attacking performance.
He clearly agreed with that, labelling them as a "good team", who have a "very good passing game" and are "well balanced on the pitch".
Possibly citing a reason for the defeat, he was quick to point out that Villa have "been working with the same manager for the past few years", and due to this they "know eachother well". Comparing this to his own team, he added that Villa "have a lot of new players", who clearly aren't gelling too well.
Even though they were thrashed, it doesn't change the situation too much for Villa. They still sit bottom of the table, and have avoiding relegation as their number one priority, with Garde saying that "the mission has not changed".