Christian Streich's Freiburg fell to a 2-0 defeat at the London Stadium tonight in the battle against West Ham for the top of their UEFA Europa League group.
Goals from Mohammed Kudus and Edson Alvarez were enough for The Hammers to take the three points and safe passage to the last 16.
The result means Freiburg finished second in Group A, taking them to the round of 32 play-offs.
The German boss admitted his side did not get their game plan right.
"Out tactics didn't work in the first half, Jordy Makengo kept Mohammed Kudus onside for the first goal and for the second we gave them too much space there and they could play the pass but I would have to say it's difficult shut the gaps there on the pitch."
"We wanted to make sure we shut down all the corridors and we tried it but didn't quite succeed and if you don't play at the highest level don't find your rhythm then it is really hard against the team with the quality of West Ham."
Disappointed but not too disappointed
Despite the defeat, Streich was keen to praise his players for their performance against West Ham's quality players.
"You have to remember Makengo was playing in the second team not long ago and today he's playing against a top player like Kudus, Lucas Paqueta I mean what can I say he's got fantastic quality and I couldn't really mention the whole team."
"It is really hard against the team with the quality of West Ham and Nayef Aguerd I mean again I could mention the whole team the quality is there that's why I'm disappointed but not too disappointed."
It was the coach's first game experience on the touchline in England, and he tried to soak it in, regardless of the result.
"It was a special occasion for all of us playing here in the Europa League.
"For the fans, well, it's different to the Bundesliga because, there, the fans sing all match basically, and here it was a bit different but it was still fantastic."
"Despite the fantastic atmosphere here, I have to say I'm not very happy, of course, because we lost because we were simply not good enough, unfortunately.
"We gave it our all, but we didn't have the quality to match West Ham."
Injury Problems
The visitors went into the game without some of their key players.
Captain Christian Günter has been missing for a while with a broken arm, and tonight, they were dealt another blow.
"Two days ago Phillip Leinhart had real problems with his doctors, probably because he had so many games, so it is very unlikely that he will play on Sunday."
The defender was a big miss for Die Breisgau-Brasilianer (The Breisgau-Brazilians) tonight, as the defence failed to close down the hosts' runs in behind.
The injury troubles continued through the game as Roland Sallai came off at halftime.
"Yes, remember he was out for a long time after he tore a muscle, so this was his first game back and he played 45 minutes I would have taken off after 60 minutes anyway but he was struggling."
Freiburg welcome FC Köln to the Europa Park Stadion on Sunday for their penultimate Bundesliga clash before Germany's winter break.
Their final game of the Hindrunde is away at FC Heidenheim next Wednesday.
