Jens Cajuste accepted his Ipswich Town teammates and himself have ‘work to do’ after not managing the game well enough as they saw Premier League champions Manchester City score three unanswered goals in each half to claim a 6-0 win at Portman Road.
The rout was the joint-worst home defeat in the club’s history, Liverpool having previously held the record outright since February 2002.
"It's one of those nights that just got away from us, and we didn't have an answer for it,” said Napoli loanee Cajuste, Phil Foden having helped himself to a first-half brace and Mateo Kovacic, Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland and James McAtee also getting their names on the scoresheet.
With Town having started brightly against Pep Guardiola’s side, the Swedish international was asked to identify where he thought it went wrong.
"I don't know,” he said, "I think, of course, City have immense quality, great players, and once they get that first goal it just slipped away from us.
"They showed why they're the previous champions. It's hard, but you concede the one, and one becomes two.
"I think we have to manage it better, to not let it get to the point where it's 5-0 or 6-0. I think we have to manage that better. We have some work to do.”
Quizzed on what was in their half-time discussions, given they already found themselves 3-0 down with little hope of overturning the deficit, he said: "It's a balance, you can't go pushing too hard because, against a team like Man City, you're going to end up 6-0, like we did.
"It's the balance of managing the game and making sure that it doesn't get out of hand.”
He added: "I think, after the fourth it kind of sucked all the energy out of us, that was the dagger.”
There was a heart-warming show of solidarity with their team from the fans that stayed behind inside Portman Road to ensure the players’ and manager’s regular lap of appreciation for the support was played out in front of a cacophony of noise.
"The fans here are absolutely amazing. It doesn't matter the result, they've showed up every time this season so far,” said the 25-year-old. "It's a huge boost and we definitely want to give back.”
Asked if he felt he was playing the best football of his career, having been voted the club’s player of the month for both November and December, Cajuste replied: "No, I've got more to give and I really want to put it out there and help the team with getting more results. That's the most important [thing], individual stuff comes second.”
On whether he was keen to turn his Portman Road stay into a permanent one, having become a hit in the stands, he said: "We'll have to wait and see. That’s not nothing I can speak about right now.
"There's still so much time left and so many things can happen, so we'll have to wait and see.”
Things do not get any easier for Town with a trip to Anfield to face Arne Slot’s league-leading Liverpool side on Saturday (3pm).
But put to him that playing in these games is surely what being in the Premier League is all about, giving them the chance to show how they match up against the best, he replied: "Exactly. Back-to-back tough games, but this is where you have to show character.
"It's easy to give up and fall into a negative spiral, but this is where you really have to show your character.
"You have an opportunity to show growth as well, so we'll have to take it as that.”
One positive from a chastening afternoon was the introduction into the side of £20 million new signing Jaden Philogene, who got 26 much-needed minutes into his legs.
"He showed some really good glimpses when he came on and it's really for the team,” said Cajuste. " I think he can help us a lot.”