Aston Villa winger Ashley Young summed up his side's 1-0 defeat at the hands of Manchester City by saying after the game: "We were just not good enough."
The £9.5 million man, who signed for Villa from Watford in January, was one of a handful of Martin O'Neill's men who turned in a good performance.
But too many players looked lacking in terms of the spirit and resilience they had shown to beat one of the season's fancied Premier League favourites, Chelsea at Villa Park just a fortnight ago.
Young's lightning bursts on the wing caused Manchester City trouble time and again but while the young England international managed to pick out Villa players in the box, his team-mates' finishing ultimately cost his side at least a share of the spoils at Eastlands.
Young said: "We were disappointing at the end of the day - we just weren't good enough.
"We had been hoping to take another three Premier League points today on the back of the result against Chelsea but it was not meant to be."
He continued: "We created plenty of chances - not so much clear-cut chances but certainly plenty of half-chances.
"But we have got to try and take some positives out of the game and we were definitely creating openings for each other."
Young said the sombre mood in the visitor's dressing room after the defeat had summed up how disappointed the Villa players were - in stark contrast to the euphoria which followed the team's incredible 2-0 win over Chelsea just a fortnight ago.
He said: "The mood was one of disappointment. Everyone was really disappointed.
"To be honest us players felt we coped with Sven-Goran Eriksson's formation quite well but obviously the key was to get the goals and that just wasn't happening for us.
"It didn't help going behind to an early goal. That was frustrating but even then we felt we could still compete and get at least a draw,"
Young, who has been away on duty with England during the international break after being given his first call up to Steve McClaren's full national squad, denied the two week break had harmed Villa's momentum.
He said: The international break affects everyone but it is the same for both sides so I can't say that was the problem.
"If anything, some of the players have come back full of confidence because they have done well while they were away with their respective countries. Perhaps a few of the boys were a bit tired but we are not making excuses.
"We are just bitterly disappointed not to have come away with at least a point."
