Huddersfield Town boss Carlos Corberan said that his side were too offensive against Bournemouth in a 0-3 loss at the John Smith's Stadium.
Corberan's side were outclassed for 90 minutes in what would have been an amazing chance to close the gap on The Cherries in the race for automatic promotion.
Following the game, the Huddersfield manager faced the media and spoke about being outclassed by Bournemouth, the goals Huddersfield conceded, The Terriers' game plan, the international break and Jonathan Hoggs’ fitness.
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On being outclassed by Bournemouth
"The worst thing that I can tell you is that today is very easy to explain, I think that individually and collectively Bournemouth were better than us.
"After they scored their goal, unfortunately there were differences [between the two sides] in the performances."
Corberan said that a bad start from Bournemouth gave Huddersfield some false confidence to press, which saw them caught out in the game.
In truth, the visitors looked the most likely to score throughout the game, so perhaps even the idea that Bournemouth started badly may have been misguided.
The game saw the visitors have the vast majority of possession and clear cut chances, most of those were taken in a ruthless performance from The Cherries.
In contrast, it was a poor showing from The Terriers, who struggled to really get into the game at all despite its potential importance to their season.
They were limited to very few openings offensively and in defence, they were shaky at best, and their attempts to keep Bournemouth out were nowhere near the standard required to take anything from the game.
It was a disappointing day for Corberan and his side, who have now lost all of their last six meetings against The Cherries.
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On the goals Huddersfield conceded
"I think the three goals have the similarity of this: the moment we pressed today we could not compete in defence.
"We had to be compact today, we tried to be more compact in the second half but we made a decision to be aggressive in the first action and they scored the the third goal."
Corberan admitted that his side's desire to be competitive and attacking against Bournemouth proved costly on Saturday afternoon.
It may have been a fair assumption to make that Bournemouth would come into the game slightly weaker having only won one of their last four prior to facing The Terriers, but The Cherries showed no weakness at the John Smith's Stadium.
They raced into a 0-2 lead by the interval courtesy of goals from Jaidon Anthony and Jefferson Lerma's first goal since April 2021.
It was clear that they had been afforded far too much time to execute their shots in front of goal, and so the idea to go more compact in the second half was a wise one from Corberan.
Despite that, a wonderful flick from Solanke into the far corner past Lee Nicholls effectively sealed the win for The Cherries as soon as the game restarted.
From there, Scott Parker's side were content to slowly work the ball across the pitch looking for an opening rather than forcing one having already scored three.
It was a tough afternoon tactically for Corberan and his staff.
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On The Terriers' game plan
"Of course with Bournemouth I know the potential and good players that they have, so the idea was to play to play to our strengths.
"Sometimes the fact that you are feeling powerful and strong in the first minutes means you take risks, if you cannot win in the one versus one you are going to suffer."
The fact that Huddersfield did choose to play more expansively played into Bournemouth's hands.
Corberan also said that the visitors were able to create plenty of space in attack due to winning the one-on-ones that allowed them to have the extra players forwards and the space to create a chance in.
It was clear from the game that with Bournemouth winning many of their individual battles, they had the beating of Huddersfield overall on Saturday afternoon.
The Huddersfield boss said that his side needed to be more aware of when to be compact and defensive and when to be more expansive to try and attack the game more.
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On the international break
"This game was of course very demanding for us, we did travel here today knowing that in these types of games that only when you give 100% of everything you can compete.
"I think the team after this demanding period of games need now to stop, refresh, analyse well and find again the way to be more competitive in games."
Corberan said that the sacrifices needed in all of the games they had played to be unbeaten in 17 games in the league meant that they were very tired coming into the game against Millwall, which they lost 0-2 at The Den.
This meant that The Terriers were exhausted and had lost some confidence by the time it came to face The Cherries in what was a huge opportunity to cement their playoff position or maybe even to mount an automatic promotion charge.
In truth, the international break has come at a good time for The Terriers who will want to use the time to rest having played several games of late.
Corberan’s side have now lost three of their last four games in all competitions, so it is clear that the run of games did catch up with them before the international break.
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On Jonathan Hogg's fitness
"I think Hoggy [Jonathan Hogg] has been suffering to compete in the previous games, I think his character and personality have kept him on the pitch with a small knee problem.
"There was a moment where he didn't feel he could help the team, he was feeling that he was not helping the team, being more opposite to helping and it was because of the pain in his knee."
Terriers skipper Jonathan Hogg was left out of the side that played against Bournemouth on Saturday afternoon.
Corberan said that an issue with his knee meant that the 33-year-old felt he was no longer having a positive impact on the side having played an extended period through injury.
Corberan and his management team decided as a result to not include Hogg, who joined The Terriers from Watford in 2013, in the squad to allow him time to recover from the injury.
It was a blow to Huddersfield to lose an experienced player in such a crucial match, but losing Hogg to a more significant injury may not have been wise, so the decision to drop him did make sense.