Hull City boss Steve Bruce admitted that he had "no excuses" for his side's 1-0 loss to Swansea City on Saturday.
The defeat leaves the Tigers 19th in the Premier League table, and Bruce accepted that his side were second best at the KC Stadium.
He told Sky Sports News: "There's no excuse [for the performance]. At the end of the day there was nothing in it first half, but they get a deflected goal and the second half, we simply, were not good enough.
"In all areas of the [we weren't good enough] and we can't make any more excuses about that. I can come out here and try but the second half in particular we found it really tough and today we missed our really big players. We've had too many of our big players who weren't available.
"When you're in the run you're in, this Premier League is unforgiveable. This afternoon, the more we tried, the worse we got. Confidence is a huge thing in football and the one thing we have to do is stay with it and see it through. I'm still convinced we'll be OK, but we've got to be honest with each other and say we need more in all areas of the pitch."
Bruce's side will seek just a third win of the season when they travel to Sunderland on Boxing Day.
Paul Gorst
