Leeds United head coach Marcelo Bielsa has taken full responsibility for their humiliating 7-0 defeat away against Premier League holders Manchester City on Tuesday night.
The Whites endured their joint-heaviest defeat in the club's 102-year history across all competitions, and although they remain five points above the relegation zone, 18th-placed Burnley have two games in hand.
Bielsa stated that their performance at the Etihad Stadium was the worst during his four-year spell in charge and admitted that there was "nothing positive" to take from the game.
"It's not that City played very well – it's a lot more noticeable how badly we played than how well City played. City plays like this all the time, or similar to it, but we have never played so badly in these four years," Bielsa told reporters after the game.
"And I insist that the message is that what I proposed and what the game needed, was not good enough. You can deflect the attention when some things work and some things don't but when nothing works, it is the decisions of the one in charge that defines what happens.
"As there's nothing to take from it, it's inevitable I have to take responsibility for a defeat of this type. There is nothing positive to take away from our performance. I can't find anything that can be valued.
"It's not the individuals that fail, but the organisation. There is no justification I can offer. The game was exactly how we thought it was going to be, we prepared ourselves to avoid everything that happened. But we didn't manage to do anything so their superiority wouldn't be so noticeable."
Leeds will face three more challenging fixtures this calendar year, with Saturday's home encounter against Arsenal to be followed by matches against Liverpool and Aston Villa after Christmas Day.
Oliver Thomas
