Julen Lopetegui has called for his Wolverhampton Wanderers players to quickly forget their 6-0 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon.
Earlier this week, Wolves recorded a 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace, a result which meant that Lopetegui's side begun the weekend eight points clear of the Premier League relegation zone with five matches left.
Despite that advantage, Loopetegui has stressed that Wolves are not yet safe, and the opinion of the Spaniard was strengthened as his team suffered their worst defeat of the season at the Amex Stadium.
Wolves completely capitulated on the South Coast, arguably being fortunate to only be 4-0 down at the break before they conceded a fifth shortly after half time.
Deniz Undav wrapped up the scoring in the 66th minute as the German, his compatriot Pascal Gross and Danny Welbeck all scored doubles for Brighton.
While Wolves' afternoon improved as Brentford came from behind to defeat relegation rivals Nottingham Forest, Lopetegui is now in a position where he must attempt to lift his team ahead of next weekend's derby against Aston Villa.
© Reuters
Speaking after the game, however, Lopetegui insisted that he would take responsibility for Wolves' "very bad day" in all areas of the pitch.
Lopetegui told Match Of The Day: "We are sorry a lot for our fans. Today we had a very bad day in all the situations. We suffered very early, one goal, two goals. When you have this kind of day the responsibility is the coach.
"Tomorrow we have to go forward with the best face because we are in the middle of the battle and we have to be ready for the next war.
"We have worked very hard this season and for today for a lot of reasons we have lost 6-0 and when you lose like that you have to be able to recover your energy. We had big mistakes. The responsibility is the coach's.
"We have to be ready for the next fight because we are better than we showed today. We have to remember four months ago we were in the bottom but at least now we have hope. Together we have to push a lot in the next match."
With Bournemouth hosting Leeds United on Sunday and Leicester City squaring off versus Everton a day later, some teams will close the gap on Wolves before they take to the pitch against European-chasing Villa.
Darren Plant
