Phil Parkinson admitted a half-time tactical switch failed, as Bolton Wanderers began 2019 on the receiving end of a 6-0 thrashing by Hull City.
Trailing 1-0 at the break, Parkinson introduced the attack-minded Erhun Oztumer for the start of the second period after Marc Wilson had to be withdrawn with a thigh strain.
Wanderers would go on to capitulate after the restart, conceding a further time times, and the manager acknowledged his players simply couldn't deal with the threat of their hosts in the final third.
"It's probably the first time this season we've been turned over and totally outplayed," the manager admitted.
"There wasn't a great deal in the first half. We've had a couple of good chances."
"Then Marc had a tight thigh at half-time. We've opened the team up and it proved costly because they've got some good attacking players and they were very clinical."
"If you look back through the season so far, we've been in every single game and we haven't really been turned over like that.
"When the scoreline was 3-0 and 4-0, we made some strange decisions when we needed to work to keep the score respectable. We've got to be disappointed with that."
"We've had two good performances over Christmas but today we looked like a team who'd given everything in those games."
"I took the decision to open us up and use Oztumer's quality to give us a pass from midfield. That took away a holding midfield player and proved costly for us because they have got some very attacking players and we found it difficult to contain them."