Rob Page admits Wales were carrying too many players as they slumped to a 2-0 World Cup loss to Iran.
The Red Dragons saw plenty of possession but were alarmingly blunt in the final third while their sloppiness afforded Carlos Queiroz's side plenty of chances at Ahmad Bin Ali Stadium - particularly on the counter attack.
And after Wayne Hennessey was sent off for a reckless challenge on Mehdi Taremi, Rouzbeh Cheshmi and Ramin Rezaeian both struck in injury-time to earn the Iranians all three points which leaves Wales' hopes of reaching the knockout stages in tatters.
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When asked if the better team won, Page responded: "Absolutely, they deserved the win. Before I made the substitutions, they hit the post, they hit the bar. They had a goal disallowed in the first-half.
"I'm not going to sit here with sour grapes and say we deserved anything out of that game.
"We weren't in the game at all. You can carry one or two players if they have off days, but when the majority of the team are not quite at it, there's only going to be one outcome unfortunately.
"I'm disappointed, more because we fell well below the standards we've set in recent months that's got us success to qualify for the World Cup. If we'd have met those standards, we'd have been alright, but we fell well below that today, and when you do that in top competitions, you get punished.
"This is a hard one to take because of the stage we're on. I've said to them before every game, 'go out and show the world what you show us every day'. That is not a true reflection of that team. They got their rewards today, they deserved that defeat. That's not like them, and that's what disappoints me the most."
Wales currently sit rock bottom of Group B having claimed just one point from their opening two matches in Qatar. They face the daunting prospect of needing victory over England on Tuesday night to stand a chance of progressing into the last-16.
And Page admitted he could ring the changes to his starting 11 after his side's poor showing against Iran.
"That's the problem we always have, asking players who are not playing for their clubs to come and give performance after performance," he said.
"We are going to have to look at it and, if necessary, we'll have to make the changes to freshen it up."
Wales take on England at 7pm on Tuesday night.
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