Derek McInnes lamented Heart of Midlothian's inability to do the basics at Easter Road and felt that was a key reason for their 3-2 defeat to Hibs.
Hearts found themselves 3-0 down, conceding after three minutes, just before half-time and three minutes after the interval.
The Scottish Premiership league leaders created a grandstand finish with goals from Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Devlin, but left it too late to rescue a point despite having chances.
Game assessment
"To lose the goals we did in the early part of each half, three or four minutes into each half, it was a real blow. I think Hibs did what they do well. We know that they try to play with two running eights, engage with their front two really quickly, try and get it in the wide areas. [Nicky] Cadden's a good crosser of the ball, but everything they like to do in the game, they did it far better than what we want to do in the game.
"We've had loads of plaudits this season about how we play, the goals we score, the individual element of our team, but we don't do the basics well enough today. It's as simple as that. You can look at team selection, you can look at all the rest of it, but we don't stop a switch of play, we don't stop a cross and we don't match a run.
"Basics in any game, particularly a derby game, need to be done. We've got the way we've got this season, not by being Barcelona, not by being something that we think we are and we're not, but by doing the basics well and playing from that. We never done that well enough.
"We didn't give ourselves a start in the game. You'd have to say Hibs were the better team in the first half. I think Lawrence has got a great chance at 1-0, he's headed it back stick.
"We had more possession, I think, more shots, but we never really carried any real threat in that first half other than that.
"Obviously we changed the shape a wee bit in terms of getting Kyziridis back on his natural side against the boy Megwa. We got Harry to play against Magrath here because Magrath puts a great ball into the second goal and we get punished for that.
"We didn't think it was the time to go and chase the game at that point, but we certainly put ourselves in such a sticky situation at losing the third goal.
"I thought our body language wasn't great at that point because we're not used to it. Then I thought, you've seen the strength of the team, the character of the team, the spirit of the team and you keep going. Baningime, he was a big player for us. I thought Halkett was magnificent despite losing three goals.
"Shankland gets a goal and from there on in, you just saw Hibs having a wee wobble. We grow a wee bit, we get the next one and then it was all about can we get that moment and the keeper pulls off a brilliant save to stop us getting the equaliser.
"You cannae expect to play for half an hour. Basically, for me, that was the intensity, the speed, the responsibility. We played far better in that last half hour than we did for the first hour of the game and that's why we've lost the game."
Half-time changes
As McInnes mentioned, he made a double change at half-time. It saw Beni Baningime and Harry Milne replace Oisin McEntee and Stephen Kingsley. It meant the shape went from 4-3-3 to 3-5-2, Milne on the right and Kyziridis on the left.
It barely had time to settle before Hibs went 3-0 ahead after Stuart Findlay's long pass cannoned off Josh Mulligan to allow Kieron Bowie to score.
McInnes explained the thinking behind the change and the frustration at losing a goal so early, a cheap one at that.
"We run up a cul-de-sac and we get too tight to each other. We should just turn back out and go back to our goalkeeper and start again," he noted.
"We played Harry on that side because McGrath had put in a great cross for the second goal. It was too early to go full-on with that. We just wanted to make sure we played against their shape. We thought we could get Kyzi against Megwa and he had some good moments on that side.
"Everything becomes so much more difficult. The biggest drain of confidence for any team is when you lose cheap goals. It's something that we've not done too often.
"We've not lost too many goals this season. To lose three in that opening 50 minutes was so unlike us. I do think the players looked shocked as well with that. It took us a wee 5-10 minutes after that to really get going. I thought Beni grabbed the game. I thought he gave us the element of control and brought a bit of sanity to it.
"We actually worked our way up the pitch. I thought we just about got the subs right at the right time to nearly get something in. At 3-0 down, it's an almost impossible situation. It's not impossible because we nearly pulled it off. It's a really difficult situation to find yourself in."
Meeting the new expectation
McInnes accepted he was angry, noting it is only natural following a derby loss. He reiterated that the team did do the basics well enough while providing a reminder of where the team are.
"I don't think there's a manager out there that likes to lose a derby and wouldn't be angry. But I think there's no manager out there that doesn't like watching his team do the basics well. This is what I'm going back to," he said.
"People will maybe look at individual players. We didn't have these players who have had a lot of plaudits and a lot of recognition. They weren't at their best today but that's not how we lost the game. We might not have won the game that way but we certainly lost the game by not doing the basics right.
"I just thought, in certain moments, we lost a wee bit of our composure. But I know we're better than what we showed in that first part of it.
"If we have two defeats in the next 19 games that we have, then we've had an unbelievable season. It's important that we remind ourselves of that. We're not going to start saying, equally, we're all this and that when we win games.
"We're no miles away when we lose games but we've got to own that today. First port of call when you lose a game of football as a manager, you've got to say, why did we lose a game? I know exactly why we lost it.
"Hibs were better than us in that first half. We gifted in the third goal and everything from there on in was far more difficult. We almost got something for it because we showed what we are in that last part of the game.
"I'm just disappointed for everybody associated with our club, Heart of Midlothian, and the fans turning up today, we'd have come here with high expectations. But the expectation has been raised in terms of what we're going to do this year. It's our intention to go and meet them."
Baningime decision
Asked if he was tempted to start Baningime, such has been his influence on the team, McInnes noted that he had to be fair to the midfielder due to having only returned from injury.
"This week's only been his first full week's training, really. He only trained a couple of days last week with the squad ahead of the Rangers game. He was blowing a wee bit out of there.
"I think there is a temptation. The team, just because we beat the Rangers last week doesn't mean to say it's straightforward. You do. I was pleased with McEntee last week. I was pleased with Magnusson. Just because two lads came off at half-time, we could have took six or seven off at half-time.
"It was just a change of shape. We're not going to get too caught up. There's no tactics, no individual players there. The basics weren't done well enough in the first half."
Transfer latest
McInnes is hopeful of getting Islam Chesnokov in this week ahead of the Livingston game, but it is uncertain as to whether he will be available for the fixture due to paperwork.
"Yes, that's the plan. We're hoping he'll be in at some point this week. Whether we can get him registered in the running for Livingston remains to be seen," he said.
The Hearts head coach revealed the club are "quite far down the line" with a couple of other January additions.
"Obviously, we've got Chesnokov coming in on a pre-contract, so he'll be with us. We're quite far down the line with one or two other things that we're looking to try and do," he said.
"We've still got Kabore away with the African Nations. We'll see how that plays out.
"We've got a plan of what we want to do. We're hoping we get a couple of those signings in in the early part of the window. We'll see where we go from there. A lot of these things can be dictated by your own players, your own form."
He added: "We're now going to a next run of games where we've got, I think it's Livingston, Dundee and St Mirren. Hopefully, we can find some winning performances and we go again. Because that's the way it is. If it means some new players coming in to help us, then so be it."
