Mark Hughes was critical of his Stoke City side as they lost 3-0 to Tottenham on Sunday.
The Potters, who were hammered 5-1 by Newcastle United on Boxing Day, conceded three more goals at White Hart Lane as they suffered a second straight defeat to drop to 12th on the table.
Manager Hughes was now hoping his struggling team could bounce back when they host fourth-placed Everton on New Year's Day.
"In terms of having a real impact on the game, we found it very difficult today," he told Sky Sports.
"Spurs are a good side, they worked hard, moved the ball around quickly, they have a lot of power and pace and we struggled to cope with that.
"There are reasons behind that, we are missing a few key players, but we still need to do a little bit better than we did on the day. Credit to Spurs, they were significantly better than us.
"We struggled to get a foothold in the game and really have an outlet for our play. On occasions we need to get in behind teams and we haven't got that option.
"We are playing a lot of our football in front of teams and if the opposition is strong and sharp and physical then at times we can get caught in poor areas of the field and get punished.
"On the day we weren't quite good enough and up to the standard of the Spurs players.
"We've got another game on Wednesday against another outstanding team. We have to be ready for it but we have to produce more than we have today.
"We need a better level of performance from more of the players than we had today."
