Graham Potter admitted he "felt the pain of the supporters" just 24 hours before being sacked by Chelsea.
The Blues suffered another defeat on Saturday night, this time at the hands of Aston Villa. It saw them slip into the bottom half of the Premier League table as their difficult campaign continued and Potter, who was only hired in September, ultimately paid the price on Sunday night.
Fans had been divided over the Englishman ever since his arrival from Brighton, with his lack of experience at an elite club a major concern. A string of poor results, including defeats to the likes of Tottenham, Southampton and Fulham since the turn of the year, eventually proved costly.
Potter faced chants of “you don’t know what your doing” from the home crowd at Stamford Bridge as his side were beaten 2-0 by Villa on Saturday. An error in the first-half by summer signing Marc Cucurella allowed Ollie Watkins to put Villa in front before John McGinn doubled their lead in the second-half.
The then-Chelsea boss insisted post-match that "no one's happy" with the club's slide down the table.
He said: “Today is a bit of a setback, of course it is. We can feel the pain of the supporters. I understand when you lose at home, the emotion of the game is such that people are going to be disappointed and frustrated and angry. Where we are in the league table, no one’s happy with.
"Whatever criticism comes I have to accept. We’ve got no time to feel sorry for ourselves. We have to respond. We have to prepare for another big game.”
Potter took responsibility for the loss and admitted that the lack of progress was evident.
He added: “The most important number is the one that goes against us (the scoreline). We have to do better. In terms of the game, you can see the players gave everything, they took on the responsibility, they tried, they had lots of entries into the box and shots and attacks.
“After a defeat there is always a disappointment. There is always a feeling we have not moved forward, that’s fair to say. We have to analyse the performance and look at the things we’ve done well and what we can do better. I don’t like to blame anybody, I have to take responsibility. We are a team, we have to stay together, we are together. We win or lose together.”
Potter also spoke to the written media post-game, with quotes that were embargoed until Sunday night - but which duly didn't matter after his dismissal was announced. He insisted that he still had the backing of his players.
"If you look at all of the stats apart from the one stat that really matters, you can see a team fighting and trying and doing some things well. Clearly our actions in both boxes and the goals affect the scoreline and then everything becomes emotional and it's really frustrating."
"There are no excuses from my perspective. We attacked well, the intent of the team was there. You can see the effort from the players was there. But naturally they’re frustrated when they’re down and frustrated when they’re losing. It would be strange if they weren't."
However, despite his belief, the decision was made on Sunday that his gamble, to leave the serenity of Brighton for a major challenge in west London, had failed and that his services were no longer required.
