Mark Hughes says Stoke's performance against Tottenham was 'unacceptable' and players need to do better in key moments.
The Potters endured a terrible first-half as they went 4-0 down by half-time after a hat-trick from Harry Kane, who then set up the fourth for Dele Alli.
While they did not concede in the second half, Stoke were unable to produce much in ways of a reply, with Hughes pointing out the errors made from his side.
"We were way short of the levels we were capable of," he told Sky Sports.
"Tottenham will test you, they are clearly a very good team as we have seen for a number of years, but we need to do much better at key moments in the game when you have to make sure you defend correctly and be more aggressive in your work. We didn't do that and the manner of the goals is really disappointing because it is too easy.
"We needed to affect his game, we needed to affect the pattern of play of Spurs but we didn't do that at any point. The game was clearly over at half-time. In the second half, we kept it down to no score but that was more to do with Spurs knowing they had already won the game in my view.
"There were a few out there trying to make things happen but it was misplaced and sometimes when they were expending energy, it was at the wrong time and in the wrong situations. We didn't react to the key moments and as a consequence, they were able to take the game away from us very easily.
"We need to get up to speed and understand that it's not acceptable. We will be better next week, we always are but we cannot keep taking a step back before we move forward again so we have got a long week ahead of us."
Stoke had 15 days to prepare for the trip to White Hart Lane compared to the four games that Tottenham had played in that time, although Hughes does not think the extended break was a reason for their defeat.
"I just think we were poor on the day," he added. "I don't think it was anything to do with our preparation, we were just half a yard short and didn't do the correct things in key moments in terms of our defensive work and when those things come to pass, Spurs will hurt you.
"The key when you come to places like this is to stay in the game because you know at some point, you will create a chance and hopefully that will get you into a positive position.
"But the chances we did create when it was 1-0, those have got to go in and then maybe you see a different response but as it was, the game very quickly went away from us."