'We've crammed in weeks of what you'd normally do into five days, so you know, we have asked a lot, but the first half was a long way short from where we want to be physically.'
There was to be no fairytale return to the Premier League for new Nottingham Forest coach Sean Dyche on Sunday as his side slumped to a 2-0 away defeat by high-flying Bournemouth that illustrated the scale of the task ahead of him.
Dyche's last game as Everton coach in January resulted in a 1-0 loss away at Bournemouth, and there was more of the same in his return as Forest conceded twice in the first half, with the 54-year-old saying his players need to be fitter and stronger.
"The biggest disappointment was the drop-off physically. You saw a very high pressing team... and we never got to grips with that," Dyche, a former Forest youth team player, told Sky Sports.
"We've crammed in weeks of what you'd normally do into five days, so you know, we have asked a lot, but the first half was a long way short from where we want to be physically."
Brought in as Forest's third permanent manager of the season after the sacking of Ange Postecoglou in the immediate aftermath of a 3-0 defeat by Chelsea on October 18, one of the challenges facing Dyche is a tight schedule of games due to their participation in the Europa League.
"It's tough, because we've only got so many working days. We've got so many games, but we've got to find it. We will find a way of getting that, that's for sure," Dyche said.
The defeat leaves Forest third from bottom on five points, but Andoni Iraola's Bournemouth will end the weekend second in the standings on 18 points, four behind leaders Arsenal, after an impressive run of results.
"It's definitely a very good start, but it's just a start," Iraola said, sounding a note of caution.
"This season, the differences between teams are so small. It's going to be difficult for us to earn more points, but we have to try."