Lucy Bronze admitted Chelsea were "not good enough" and "miles off our game" after suffering their first defeat of the season at Manchester City in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal.
Vivianne Miedema netted twice in a 2-0 win to inflict Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor's first defeat since taking charge of the side in the summer, ending a 28-game unbeaten streak, having only dropped points in two league draws before the crushing loss.
Bronze acknowledged that Chelsea, who are eight points clear at the top of the Women's Super League (WSL) table, were not at their best against last season's league runners-up.
"I just don't think that we were good enough," she told TNT post-match. "I don't think we had enough effort in our press. We were really sloppy on our passing.
"I think City were probably better organised, had a bit better than that, but yeah, I think we were miles off our game. Sonia said that at half-time. I think it improved a little bit in the second half, but then obviously that's when they got in and got their goals."
Chelsea defeated City in the first of four consecutive games between the sides on Sunday, winning the League Cup final 2-1 at Pride Park, Derby. It marked Chelsea's first trophy of the season, and the Blues are still on track for a historic quadruple.
Despite clinching the first piece of silverware -- the winning goal came from a Manchester City own-goal -- Bronze does not believe Chelsea have been at their best recently.
"In the League Cup, I don't think we were particularly at our best either," she said. "I think we just need to improve. We know we could be a lot better. I think Chelsea at their best, we beat any team at any level and that just wasn't today.
"You have ups and downs. I think we've had a fantastic first half of the season. Obviously, everybody ups their game when they play Chelsea now because they want to be the first team to beat us and that's obviously happened today."
Despite suffering their first loss of the campaign, Bronze said she is confident that Chelsea can do enough to overturn their two-goal deficit and qualify for the semifinals in what she she said would be Chelsea's "biggest game of the season" at Stamford Bridge on March 27.
"We just have to go back, be better for the weekend and for the next game. I think, although we're 2-0 down, we're completely confident that we can turn this around," she added.
"I think it'll be the biggest game of the season so far. Obviously we're doing really well in the league. We have to focus on that game of the weekend, back to London and back up to Manchester for the weekend. But it's all still to play in the next game.
"We know we can score goals. We've got goals in so many players all over the pitch, so hopefully we can be a lot better next week and win the game, score a few goals and get through to the semifinal."