Paul Heckingbottom laid into his Preston players after their 2-0 home loss to West Brom, claiming their display was unacceptable.
Heckingbottom felt his side were out-fought by West Brom at Deepdale as they saw their four-game unbeaten run end in miserable circumstances.
He told BBC Radio Lancashire: "The better team won. They out-fought us in the first half, I don't often say that. That was one of the two disappointing facts. The fact they out-fought us in the first half and the fact that everything we prepared for, we just didn't execute.
"Sometimes if you don't give them the solutions, you are culpable. But we knew what we were going to face and we showed them at half-time what we were getting wrong and for some reason, we didn't do it any better.
"We were better in the second half and we did OK until they scored their second goal. That was another poor goal from our point of view and we can have no complaints.
"So, yeah, a disappointing day, one of the worst.
"If you get out-fought, that can't happen. You can get beat, but not like that. I expect us to turn up and compete."
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