Tyrone Mings was disappointed with the manner of the goals that Aston Villa conceded during the 4-3 defeat to Southampton at Villa Park on Sunday.
The visitors went into the half-time interval with a 3-0 lead, with all three goals coming from set-pieces.
Danny Ings added a stunning fourth after the break and although Dean Smith’s side fought back with three strikes of their own, Mings couldn’t hide his frustration with the first half performance.
He said: “We showed good fight to come back, but we should never really have been in that position in the first place.
“I don’t think it was really a 3-0 game at half-time but unfortunately we gave away fouls in dangerous areas and they capitalised.
“I’m sure that we will learn from it, but it was very disappointing to concede in the manner that we did in the first half.
“It shows that there is a lot of work to do.”
After Southampton scored with all four of their shots on target, goals from Mings, Ollie Watkins and Jack Grealish were reward for a much-improved Villa display in the second half.
Despite the fightback, the centre-back and his teammates are fully aware that they need to start games better than they did at the weekend.
“We were on top for large parts of the second half,” Mings added.
“We have to start games well, this league is unforgiving, so we have to be at our best from the first whistle.
“We have shown great resilience and bounced back from poor runs last season, so we have to go and do it.”
