Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola admitted he did not recognise his side in the first half as their winless run stretched to nine games following a 4-1 defeat to Brentford.
They were inferior in all departments at the beginning of the match and conceded after just six minutes through a Kevin Schade goal, with the 24-year-old going on to score a hat-trick, while Djordje Petrovic also scored an own goal.
Antoine Semenyo pulled a goal back at 3-0 down, but the damage had already been done in the first half, and Iraola could not hide his displeasure at how the Cherries started the match.
"In the first half, we weren't recognisable," said Iraola. "We were not aggressive; we did not want to attack.
"We completely deserved the 2-0. We had to be brave. There has to be an intensity, and there wasn't in the first half.
"I was so disappointed at half-time. I did three changes; I could've done more."
The Cherries have now conceded the most goals of any side in Europe's top five leagues since the beginning of November (22) and are enduring their worst run of form overall since May-October 2023 (13-game run without a win).
When asked about whether he had any worries about their poor run of results, Iraola said: "No, I'm concerned about our performance in the first half.
"I accept you can lose games, but in the second half, we were perfect. We have to look at ourselves why we were 45 minutes late to start the game.
"We can accept mistakes, missed passes, but you have to give 100%. It was not like this in the beginning."
Brentford have now won four consecutive league games against Bournemouth for the first time since May 1966 (five).
Keith Andrews praised his side for their dominant performance as they rounded off the calendar year with a sixth home win of the season.
He said: "I was so glad to go in [to the break] at 2-0 because I felt 1-0 wouldn't have been a fair reflection of what we produced.
"But that's the game – you've got to react to all the different scenarios within that.
"Overall, we're pretty pleased with our afternoon's work."
Schade has scored more Premier League goals in 2025 than any other Brentford player (13), while seven of his goals this year have put the Bees ahead in games, and six of them have been winners.
Andrews anticipated a strong display from him, who became the first German in Premier League history to score a second hat-trick in the Premier League.
"I feel like that's been coming for Kev [Schade], the goals," he said.
"I didn't necessarily see a hat-trick, but the areas he gets into, the way he finishes in training… I feel like that's been an area where we've been looking to develop and obviously, he's taken those opportunities."