Marco Silva insisted there were plenty of positives for Fulham, despite being on the wrong end of a nine-goal thriller against Manchester City on Tuesday.
Silva watched on as his team were beaten 5-4 at Craven Cottage in a game that started with Erling Haaland becoming the fastest player to score 100 Premier League goals.
Tijjani Reijnders and Phil Foden's stunning finish had seemingly put Pep Guardiola's team in control at 3-0 up, until Emile Smith Rowe's fine header late in the first half reduced the deficit.
However, Foden struck his second of the game three minutes after the restart, before Sander Berge's own-goal put the visitors into a four-goal advantage by the 54th minute.
Alex Iwobi's 57th-minute strike kept Fulham fighting before a quickfire double from Samuel Chukwueze teed up a rip-roaring finish as the Cottagers pressed for an equaliser.
But they were denied late on when Josko Gvardiol cleared Josh King's goal-bound effort off the line, a fitting end to what was a crazy encounter in the capital.
It was Fulham's first top-flight game to see nine or more goals since a 7-2 loss at West Ham in February 1968, and their first at home since a 6-3 loss to Aston Villa in September 1965.
"Of course, we take many positives from the game, but the feeling is not the best, as you would expect," Silva told BBC Match of the Day.
"Before the game, we had the ambition and the conditions, I believe, to get a different result. Massive respect to City.
"The way we started made [the game] more difficult for us. We were too soft, we didn't start on the front foot, like we should start these games. The first 20 minutes were difficult. We conceded the second goal too soft.
"The reaction of the team was always good, even after 1-0, we had a big chance through Emile [Smith Rowe] to score to equalise the game.
"It's a game where you score four goals and lose at home, the feeling is not good.
"I told the players at half-time: 'I have a feeling you are going to score in the second half'. In the first minutes of the second half, we conceded straight away.
"The reaction was top, the belief that they showed there. We didn't take any points, but we took many, many things from this game which will help us to win games in the future."
Indeed, Fulham lost a home league match while scoring as many as four goals for just the second time in their history, previously going down 6-4 against Leicester City in the second tier in September 1952.
And the result meant the Cottagers lost their 16th consecutive Premier League meeting with City, and 19th in all competitions, both record runs for consecutive defeats for one side against another in English league history.
But one positive for Fulham was the performance from half-time substitute Chukwueze, who built on his impressive showing during their victory over Tottenham last time out.
The winger ended the game with team-high totals for shots (four), touches in the opposition box (three) and successful dribbles (two), while only Iwobi (23) and Berge (14) played more passes in the final third than Chukwueze's 13.
"It was a crazy game. I like the spirit of the team, almost coming back. [It is a] difficult one to take, but we keep our heads up," Chukwueze said after scoring his first two Premier League goals.
"I believed, we believed we could score the next goals. But we have to move on from it."
Vudbmopsuy
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Fulham deserve credit what a game of great excitement with some of the best goals but in the end there was just one winner and it was City