Borussia Dortmund defender Mats Hummels has hit out at manager Lucien Favre's tactics after his side were humiliated 5-1 by Stuttgart on Saturday.
It was a humbling afternoon at Signal Iduna Park for Favre's side, who went into the break level after Giovanni Reyna equalised with a fine goal following Stuttgart's opener from Silas Wamangituka.
But the home side were blown away in the second half, as Wamangituka completed his brace before Stuttgart added three more goals to complete a surprising rout.
It was the third Bundesliga match in a row without a win for Dortmund, who are in danger of falling well off the pace of Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig at the top of the table.
Favre could be in danger of losing his job and Hummels did little to dispel that theory as he openly questioned his manager's tactics after the match.
"We always try to play small and small through narrow spaces and have a huge ball-loss rate," Hummels told Sky Germany. "If it works, it looks like nice football. But it rarely does. That requires too much skill."
"A lot went wrong today," the 31-year-old continued. "We didn't play a good first half either, but we went into the break happy to be level at 1-1."
Hummels said after half-time his side got extremely careless in possession, particularly during an 11-minute span in the second half that saw Stuttgart score three times.
"2-1, we gave the ball away. 3-1, we gave the ball away. 4-1, we gave the ball away," said Hummels. "We kept giving the ball away."
The former Germany international did also take time to give credit to Dortmund's opponents, who have moved up to sixth place in their first season back in the Bundesliga after being promoted from the second tier.
"They did an excellent job, like they have been the whole season," Hummels said. "They had a good plan, were aggressive and determined. And we weren't."
Favre's men will have to bounce back quickly, as they will take in another Bundesliga match on Tuesday when they travel to face Werder Bremen.