Shandong Luneng head coach Mano Menezes said on Wednesday his side's loss to Seoul FC could serve as a wake-up call reminding them to face the problems hidden behind consecutive wins.
Luneng were riding a four straight wins streak in the Asian Champions League before they lost to Seoul FC 4-1 at home on Wednesday.
"Those wins covered our problems, we need to find ways to deal with them," said Menezes.
Seoul FC showed strong determination with fierce attack from the very beginning, and their efforts paid off at the 27th minute when Carlos Adriano opened the scoring.
Jucilei da Silva equalized for Luneng at the 62nd minute with a header. Then the hosts suffered a six-minute slaughter to concede three goals.
"No coach could foresee that we would be scored against three times in six minutes," Menezes said. "At that moment, our more experienced players should have stood out to calm our team down. But you have to say that the opponents are strong and took advantage of our chaotic organization."
Seoul FC head coach Choi Yong-soo, who led the team to finish runners-up in 2013 ACL, attributed the 4-1 win to team play.
"I asked my players to stay concentrated from the start, set the pace and stay patient even when Luneng scored," Choi said.
Seoul FC are now leading Group F with nine points, followed by Luneng with six.
Seoul FC will host Luneng next round in April.