Tinkler also said his players would need to be braver if they are to avoid a similar slip up against Orlando Pirates, who they host at the same venue on Saturday.
“We lost because of a lack of possession, maintaining possession, that’s normally our strength,” said Tinkler, who is now back under pressure with his side down in 10th spot inn the standings.
“You know, normally, by halftime we’ve 300 successful passes. This game, I think we managed to just get over 200. Our possession stats were pure, our passing accuracy was poor. And that allowed them to come more and more into the game. We are supposed to be dominant at home, but that wasn't the case, it was 50-50,” bemoaned Tinkler.
“We struggled to link our play through the wide players and through our 10 in our line. And we seem to be going more sideways and backwards and we weren't really looking to take that risk of playing that deeper pause.”
Tinkler added it had been a disappointing performance: “I don't think it was the prettiest game that you've ever seen. I'm obviously disappointed, because I had the feeling we were playing with a fear of losing. And I said to the players at halftime, you can't play with the fear of losing, what you must play with is the fear of not winning. And that's the mentality you need to go out with in the second half. But we weren't connected today. I don't think we were brave enough and we ended up not collecting any points.”
The City coach said he was hoping for a bounce back on Saturday from his squad.
“You're a professional sportsman, you're going to have good days, and you're going to have bad days. And the most important thing is how you bounce back and what better opportunity than against Orlando Pirates,” he added.