Borussia Dortmund manager Peter Bosz downplayed his leaky defence's role in the 4-2 defeat at Hannover, instead blaming the loss on an overall lack of intensity.
The visitors, who had Dan-Axel Zagadou sent off on the hour, slumped to a second defeat in three Bundesliga matches as Bayern Munich opened up a three-point lead in first.
At the forefront of Bosz's problems is a back four which has now conceded nine goals in three league games and come under criticism for being exposed in behind.
But the Dutch coach offered a simple explanation for his team's capitulation on Saturday.
"Hannover was much more aggressive, that was the problem," Bosz told Sky Sport Germany.
"You can talk about systems but if you do not play aggressively, you cannot play a system.
"Hannover attacked very early and defended one-on-one for the whole match. We were not able to play our football.
"It has nothing to do with us defending too high."
1 - only won 1 of the last 5 competitive games (2 draws, 2 defeats). Crisis? October 28, 2017
Hannover boss Andre Breitenreiter took a different view, claiming his side - which climbed to an impressive fourth - was specifically set up to exploit Dortmund's risky positioning.
"[Our plan] was to hunt, to fight against our opponents and to repeatedly use our fast players in the space that was offered to us," Breitenreiter said.
"From the first minute to the last the guys did it perfectly."
