Tony Popovic has urged his Western Sydney players for "move on quickly" after their Asian Champions League campaign got off to the worst possible start in Campbelltown.
Tuesday night's 4-0 opening-game hammering by Japanese giants Urawa Red Diamonds leaves the Wanderers last in arguably the toughest of the eight groups, and already on an unenviable goal difference.
The Reds top Group F while cashed-up Chinese heavyweights Shanghai SIPG sit second after beating reigning K-League champions FC Seoul 1-0.
If Popovic ever needed a deflating reminder of the class the Wanderers overcame to lift the 2014 trophy, their rapid and brutal second-half submission was it.
For the majority of his squad who have zero ACL experience, the club's worst-ever continental defeat was a jarring preview of exactly what they're up against.
Not that there's time to dwell. Perth await on Saturday in an A-League clash crucial to the Wanderers' precarious playoff aspirations.
Three days after that they must be ready to battle Andre Villas-Boas' SIPG outfit boasting Brazil stars Oscar and Hulk in Shanghai.
"I told the players we have to learn from that and move on quickly," Popovic said. "There's no time, so you have to learn.
"We know they're a good side, we know all the sides are very good -- we've experienced that before.
"That's something we knew beforehand but a lot of these players hadn't experienced that before.
"They'll go home knowing that they got a lesson, and come tomorrow we've got to prepare for Perth and then go to Shanghai and put it right."
How Popovic juggles his squad throughout the gruelling period will be a source of intrigue.
On Tuesday he opted for six changes to the starting XI that knocked Sydney FC off their undefeated pedestal on the weekend, thrusting untested 18-year-old striker Abraham Majok into the mix and deploying the recently out-of-favour Aritz Borda and Brendan Hamill in central defence.
Popovic defended the unavoidable surgery and declared his lineup as good as any A-League side, and one that could have earned a better result but for the defensive errors that ultimately proved their undoing.
"Of course you lose 4-0 at home and we're not happy about that, but it won't change what we expect in Shanghai," he said.
"It will be the same. They've got class players just like the Reds have and if you make mistakes you'll get punished."