Gary Johnson admitted City had been "second best" as they were beaten 3-0 by Sheffield United.

The City boss saw James Beattie bag a brace to help the Blades on their way to victory at Bramall Lane, with a Liam Fontaine own goal to boot.

 World TV: Gary Johnson video interview
 MATCH REPORT: Verdict on the 3-0 defeat

After the game Gary told Bristol City World: "We were second best, it was a poor performance.

"We know Sheffield United can put you under pressure, but we were okay up to 40 minutes.

"It was a bit Fred Carno leading up the first goal. We threw the ball out to them, then gave them a corner, from which we didn't pick up [Beattie].

"It was three set-pieces they scored from. We knew they were quite strong at that and worked quite hard to try and alleviate the problem. We didn't.

"I think the lads have lost a bit of their confidence and we have to spend the next couple of weeks having a look at that.

"We'll do what we need to do (during the international break) and I'll speak to Keith Millen and the staff.

"It's ten games and now it's become a poor start (to the season). We said in the week that it would be a good start if we had won today, now it's not so good.

"We have to adjust and make sure after the next ten games we're somewhere higher (in the table) than we are now."

So soon after the 3-0 defeat, Gary refused to be drawn on whether he was planning on making loan signings.

Instead he added: "We've got some players here that have done this club proud and we have to be very careful that we don't get too down, too quickly.

"We have to make the right decisions. I always said I'd fine tune and sometimes you have to make a major overhaul. I think we need somewhere in between that."