"We forgot to play football in that first half, we were too impressed by the surroundings and the team we were facing," said Gerets.
"If you play like that with stars in your eyes, then you end up losing. If we had played in the first half like we did in the second it would have been a different story.
"In that second period the team played so much better and attacked more and caused them many problems.
"We could easily have scored more, we missed some late chances to equalise. Now we are crying and unhappy and I am angry that too many players made too many mistakes at crucial times to give them goals.
"Of course I have to compliment my players for coming back in the second half but we deserved to lose based on our first half display."