Slavisa Jokanovic had no complaints after watching winless Maccabi Tel-Aviv suffer a 3-1 loss at home to Porto.
Maccabi suffered a fourth consecutive Champions League defeat against the Portuguese side, who are edging closer to a last-16 berth.
Porto, who won the reverse game 2-0 last month, were a class above against the Israeli champions but they did at least have Eran Zahavi's goal, their first in the competition this season, to cheer.
"Porto showed a difference in our box and sometimes in the midfield and they also won challenges as well," Maccabi boss Jokanovic told the club's official website.
"We are working hard and the first two chances when they scored were not great and they missed a few opportunities but they showed their qualities.
"The team followed my instructions for the match but it wasn't good enough to take points today."
Maccabi are rooted to the foot of Group G without a win and lie five points adrift of third-placed Dynamo Kiev heading into the final two matches.
Jokanovic added: "When I saw our group I believed we could take 18 points. This is my profession and I try to keep improving both myself and my team.
"It's a long season ahead of us as we still have two important games in the Champions League that will be a big test for us.
"We will have two matches before the Chelsea game and we will do everything to try and win the game."