Eels coach Brad Arthur said some "dumb" options rather than key injuries were to blame for his team's 28-0 drubbing at the hands of the Roosters on Thursday night.
Having spent the entire season in the NRL's top four, the Eels have now lost three of their past four matches and scored only 48 points across those four games.
With star halfback Mitchell Moses on the sidelines due to a back injury they have scored just two tries in the past 160 minutes of football.
"Disappointing. We played pretty dumb at times, did some silly things on the field," Arthur said after being held scoreless by the Roosters.
"I thought the effort was there – I know the scoreline doesn't reflect it but when you put yourself under that much pressure with some dumb things that we did, not playing as a team."
Match Highlights: Roosters v Eels
With Moses out due to a back injury, the Eels' attack struggled to fire against a tough but injury-affected Roosters side.
Parramatta had injury problems of their own on Thursday night with Reagan Campbell-Gillard sidelined early in the match due to a groin strain and Waqa Blake failing a HIA following a head knock.
"That didn't help, but that's footy. You've got to fight through those times," Arthur said.
Parramatta have one of the toughest schedules in the lead-in to the finals with matches against the Rabbitohs, Sea Eagles, Cowboys, Storm and Panthers.
"We've got to move on to our next opposition, Souths, and they're a tough opposition," the coach said.
"When we play as a team, the majority of times we can win those games, but I just thought we played as individuals tonight and did some dumb things."
Arthur had no issue with the team's relocation to Queensland due to COVID-19 restrictions.
"It's what it is. We're just grateful we get the chance to keep playing and keep the competition going. There's plenty of people who are stuck in Sydney in way worse conditions than us," he said.
"We've got a job to do, we didn't do it tonight and we need to be better next week."
