Wayne Bennett says England need to learn how to win close games after they were beaten 17-16 by New Zealand in their Four Nations opener.
England have a history of coming up just short against the world's best sides and they already face a mountain to climb in the competition following a narrow defeat to a Kiwis outfit inspired by Shaun Johnson.
The scrum-half broke England hearts in the 2013 World Cup semi-finals and he tormented Bennett's team on Saturday with his brilliant kicking game, adding a try and the winning drop goal to crown a man-of-the-match performance.
Johnson's one-pointer came with 15 minutes left on the clock but England were unable to find a winning score despite having good field position in the closing stages.
"Everything was there but the smarts (intelligence)," said Bennett, who replaced Steve McNamara as head coach after last year's series win over New Zealand.
"I'm disappointed with the result but not the effort. England have got a history of not winning close games and we've got to learn how to do it. It's a part of the process.
"But I thought we were outstanding. It was a quality game of football and we participated in it right to the death.
"We're on a bit of a journey; it was never going to be a quick fix. But we've been together just two weeks and I think we've come a long way in two weeks personally."
England now face the daunting task of beating Australia in a fortnight to keep alive their hopes of reaching the Anfield final - but Bennett is looking no further than next week's match against Scotland, who were comfortably beaten by the Kangaroos on Friday night.
"We always had to play them and play well against them," he added.
"We just have to get to that game. We have Scotland first and will take one game at a time.
"You've got to understand the effort and commitment was here today and we've got to maintain that.
"We beat ourselves. We had a try disallowed in the first half and gave a penalty away. The next 12 minutes was where the game was lost."
New Zealand head coach David Kidwell, who took over from Stephen Kearney ahead of the tournament, was understandably delighted after earning a crucial win as the Kiwis aim to defend the trophy they won in 2014.
He said: "What a Test match. It had everything. That's what Test matches are meant to be about.
"We had a bit of adversity that we had to overcome and we just covered each other out there today.
"England started like a house on fire and for us to get back in the game like we did was a wonderful effort.
"It's my first win as New Zealand coach and it's very humbling. But we know we've got a tough match (against Australia) next week."