Barcelona coach Luis Enrique admitted his team had played their worst game of the season at lowly Almeria on Saturday afternoon as half-time substitute Luis Suarez sparked a 2-1 comeback victory.
A much-changed Barca team was in deep trouble going into half-time 1-0 down, but improved after the break as Suarez laid on the equaliser for fellow replacement Neymar, and then the late winner for Jordi Alba.
But the Blaugrana outfit played no better than they had in recent La Liga defeats to Real Madrid and Celta Vigo, something which their coach admitted at his postgame news conference at the Estadio Juegos Mediterraneos.
"It was our worst game of the season, the result does not cover things we did badly," Enrique said. "We turned it around by showing attitude, will to win and ambition. To have success you must win even when you play badly, like today.
"We are not going to hide anything or make excuses. With the difficulties which Almeria caused for us, with the continuous imprecision and the lack of fluidity in our play, the result is the best thing from today."
Asked about the performance of Lionel Messi -- who headed against the crossbar twice but again failed to find the goal needed to equal Telmo Zarra's 60-year La Liga all-time scoring record -- Enrique would not single out individuals, but stated the team had not played well collectively.
"I prefer to judge the team," he said. "The individuals are less important. We must improve to get back to our football and keep winning games and picking up points. That is the objective."
Suarez and Neymar had started the game on the bench along with Dani Alves and Gerard Pique -- with the centre-back reportedly out of favour -- as Enrique continued with his heavy rotation policy.
Asked what he had been looking for with so many changes, and the point in development he thought his team was now at, the Asturian suggested the was still experimenting with his team to find the best blend.
"You never know if so many changes will have an effect," he added. "We are not in any exact point. This will be a continual process of improving things and to see whether in others you do not improve. The objective is to get back to 'our football.'"