Ajax coach Martin Jol said his side lacked creativity after going down 2-1 at home to FC Utrecht and surrendering top spot in the Eredivisie.
A pair of Ricky van Wolfswinkel penalties earned Utrecht their first away success of the season at the Amsterdam ArenA on Sunday and condemned Jol's side to their first league defeat of the campaign.
Uruguay striker Luis Suarez hit a post in the second half but the hosts could not engineer a comeback, with a stoppage-time strike from Siem De Jong arriving too late to save their unbeaten record.
"You hope to get past a 0-2 deficit with the players' class," said Jol.
"You also need to be creative. We missed the creativity today.
"At the end of the day, every match is a separate incident. You can lose any given match. I can't say that we did everything we could today."
Utrecht won their first spot-kick in the fifth minute when Suarez handled Dries Mertens' corner and was shown a yellow card. Van Wolfswinkel placed the penalty into the bottom-left corner with Maarten Stekelenburg diving the wrong way.
The Utrecht striker then gave his side a 2-0 advantage nine minutes later after Eyong Enoh pushed Edouard Duplan over as he attempted to reach Mertens' cross.
"The way the first goal came about was annoying," admitted Jol.
"Of course you don't get it, but these things happen.
"We're not used to being down 0-2 at home - or away, for that matter.
"Going down after two penalties just doesn't happen in the ArenA.
"You just hope to score a quick goal, to make something happen. But our goal didn't come until late. Utrecht defended well."
The defeat enabled PSV Eindhoven to take over at the summit courtesy of their 3-0 home victory over VVV Venlo.
