Lehman is steeling himself for fierce criticism in America

Europe beat Lehman's side by a record-equalling 18�-9� margin to win the Cup for the third consecutive time.

"We have extremely talented players on our Tour," said Lehman, who said he would not captain the team in 2008.

"And things all have cycles. There will be a time when we're saying the Europeans are in danger because the American team is on top."

Interview: US team captain Tom Lehman

The 47-year-old admitted he was unable to explain why his side, who equalled their worst finish by picking up only three-and-a-half singles points on Sunday, had underperformed so badly this year.

Why are we not able to get the right kind of momentum going in the team? Tom Lehman

"We definitely came here extremely prepared, very ready to play and motivated, with a clear goal," he said.

"Everything you need to do to perform at your maximum level, we were ready to do. I'm not sure we left too many bases uncovered.

"We need to sit back and try to work out what can be done better.

"We need to reflect and look at everything, and say 'why?' Why are we not able to get the right kind of momentum going in the team?"

But Lehman also paid tribute to what he described as Europe's best-ever team.

"Around the greens Europe were simply magical and you can't do much about that," said the former Open champion.

RYDER CUP BLOG Our team came very ready - I guess we weren't quite ready enough Tom Lehman - plus other top quotes on our blog Ryder Cup blog: Have your say

"This was something truly exceptional."

US player David Toms defended his skipper ahead of the team's post-match get-together.

"We will talk about how much fun we had and what a great job Tom Lehman did for us," Toms said.

"We will look back and see we didn't perform for him."

Team-mate Jim Furyk added: "We got beaten in all aspects of this match. We haven't done well in the team format and we'll have to do better in the future."

The 2008 Ryder Cup will be held at the Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky.