I don't think it's effort
I think we got knocked out of the game we like to play (lots of possession, lots of passes, pulling opposition out of place), a style that has worked against very good teams (we generally still have possession even against the best teams), and we didn't know how to respond/counter.
Our players should respond with "ok, they are breaking up our game, they are wasting time, they are squeezing us quite effectively", we are not going to accept that (this is the fight/mental part vs. "effort"), lets do "x" for the next 10 minutes and get back control, then take from there.
This is the leadership part, this is a gap with the youth and nature of some of our players (famous clams quote here), if you take the West Ham example where Ange made the Sarr/Maddison shift, argument could have been made that Maddison should have seen the pattern and dropped himself back and left to create the same effect.
This side could do with an old/experienced/successful head in the group
