Exeter head coach Rob Baxter was far from impressed with the performance of his side, despite the 30-25 bonus point win over Sale.
The Chiefs had overturned a 19-5 deficit to run out deserved winners but despite scoring four tries from Kai Horstmann, Olly Woodburn, Don Armand and Luke Cowan-Dickie, Exeter were nowhere near their best in this Aviva Premiership contest.
Henry Slade completed the hosts' scoring at Sandy Park by adding two conversions and two penalties but Baxter said: "I can't be happy at us playing at that level and we need to shake ourselves up for the remainder the season.
"We were disrupted in the first half and threw careless passes, which made it difficult for ourselves - and had we not scored just before interval the mountain may have been too high to climb.
"Perhaps after winning at Leicester we were riding on the crest of the wave but this was a real wake-up call for us as Sale have worried us down there in the past and we weren't ready for them.
"We had the Anglo-Welsh Cup to think about in the interim and perhaps we got slightly the wrong focus by tilting too much towards those games."
A resilient Sale gave a much improved performance and thoroughly deserved their bonus point despite being outscored by four tries to one.
Denny Solomona scored his 10th try in only 11 matches for the club while AJ MacGinty's kicking was particularly impressive - he was faultless in the tricky windy conditions by succeeding with six penalties and a conversion.
Sale director of rugby Steve Diamond said: "I'm disappointed we didn't win the game but I'm satisfied with the bonus point as we had a blip against Northampton in our last league game, when we didn't turn up.
"Exeter are a good side and the try we conceded just before half-time was probably crucial but we made a couple of basic errors at vital times.
"I'm pleased we stopped them playing as they thought they could just kick to the corners and score but our line-out defence was very good and I'm happy that we had them thinking outside the box.
"Denny Solomona is a world class finisher, that's why he scored 40 tries in Super League last season. He's great at taking opportunities and is a bright spark for rugby union.
"AJ MacGinty has settled in well and his goal-kicking was superb. He also showed excellent composure at the end to set up the opportunity to get us a bonus point."
Source: PA
