CARLTON ruckman Matthew Kreuzer shared in the frustration of his fellow Blues following their 13-point defeat to St Kilda on Sunday afternoon.

The Blues showed plenty of fight in the Round 10 clash, but it was the Saints that eventually pinched the win at Marvel Stadium.

Kreuzer reflected on the performance when speaking to media on Monday morning.

“It was one of those games, we were right in it and played some good footy but then we let ourselves down with our skills,” Kreuzer said.

“We know what we have to do, sometimes we waiver a little bit and we don’t quite get that job done but it really hurts not getting over the line.”

Despite the loss, the Blues recaptured the physicality in the contest characteristic of earlier performances this season.

A noticeable lift in pressure from last week’s defeat to GWS saw the Blues narrowly outrank the Saints in tackles.

“It’s not so much a tick, but that’s something we need to bring every week,” he said of the Blues’ pressure.

“It’s AFL footy, you need to have that with you every week to be in games. We know that’s sort of baseline and we just need to keep growing on that now.”

Although Carlton struggled with its midfield-forward connection against the Saints, Kreuzer is confident the tall forward line is more than capable.

“We’ve shown before than our forward line can function really well, but it’s a whole team thing how we deliver the ball and work together,” he said.

“It’s a mixture of things, it could be the way the ball is coming in or the way the defence is playing so we just need to identify that during the game.”

With inconsistent performances over the previous rounds, the Blues are more eager than ever to get themselves back in the winning circle.

“We want to go in every week and we want to win. We want to win for the fans and the members and everyone involved at the footy club,” he said.

“We’ve just got to keep concentrating on what we can control and bring that effort and finishing off games.”

The Blues will face traditional rivals Essendon in what will be a crucial clash for both sides heading towards the bye rounds.

“It’s going to be a tough week, they’ve obviously been going pretty well so we’re going to have bring that effort and focus on our skills,” he said of the Bombers.