CARLTON coach Brett Ratten believes St Kilda counterpart Ross Lyon will abandon his ultra-defensive game plan and take the Blues on when they meet on Monday night.

The Saints were criticised for the number of players they put behind the ball against the Western Bulldogs in Friday night's dour struggle, but an impressive run of 12 wins against Carlton would be enough to bring them out of their shells, Ratten said.

"I expect them to go at the game," he said from Visy Park on Wednesday.

"I think they'll see that we had 150-odd points against [in last week's loss to Collingwood] and they'll back their ability to score. They'll take the game on a lot more than they have."

But while he thinks the game will be a more open affair, Ratten doesn’t count himself among the ranks of those who feel AFL coaches share a duty to deliver an aesthetically pleasing product to the fans.

"I'll have one point versus none if it means getting the four points," he said.

The Blues' last victory against St Kilda came in round 20 of the 2001 season. Ratten was at a loss to explain the alarming run of outs, but is certain he wants to see the end of it.

"Let's stop the cycle because 12 in a row is an enormous amount of games to play, and to have that losing streak is not great," he said.

"Some teams struggle to break the rhythm or the cycle that goes on and that's something that our club will be looking forward to on Monday. We're looking to break that cycle and hopefully it can go our way and start [a] one, two, three in a row sort of scenario, but we've got a big challenge against them."  

Ratten forecast some tinkering with his line-up following the loss to the Magpies with Jarrad Waite, Bret Thornton and Mitch Robinson the leading candidates to earn a recall.

The smaller forward set-up that includes Eddie Betts, Chris Yarran and Jeff Garlett has largely been a success in terms of goal production over the past three weeks, but a lack of forward pressure against the Pies clearly displeased the coach.

"It's something that's very exciting when those boys are up. Offensively and defensively I think it's a real challenge for the opposition, but last week I didn't see those boys contribute defensively as much as we've seen before," Ratten said.

"I think its horses for courses [at selection], but I think it's something where you can't go to the well every week and ask for that mix to do the job."

The round seven clash will mark Carlton's 2010 debut at Etihad Stadium. The fast surface would appear to be a worry given the poor team defence across the ground that Ratten lamented following last week's game, but he backed his players to make the most of the quick track.

"I think it will be good for our forwards. It will be nice and dry when the ball comes in so their opportunity to mark the ball [is greater] and our ability to create something at ground level is pretty exciting for us," he said.

"It should help us playing at [Etihad Stadium], but I think it's all about how quickly you can move the ball and what the opposition allows you to do. St Kilda just reduce your time and space and they do it extremely well."