Lee Bowyer wants Charlton to show more of a competitive edge when they host Doncaster Rovers at The Valley on Saturday (3pm).
The Addicks recorded an excellent victory over Barnsley a fortnight ago but, since then, they have only picked up one point from a possible six.
And Bowyer believes that upping the competitive side of their game will be the key to them returning to winning ways.
“We need to get back to what we are good at; competing and moving the ball quickly,” he said. “Against Barnsley, it was the best we have played under myself as a team performance.
“It shows how good we are, so that is why I get so disappointed when we drop sloppy points. As bad as we were on Saturday [at Rochdale], we still missed penalty, hit the post, hit the bar, had a goal disallowed and their keeper was man of the match.
“We weren’t actually that bad but what disappointed me the most was the competing side of things. We didn’t compete like we normally do but now we have had a full week of training and preparations. I am expecting us to get back to what we are good at and to put a run together.”
Asked why his team’s two performances had dipped since the excellent win over Barnsley, Bowyer responded by saying.
He said: “It can happen. They are human beings and can’t be these machines every game.
“We put so much into the Barnsley game and on the Tuesday we were winning and then we had a decision go against us, they [Oxford] nicked a goal and on the Saturday maybe I should have freshened it up a bit more than I did with some fresher legs.
“I have to take some blame for the that, I have to learn from it and I have learned. We are all in this together, that’s us as a squad and the fans. They [the fans] have been excellent in the last three games and we are still only six points away from fifth with a game in hand.
“It doesn’t look good, the league position where we are at the moment, but we aren’t far off of it and there are 30-odd games to go. I know what we are capable of, the players do and we’ll just keep going and keep putting things right.”