Carlton coach Mick Malthouse believes his AFL side have too many passengers, likening a 34-point loss to Collingwood to the miserable defeat at the hands of Melbourne.

The Blues were outclassed by their arch-rivals at the MCG on Friday night and remain 16th on the ladder with two wins from the opening seven rounds.

It looms as a long season for Carlton, who were two wins away from making the grand final last year.

“We’re trying to regenerate our list, and by doing that you take some heavy falls,” Malthouse said.

“Now we want to see players that you expect more from be far more consistent and far more caring.”

Malthouse opted against singling out some of his players after the one-sided defeat.

“He had plenty of friends that didn’t perform,” the three-time premiership coach replied tersely when asked about Kane Lucas, who was subbed off in the third quarter.

“You were at the same game as me,” he added when quizzed about Dale Thomas’ underwhelming first game against his old club

But the 60-year-old made it clear his charges were on notice.

“Our side right now has got passengers,” he said.

“I couldn’t put a figure on the number, but we have players that just don’t or can’t give that consistency.”

Malthouse believed the contest was similar to the shock loss to the Demons in round four, at which point the Blues had yet to register a win.

“They beat us like this,” he said.

“Different scorelines and result. But very similar traits, so our consistency is one of the things I spoke about pre-match.

“We’ve got some work to do, we know that.”

Malthouse said the club was not in a position to make wholesale changes for Monday week’s clash with St Kilda, and that it wasn’t the answer at any rate.

“We’re not in a position where we can start picking our 31st player and think he’s going to make a massive difference,” he said.