Carlton coach Brett Ratten has again savaged his team for the woeful loss to Essendon, saying several players can expect to be dropped.

Ratten is also unsure whether erratic full-forward Brendan Fevola will be fit for Sunday's Subiaco clash against Fremantle, after needing surgery on a little finger over the weekend.

But Bret Thornton will return to shore up the defence in place of the injured Paul Bower.

While there is widespread talk about the prospect of omitting experienced players such as Fevola, Nick Stevens and Heath Scotland after the 69-point thrashing on Friday night, Ratten says the whole team must share the blame.

"There could be up to three or four changes, depending on how it all pans out," Ratten said.

"I hear he (Fevola) should play, but then it will come down to his touch and training later in the week - but he won't train today.

"Where was the fight when we were going down a bit? ... to maybe just change the way the game was going and to mix it up and just do something.

"You hear John Kennedy talk about `just do' - I just didn't think we had too much of that."

Ratten admitted it was probably his most disappointing loss as coach.

He partially defended Fevola for his opponent, young key defender Tayte Pears, being able to run down the field.

Pears was named this week's Rising Star nominee.

While the coach said Fevola's defensive game sometimes needed work, he added players further up the field should have helped.

"He was a part of it, but there were other players who didn't assist teammates as well," Ratten said.

"All-in-all, if we're going to get better, whether it's player one or player 45, we've got to assist each other a lot better than that - where one player can actually run the full length of the field and pass three players and no-one comes off to pick him up.

"That says a few things to me, that we're not in it together."

There have been accusations in the media this week that Ratten is not tough enough with his players, but he said the team had seen his nasty side after the Bombers loss.

He added there was a need to strike a careful balance between ripping into the players and maintaining their confidence ahead of the crucial game against the Dockers.

Ratten notes that only two games ago, Carlton scored a great win over Brisbane at the `Gabba.

"You reflect and think maybe that one was out of character," he said.

"We wait as much as maybe the media - what our team's response is after a performance like that, how are they going to come back?"

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