ADELAIDE coach Brenton Sanderson isn't concerned about the Crows' 15-game losing streak in Victoria ahead of the its clash with Carlton at Etihad Stadium, claiming his pre-season arrival at West Lakes wiped the slate clean.

The Crows haven't won in Victoria since they coincidentally thrashed Carlton by 72 points in round 22, 2009, but Sanderson said he wouldn't even bring the trend up with the players.

"It's a tricky one for me because I've obviously only just come into the job," Sanderson said.

"We've had good wins on the road already, we've beaten Sydney away, we beat Gold Coast in round one, so it doesn't matter which border you cross - it's still an away game.

"The Melbourne hoodoo, I won't be talking about it with the players, it's just a great opportunity to play well against Carlton…it's not something that I'm losing any sleep over."

Despite losing to St Kilda on Monday night, Carlton remains inside the top four; one win back from the Crows, who sit third on percentage.

The Saints' smalls proved too illusive in their side's 24-point win, with Stephen Milne, Terry Milera and Ahmed Saad booting nine goals between them.

While Adelaide also boasts a host of damaging small forwards, Sanderson warned that just because a side experienced success with a certain tactic one week, it didn't promise the same would work again the next.

But he admitted going into the match with a short attack was something he would look at.

"You can sometimes overreact to what happens in a previous week," he said.

"You can't just say that just because St Kilda's smalls kicked goals then we'll load up with a small forward line.

"We've got some small forwards in form, [Jared] Petrenko and [Matthew] Wright, [Ian] Callinan, [Graham] Johncock last week was fantastic, so we can throw some different looks at Carlton.

"It will be something we will definitely consider, going small at times."

Regardless of Adelaide's approach, Sanderson insisted the Blues should not be taken lightly, labeling them as "almost unbeatable" at their peak.

"Across every line they seem to have a real match-winner," he said.

"Their forward line's got the speed with Eddie Betts, [Jeffery] Garlett and [Jarrad] Waite, their midfield's obviously packed with talent with [Marc] Murphy and [Chris] Judd and [Kade] Simpson and [Heath] Scotland.

"Their best is almost unbeatable."

Sanderson said the key to the match would be the pressure that his side could exert on Carlton's players, an area of the game he'd like to see as Adelaide's "trademark".

"I think our ability to put pressure on the opposition should be a bit of a trademark for us," he said.

"It doesn't matter who you play, whether it's Carlton this week or Collingwood the week after, you've just got to ensure you put pressure on the opposition every chance you get."

Harry Thring covers Adelaide news for AFL.com.au. Follow him on Twitter: @AFL_Harry.