Senior Coach Don Pyke says securing the four points – not percentage points – will be Adelaide’s focus heading into Sunday’s twilight clash with Essendon.

The Crows slipped from second to sixth on the AFL ladder after losing to Geelong last weekend; only percentage splits teams from second to seventh on the ladder.

Against the bottom-placed Bombers, many see this week as a chance for Adelaide to make up that valuable percentage.

Pyke refused to buy-in to such thinking and, after watching the Bombers live last weekend, claimed they were a larger threat than their 37-point defeat to the Lions suggested.

“We’re not in that headspace at all,” he said on Thursday.

“Last week wasn’t the result we were after. We’ve reviewed that and the guys are pretty keen to atone for a performance which wasn’t like us. We were beaten at the contest and we were beaten in tackles, our pressure around the ball wasn’t to the standard we’ve had throughout the year.

“We’re going to focus on Essendon and on playing our way … we’ll take the result whatever that brings.

“Although the results don’t indicate it, they (the Bombers) have been playing really well … they had 66 inside 50s last week, they had more scoring shots than their opponents the last three games.

“They’ve got some real credentials to do some damage. We take nothing lightly.”

Adelaide will be without captain Taylor Walker on Sunday.

Walker, who has an ankle injury, will miss his first game since May 2014.

All-Australian defender Daniel Talia has overcome a corked hip and is expected to play.

Pyke said the Crows wouldn’t rest players for the sake of it leading into finals.

“We’ll pick our best available (team). We won’t get too cute on the way through. I think there’s a real risk in doing that,” he said.

“Clearly, if there are guys in need of a rest or have got injuries that they’re carrying, we’ll manage them accordingly but otherwise we’ll keep the team rolling.”