Nigel Clough on the key thing he thinks was missing from Burton Albion against Aston Villa and Wolves

Burton Albion's insatiable desire to defend their own goal was at the heart of their stunning Championship survival last season.

And Nigel Clough believes a lack of that characteristic played its part in their heavy defeats to Aston Villa and Wolverhampton Wanderers over the past week at the Pirelli Stadium.

The Brewers suffered back-to-back 4-0 losses at the hands of the promotion-chasing pair to send them into the current international break in flat mood.

Clough was forced into a couple of changes for the visit of Wolves on Saturday, Tom Flanagan and Lloyd Dyer coming in on either flank following injuries to John Brayford and Ben Turner in midweek.

Hope Akpan was the third switch from the Villa game, replacing Marvin Sordell as Lucas Akins moved up front in a continuation of the 3-5-2 system they have favoured so far this campaign.

But while he did consider a change in setup for the Wolves clash, Clough points to another factor of his side's performance as to why they were so far off the in-form duo.

"That's what we deliberated with, having lost Brayford and Turner, and with no Joe Mason - we deliberated over whether we should change the formation," said Clough.

"I don't think it was down to formation - it usually isn't.

"It's down to the same old basic things, of a desire to keep the ball out of your net, first and foremost - and then everything goes from there.

"It wasn't there, it hasn't been there for the last four days really.

"It was there at QPR when we defended, it was there at Norwich City, it was there at home to Fulham.

"When you concede eight goals at home in four days, then it's not there."

While Albion have struggled to keep the ball out of their net in recent days, a more common issue since the opening weekend of the campaign has been their ability to beat their opponents at the other end.

Clough's side have scored in only four of their 11 League fixtures so far this season, and in only one of their last six, when they secured a superb 2-1 triumph over Fulham.

For now, though, Clough is more concerned with tightening up at the back, believing that would help spark more opportunities in front of goal for his forwards.

Asked about what needed to improve after the international break, he added: "Just a basic desire not to concede goals, which we have shown in some games, but then in other games, we haven't.

"You cannot say, 'well this week we're going to be okay, and then next week we are going to concede four'.

"You can't do that in football. We are certainly not good enough to compete on those terms.

"So it's back to basics, and competing, keeping the ball out of our net.

"It might sound silly, but we aren't too interested in scoring at the moment.

"We are interested in stopping leaking goals, and from that, we will get goals."