Nigel Clough has hinted Burton Albion could stick with the system used in Saturday's loss to Preston North End.

But the Brewers boss does not believe his side are in a position to continue with one formation for a long stretch of games as they look to break out of a damaging run of form.

In their debut Championship campaign, Albion spent almost the entirety of the first half of the season in an attacking 3-5-2 formation, before shifting to a more pragmatic style from February onwards.

This time around, due to a variety of reasons including injuries and a lack of consistency from individual players and the team as a whole, Clough has altered his side's approach and formation more regularly.

Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough
Burton Albion manager Nigel Clough

He went with a 4-2-3-1 line-up against Preston, with Luke Murphy and Tom Naylor the deep-lying midfielders and a forward trio of Will Miller, Matt Palmer and Lloyd Dyer behind Lucas Akins.

And that could yet be the way they tackle Bolton Wanderers this weekend, with Clough keen to get players upfield as a means of improving his side's attacking intent.

"We like the idea of the formation - we are trying to get some more players forward," he said.

"It's almost four attackers on the pitch, we push Matt Palmer a little bit further forward.

"The only thing is that, at times, you have to be good enough to get the ball into those three players behind the striker.

"Sometimes, we are not quite good enough to do that.

Tom Naylor and Sunderland's Darron Gibson battle for possession

"I thought Tom Naylor acquitted himself well, sitting there with Luke Murphy.

"He gets forward, he gets on the ball, he disrupts play at times, so we were pleased with him on Saturday.

"We are not in a position, I don't think we're good enough to play one particular shape, either home or away, and say, 'let other teams deal with it'.

"We've always got to adjust to other teams and what they do, first of all, to try to stop them.

"I don't think we're quite good enough to impose ourselves with one particular formation."