Burton Albion's blunt attacking edge is down to more than just strikers, says Nigel Clough.
Albion have scored just two goals in their last seven matches, drawing blanks in their past four outings.
The return of Liam Boyce from a serious knee injury and the signing of Darren Bent in January was viewed as a solution to Burton's shyness in front of goal.
Clough's side have scored just one goal more than the league's lowest scorers, Birmingham City, and their inability to take their chances has heaped pressure on their defence.
It's not just the strikers who are fluffing their lines, though, with Lloyd Dyer and Hope Akpan coming close in Tuesday night's 2-0 defeat to Sheffield United.
And that is what bothers Clough, a former striker himself, the most about the Brewers' lack of a cutting edge.
"We're missing chances all throughout the team," he said.
"It's not down to just the strikers.
"Benty's missed a few, Liam Boyce missed a good one on Saturday (in the 0-0 draw with Bristol City).
"But it's all throughout the team - everybody's got to take responsibility for scoring goals.
"And that goes for stopping them as well.
"Defending from the front's a big thing, and so is scoring goals."
A lack of shots has, predictably, translated into a lack of goals in Burton's side this season.
The Brewers are bottom of the league for attempting shots in a match according to online statistics website WhoScored, with just 8.2 tries per match.
And the former Nottingham Forest marksman puts that down to a lack of confidence in his side.
"That comes with confidence," Clough added.
"It goes hand-in-hand - a confident team will be getting shots off from 20 yards.
"We tend to pass it more despite every training session we have, the players are encouraged and asked to shoot from anything around the edge of the box.
"Get your shots off, hit the target and make sure there’s a rebound coming out.
"When you're in that game situation and you're not scoring goals and you're not confident, then maybe there's a tendency to push it to once side to somebody else to have a go."
