Eleven rounds into the 2013 season, Mick Malthouse says he is still trying to work out which Carlton players can stand up in pressure moments against the AFL's best teams.

The Blues' five-point loss to Essendon at the MCG on Friday night was bitterly disappointing because they had led by 31 points at the 14-minute mark of the third term. 

While that lead could have been even bigger if they had better converted their dominance in the first half on the scoreboard, the Carlton coach wasn't interested in hard-luck stories after the match.

His team has now had four losses of 17 points or less, three of them to teams with genuine top-four aspirations – Collingwood, Geelong and Essendon.

It's evidence enough for Malthouse that his team is falling short of the competition's best teams.

"We've played some pretty good football sides," Malthouse said.

"What I'm trying to do and what I'm trying to learn is who can stand up when the pressure gets applied to play the right card at the right moment.

"That's still an area where some do and then sometimes they don't. 

"We're trying to track our best 22 who can make the right decisions at the right times under that sort of pressure. 

"We'll get there. I think the 22, they've all displayed they can, it's just that at the moment we're not running the whole 100 minutes of football."

Malthouse won't have to wait long to see his players tested against the best teams again. The Blues' next three games are against Hawthorn, the Sydney Swans and Collingwood.

He said for the Blues to bridge the gap between the top-four teams, they had to produce their best football more consistently. 

"Every game we've lost, we've lost over a period of minutes at a quarter. That may well be 10 minutes in that first quarter, it may have been 10 minutes in the last quarter, but I can identify minutes nearly every game that have cost us the game," Malthouse said.

"Sides think that it's hard luck, but it's not hard luck. You're playing a better side that knows how to handle that situation better, more consistently and over time. 

"We have to elevate ourselves to the point where we can identify those times and then get people to lead out on the ground and also to act appropriately to the occasion."

Malthouse said the goal-umpiring decision that cost Jeff Garlett what replays suggested was a goal at the 12-minute mark of the first quarter was incorrect and should have been reviewed, but otherwise praised the standard of umpiring.

"That quality of umpiring today I thought was outstanding given the surface and allowed the game to be played with two good football sides going at each other," Malthouse said. 

"Now, that (Garlett) decision … it's either a mark or a goal the way I see it, it can't be a point. 

"When you got that availability (of a score review) you should use it, but I'm loathe to criticise after today's performance."

Chris Yarran played as Carlton's substitute in his second game back from a hamstring injury. It was a tactic that raised some eyebrows before Friday night's game, but Malthouse said it was made due to team balance.

"You can't just force-feed everyone playing forward, you've got to get balance," he said.