SOUTHEND United manager Phil Brown feels a change of mentality and new players are needed to stop the rot at Roots Hall.

Blues have not won in eight games after Tuesday night’s disappointing 2-1 defeat at struggling Northampton Town.

But Brown has identified where he feels improvements need to be made.

“We’re looking at both ends of the pitch and we must have already made at least 20 enquiries on players this week,” said the Shrimpers chief.

“Graham Coughlan, Dave Penney, Steve Kavanagh and Ron Martin along with myself have all been manning the phones and we’re just waiting to see what happens with those targets.

“These things will soon start to fall in to place but we saw at Northampton on Tuesday night what difference loan players can make to a team and I think we need that too.

“We might need one or two or maybe three or four but we’re working tirelessly and we need to change the mentality of those we already have at the club as well.”

Up until losing to Hull City in the fourth round of the FA Cup, the Shrimpers had lost just once in 15 games.

And Brown is keen to get back to the mindset Blues had during those games and will continue working with a psychologist to help make that happen.

“I think psychology is a hugely untapped area of the sport and it’s one I’ve always made sure my teams so,” said Brown.

“We need to get back to how we were battling in the games against Chesterfield and Millwall and I do believe one win will see us go on another good run.”

Despite the run of bad results, the Shrimpers are still seventh in the table.

And Brown has not become despondent by the defeats.

“There was talk of a crisis in the press conference after the game on Tuesday but we’re still in the play-offs,” said the Blues boss.

“Injuries haven’t helped and we are likely to be without Adam Thompson and Luke Prosser again this weekend for the game against Wycombe unless a miracle happens.

“But I don’t think I’m a moaning type of manager so I’m not going to make excuses about our injuries and will instead focus on bringing in more players and working hard on turning things around.”