Adelaide United coach Rini Coolen understands his side needs to snap out of their rut they find themselves in.

The Reds dropped their third match in a row yesterday with a 2-0 loss to Central Coast Mariners at Bluetongue Stadium which Coolen described as a 'flat' performance.

"It was a relatively flat game. I think we had the better chances in the first half and then they scored the goal through a mistake, so we changed the system to be a little bit more attacking and you felt we were going to create some chances to score, but then they scored through an own goal and you knew the game was over," he said.

And Coolen is well aware that not taking your chances can be detrimental when the side is not playing particularly well all over the pitch.

"In a game like today, you maybe get two or three opportunities and at those moments you have to score," he added.

"Our organisation was ok but not good enough to win the game. It wasn't necessary to lose the game again but we were not good enough to win it and that's something we have to work on because at the moment we are not in a good situation."