ADELAIDE coach Phil Walsh says the Crows' "embarrassing" skills must get better if they're to break out of the middle of the pack in the second half of the season.

The Crows were lucky to escape with a nine-point win on Saturday against Carlton at the MCG, having butchered the ball by foot around the ground and in front of goal.

Walsh said his team was a game behind where he thought it might be heading into the bye, and said skill implementation was a crucial area they had to work on in the second half of the season.

"We've got to improve our kicking. It's as simple as that – both for goal and our field kicking. That will be a massive emphasis," Walsh said.

"We really struggled today, our skills were embarrassing at times, which is a bit of a sign of tiredness, but I was still happy they found a way to win when they could have said this is a bit too hard and Carlton had great momentum in that last quarter.

"I'm a coach who wants to kick the ball, and it's no good kicking the ball if you kick it back to the opposition in this competition.

"You just get burned on the counterattack and that's what we invited too much today."

WATCH: Phil Walsh's full post-match media conference

Midfielder Patrick Dangerfield, who was arguably the Crows' best along with Josh Jenkins, who kicked five goals, said there was relief associated with the result.

The Crows enter their bye with six wins and four losses, and a home encounter with the premiers waiting the week after.

"It wasn't a pretty win, or a pretty game, but the most important thing for us is we came here to get a win and that's what we've done," Dangerfield told AFL.com.au

"They got off to a good start but we made some critical errors by foot in almost undefendable positions on the ground.

"[But] you tick that box and there's certainly things we can improve in the game, but we go into the bye in reasonably healthy shape."

The Blues had 190 handballs to 127, which Walsh said contributed to the fact the home team's efficiency appeared higher.

But he said the Crows would have to get the basics right if they had any hope of contending for a top four position in the run to the finals.

"Six and four, we're back in the pack so we've got to produce a better effort than that to think that we can challenge when we really want to," he said.

"I was really disappointing with our skill level and our goal kicking.

"I thought at times they walked through our tackles as well so we have a lot of work to do.

"We hope to get a few players back in the second half of the season and we need to work hard and train hard and that's what we'll do."