Tim Sherwood dismissed fears over Aston Villa's stuttering start after their second straight derby defeat.
The boss insisted there is no need to panic after their 1-0 home defeat to West Brom.
Saido Berahino scored a first-half winner on his return to the Baggies starting line-up for the first time following his strike threat this month.
Villa host fierce rivals Birmingham in the Capital One Cup on Tuesday but Sherwood remains unconcerned after winning four points from their first six games following last week's 3-2 defeat at Leicester.
"No, I am always looking to improve and see what we can improve on," he said.
"You learn more and more every week in terms of individuals and how you set up as a team. It's my job to try and put that right and find the right ingredients.
"There is still a long time left in this season. There's no need for panic.
"We try and play to a certain style and we had a lot of flair players in the team. Those flair players have to realise they need to put a shift in to do the ugly stuff."
Micah Richards added to AVTV: "I don't think we got going, against Leicester we were outstanding for 70 minutes and then crumbled in the last 20.
"On Saturday either team could have taken it. I don't think we turned up and we weren't playing our free-flowing football so we're very disappointed. Tony Pulis came to do a job and in the end got the three points."
Berahino netted his first goal of the season and threw his shirt into the travelling fans at the final whistle.
He threatened to strike after Albion rejected two deadline-day bids from Tottenham for the forward and boss Tony Pulis believes the 22-year-old showed his quality on his return.
He said: "Saido isn't fit yet - he's miles off in terms of where we want him to be. There are certain things he does that shows he's different - he's got quality in his passing, his touch is good, his movement is good and he scores goals.
"He needs to get his head down and concentrate on what he does best - play football."
Source: PA
