Essendon coach Matthew Knights believes his side's 16-point win over Carlton was the perfect way to restore some self-belief after last weekend's thrashing by Geelong.

Knights said the hard-fought triumph over one of the Bombers' oldest rivals was immensely important as the players look to believe in his new-look attacking game plan.

"To bounce back and still have the confidence to come out and play hard and kick the amount of goals we did was a good sense that we're going to continue to evolve as a team and continue to develop our brand of footy," he told the media after the win.

"It was just great. We knew coming here tonight that Carlton was going to be hugely formidable and that Chris Judd and Nick Stevens are getting fitter by the week.

"I still said to the guys after the game, it's a good reward after three rounds to be two and one. We played the Kangaroos, who finished top four, Geelong won the premiership and Carlton is always tough.

"To be two and one after three is pleasing for the group."

Knights also said it was satisfying to see "composure" late in the game, with the Bombers responding to a one-point deficit at three-quarter time to kick five unanswered goals and power away to victory.

But, while he said the 44 goals shared between the two sides made for exciting footy, he criticised his side's defensive pressure "all over the ground" and earmarked that as an area for improvement ahead of Friday night's encounter with the unbeaten Western Bulldogs. 

"It was free-flowing. I guess both are young groups, young teams, that are being urged to take the game on and score," he said.

"I didn't think defensively we were very sound tonight. I thought we were ordinary, and that's something we're going to have to work on as a group to make sure we're better with our defensive actions so we put a lot more pressure on.

"We're going to have to put some significant work in this week, particularly coming up against an in-form team in the Western Bulldogs."

The Bombers had 14 individual goal-kickers, which Knights said was another fulfilling aspect to come from the win.

"It's good to have a great spread. I think that makes you a little bit harder for other teams to combat you if you've got a good spread of goal-kickers," he said.

"Therefore, it's something that pleases me as a coach when you see that after a game."

He was disappointed to lose young gun Leroy Jetta in the third quarter, after the 19-year-old limped from the ground with an obviously injured hamstring, but believes David Hille will recover quickly from a pinched nerve.  

"Leroy is very disappointing because I thought he was a good contributor early in the game," he said.

"We were down to 21, which was significant as well.

"David pinched a nerve in his neck, so there was no shoulder problem as such. We think he'll be fine, and that's a real positive because I thought he was pretty consistent throughout the night."