Leyton Orient manager Mauro Milanese insists his side need to be ‘more nasty than nice’ if they are to get out of the troubles they find themselves in.

The O’s have struggled so far this season and sit three points off the bottom of League One going into tomorrow’s home game with Coventry City.

And while they have struggled to pick up points, bookings haven’t been a problem.

Orient have accumulated 36 yellow cards – including the two picked up by Jobi McAnuff and Mathieu Baudry in their sending offs.

The statistic may be bad, but Milanese feels they have been treated harshly by officials on occasions, and in fact believes the O’s have to toughen up.

“We need to be more nasty than nice this season,” said Milanese.

“We need to be more intelligent some times with the bookings. The referee’s have shown too many yellow and red cards against us so I would like us to be nastier with fewer cards.”

Many expected the Brisbane Road side to be challenging up the other end of the table after the investment of owner Francesco Becchetti.

Darius Henderson, Jobi McAnuff and Jay Simpson all arrived in the summer, but Milanese admits those dreams are now a distant memory.

“We need to think of next game. It’s time to be concrete, to be solid and realistic and to not dream anymore,” he added.

“This is different from last season. It was always the first XI playing, there were no injuries, while they were creating chances and scoring. We need to be realistic and try to do the best.”