Dean Ryan has vowed to ring the changes at Gloucester for their Guinness Premiership match against Bath on Saturday, in order to avoid the recurring problems of the past two years at the club to fester.

The head coach was a picture of frustration during his team's defeat by Leicester at Kingsholm on the opening weekend of the season. However, one possible change for Ryan for the short trip to the Recreation Ground, where Gloucester have yet to win a Premiership match, will not be made.

Olly Barkley, the recent recruit from Bath, would have been a suitable replacement for Anthony Allen, who injured an ankle against Leicester and is set to be out for a month, but he probably needs a further week's recovery from the wrist damage that he suffered in New Zealand with England in June.

“I'm not making a decision based on the frustrations of last weekend,” Ryan said. “It's a question of whether Olly's fit and in the right frame of mind. Olly's benefit to Gloucester will be over years, not just one week.”

Given that Ryan has questioned his team's control and management of matches, not only after the 20-8 defeat by Leicester, but previous knockout games that have been lost, there is a likelihood that Ryan Lamb will not start at fly half. Nor has the coach excepted himself from criticism. “People are bound to question my situation,” he said. “That's why I can't allow this to carry on. I picked these players, I have developed them and, at some point, it's my failing as well.”

Under Ryan's coaching, Gloucester have finished at the top of the Premiership table three times but failed in the play-offs; they have won silverware, in the Powergen Cup in 2003 and the European Challenge Cup in 2006, but on the big stage they have tripped up. He has reached the stage where, he says, he cannot “protect” players any more.

“At the top end of elite sport, individuals need to be allowed to make mistakes so that they can learn from them,” Ryan said. “But we have probably reached the end of that process after a two-year period. We will try different people. Looking across the big games we have been involved in, it's not the obvious things like Luke Narraway or Carlos Nieto failing to make a pass [which cost tries against Leicester], it's more fundamental things and I can't allow the aspirations of this club to be constantly dented.”

Michael Lipman has recovered from a neck injury that forced him to miss the victory away to Bristol last weekend and will lead Bath on Saturday. Steve Meehan, the Bath head coach, said that victory was an important statement after the summer departures of Steve Borthwick and Barkley. “It was a final sign saying we have moved on,” Meehan said. “If we can start the home campaign well, that will give us something to build on.”