AT TIMES like this, it’s always tempting to send out the alert, asking all leaders to step up and make themselves known. Anyone can stand tall when everything’s rolling and everyone is smiling, but it takes a certain someone to step to the forefront when a team is wobbling like the Giants.

Adversity always brings out the outcry: Where are the leaders? Why don’t they put a stop to this? Why don’t they demand something more and better from their teammates?

With four consecutive losses, the breaking in of a rookie quarterback in Eli Manning and fading playoff hopes, the Giants qualify as a team in need of leadership.

Ironclad Tom Coughlin is not going to stray one iota from his approach and he’s going to need help in salvaging this season. The problem is finding someone to lean on. The Giants, more than most teams, are a collection of parts that were assembled with the hope that the disparate parts molded before too long.

Even now, after 11 games heading into Sunday’s meeting with the Redskins, the Giants have the look of a team barely past the introduction stage.

“It’s so important to teams where you can just kind of feel what a person’s going to do,” running back Tiki Barber said. “You don’t know how this guy is going to react to this situation. You don’t know the guys, you don’t know their emotional state. If you know how a guy’s gonna respond then you can trust him. If you don’t, you might have a doubt and when you have that doubt it gets tough to play.”

Just because a player has been on the scene for a while doesn’t mean he desires or is capable of speaking up. Barber, Michael Strahan, receivers Amani Toomer and Ike Hilliard, left tackle Luke Petitgout, safety Shaun Williams and cornerbacks Will Allen and Will Peterson can be considered the longstanding core nucleus. All for a variety of reasons – whether personality-driven or through fate or happenstance – cannot be looked upon as classic leaders.

Strahan, with his booming voice, Pro Bowl pedigree, gift of gab and seniority is the obvious choice, but at the moment he’s hurt, out for the year with a torn pectoral muscle. Williams, too, is hurt and gone. Injured players, no matter how qualified, are separate from those going to battle every Sunday. There’s no one more respected in the room than Barber, who is putting together a career year, but his words are usually measured and spoken quietly.

“I’m not the big vocal leader in this locker room,” Barber said. “I lead by my example and how I carry myself and how I prepare.”

Petitgout can do it but opts not to and he’s far more workmanlike than rah-rah in his approach. Toomer is more of a soloist and he’s having a down year and certainly not in the mood. Hilliard offers valuable insight but he’s another of those do-as-I-do guys. Allen and Peterson are stand-up and try their best but cornerbacks often exist alone on an island and thus are more inclined to concentrate on their own affairs.

Elsewhere, the players with suitable resumes – linebacker Carlos Emmons, center Shaun O’Hara, defensive tackle Norman Hand, safety Brent Alexander – are in their first year with the Giants. They barely have unpacked their bags. Jim Finn has real potential but as a fullback he’s a role player and probably doesn’t have a broad enough platform.

Kurt Warner has everything required except the starting quarterback job and any firm roots. All his charisma can’t overcome the fact that he’s here on a one-year visa. It’s impossible for him to make real inroads given the transitory nature of his Giants career.

Manning? Maybe someday, with that easy-going, calm manner, but not now. Jeremy Shockey? He actually tries at times and has something inside him that others want to follow. But he’s all over the map with his comments and isn’t exactly a bastion of comportment.

No one is asking for any coronations here. The best leaders, of course, say it then do it. Given their dire situation, the Giants can afford to simplify their needs. Anyone capable of making a play would be a nice start.