Lee Johnson says he may have to risk the fitness of some of his key players in order to stop this current run of defeats becoming record-breaking and potentially cost him his job.
If Barnsley suffer their sixth successive league reverse tomorrow it will be the club's longest ever losing run in the third tier of English football.
Head coach Johnson has insisted he is not in fear of losing his job despite the club slipping into the relegation zone following the 1-0 home defeat to Fleetwood Town on Saturday.
He believes the return of Manchester United loan midfielder Ben Pearson from suspension is a 'massive boost' while he is hopeful that Conor Hourihane and Marley Watkins will pass late fitness tests.
The injuries to Adam Davies are thought to be more serious and they are less likely to play a role in a week that involves trips to Scunthorpe tomorrow and Coventry on Tuesday.
"I still believe our best 11 is a match for anyone in the division but I haven't been able to use that team all year," said Johnson, who played Lewin Nyatanga despite an ankle problem on Saturday.
"We were missing Ben Pearson, Conor Hourihane, Marley Watkins and Ryan Williams against Fleetwood – that's four of our key midfielders.
"We need to get them back as quickly as possible. "We might have to just chuck them in and, if they break down, then they break down. "We will have to be clever about it and use our substitutions very well.
"The physios are doing a sterling job, working all hours of the day and night. The players are showing a good attitude.
"There are some we might be able to risk and some we can't.
"It is heightened by the situation we are in and how much we all want to win.
"The players all want to come back and we will push them as much as we can while being sensible."
Johnson suggested that he wants the injured quartet back not just for their abilities but for the impact they will have on the rest of the young team.
He said: "We can give the lads every trick in the book but, at the end of the day, it is up to them to have the desire to be the best they can be. "We do have players like that but we haven't been able to get enough of them out on the pitch.
"We just need that commitment from all the players to get their best game out.
"We have had it from two or three in recent games but we need eight or nine to be at their best in order to turn this run around."
The last time the Reds lost a fifth consecutive league game was on the opening day of last season when they were beaten at home to Crawley Town following defeat in the final four Championship matches of their relegation campaign.
The last time they lost five in a row within the same season was at the start of 2009/10 under Simon Davey and his replacement Mark Robins, who could inflict a sixth straight loss when the Reds visit his Scunthorpe side tomorrow.
That would equal Barnsley's last run of six consecutive defeats in the Premiership season of 1997/98.
If they are also beaten at Coventry on Tuesday – making it seven losses in a row – it will be their longest losing run since eight straight defeats late on in the 1958/59 season.
The club's worst ever losing sequence in the league was nine matches during the 1952/53 campaign in what is now the Championship. This is the first run of five losses in the third tier since the 1970/71 campaign while they have never lost six in a row at this level.
