With an FA Cup semi-final still on their radar, a faltering promotion challenge to get back on track, a lengthening injury list and a striker suspended, it is fair to say that West Bromwich Albion are battling on many fronts.
Above all, though, the Baggies are battling against time: They have until Thursday at midnight to bolster their squad for the next nine vital Coca-Cola Championship games, which is a matter being considered by manager Tony Mowbray given the raft of players unavailable to him.
He said: "If there is any chance of us bringing some players in then we have got to make sure they are right for our club and have the quality necessary to improve us.
"It is a restrictive market at the moment and, invariably, the people who go out on loan are not playing at their clubs so it might take them a week or two to get up to speed - by the time that happens, we might have Chris Brunt, James Morrison and Leon Barnett back fit.
"All those things need to be assessed. We also need to assess the players we know everything about, those who have been in and around the fringes of the squad this season who can come in and do a job for us for the next few weeks.
"It's either that, or we gamble on a player who we do not know much about and go on reputation alone. This is something I will talk to the staff about in the next couple of days and decide if we have to do anything.
"If you freshen things up with new faces you have to make sure they have the right quality on the pitch and on the training ground. You know very quickly if you have made the wrong decision but sometimes you do not have time to look at everything.
"What I am trying to say is that I am not going to rush out and get three or four new faces [for the sake of it] because the squad we have has done well this season."
Central defender Leon Barnett, who has been one of the Baggies' better players since returning to the side during the loss at Barnsley, was the latest to hobble from the field during the 4-1 defeat to Leicester City on Saturday.
He will spend an unknown period of time on the sidelines alongside James Morrison, Chris Brunt and Filipe Teixeira.
The hitherto disappointing striker Luke Moore will be absent for a more definite period of time following his red card on Saturday, an event that his manager said resulted in his side losing at the weekend.
The Aston Villa forward will definitely miss the next four games, three through suspension and one due to the fact that he is cup tied.
The one beneficiary of that enforced omission could be Sherjill MacDonald, who will now not be allowed to go anywhere else on loan and will be given a chance to fight for a place at Albion, especially as Craig Beattie, on loan at Preston North End, is also out long-term.
MacDonald returned from a fruitful loan spell at Hereford United where he won plenty of admirers. But his Albion manager is among his biggest fans and he said that, given the current climate at the club, it is unlikely that anyone will be leaving The Hawthorns. n Albion's Kim Do-heon is among four England-based players selected by South Korea coach Huh Jung-moo to his squad for the World Cup qualifier against North Korea on March 26.
Manchester United's Park Ji-sung, Fulham's Seol Ki-hyeon and Tottenham Hotspur's Lee Young-pyo have also been included.
