Too much analysis can be bad for you, reckons Coventry City manager Chris Coleman after a slump in form which he hopes will be halted when the Sky Blues visit an equally out-of-sorts Derby County on Friday evening.

Both sides have taken just one point from their last four matches, the result in Coventry's case meaning a slide from just a single point below the Coca-Cola Championship places to an uncomfortable five points above the relegation zone.

Still feeling the pain from his team's latest reversal, a 3-1 home defeat by Reading - who had lost their previous four matches - Coleman has been pondering long and hard on how best to get back to winning ways.

"When you've had a bad run like we've had," said the manager, "you can analyse, double analyse and treble analyse - and you do. But sometimes that can have a negative affect.

"So we mustn't think about the last game, we have to think about the next one and we have to aim to bring something back from what I'm sure is going to be a very difficult encounter at Derby County.

"People always talk about 'must-win' games and it's a little early in the season to say that for either team, though maybe it is in terms of both teams having had bad runs. We've just got to go and do our best and hope that Lady Luck is on our side."

Like Derby, the Sky Blues have had serious injury problems of late and Coleman is set to hand a debut to on-loan West Bromwich Albion central defender Leon Barnett just two days after his arrival from the Hawthorns.

"Leon's more than capable of stepping in immediately and plugging a few holes for us," insisted Coleman. "He's lacking game sharpness, but he'll get that quickly and he will help us in our defensive situation.

"When you're leaking goals and not winning, the pressure become greater and it's difficult. Our lads work hard and apply themselves, but we've been founding wanting too many times and we've got to improve as a team."

Former Wales central defender Coleman is not one to make excuses, but he can legitimately point to a crippling injury list - he has had half a dozen regulars missing - as at least one of the reasons for his team's run of poor results.

But as he prepares his team for the visit to Pride Park, where last season they lost 2-1 on the back of a dreadful first half showing, the manager is nevertheless craving a victory to take them into the international break on a positive note.

"Just before the last international break," recalled Coleman, "we were flying. But in our next game, against Sheffield Wednesday (a 2-0 defeat), we weren't the same team. Then we lost a few players through injury and it's been downhill since.

"Now we have a tough test at Derby. Last season they set off like a house on fire and we couldn't match them, so we know what to expect - the question is, can we stand up to it?" The question will be analysed, perhaps double analysed, post-match...