Gary Johnson may bolster his squad in a bid to revive Bristol City's fortunes after a run of just one win in eight games.

Defeat against Sheffield United last Saturday saw the Robins drop to 13th in the table, their lowest position since regaining Championship status 18 months ago.

While manager Johnson is not about to resort to panic measures, he admits his faltering team requires something between "fine tuning and a major overhaul".

And he is not ruling out a possible move into the loan market in the coming weeks.

Although the transfer window does not reopen until January 1, Football League clubs are allowed to make emergency loan signings up until the end of November.

Johnson will use the two-week break for international matches to assess the areas in which his squad requires strengthening.

Johnson admitted: "At the moment, we're not quite good enough and I have to sit down with my staff and look at that.

"It's something I'll be talking to Keith Millen (assistant manager) about during the international break.

"I don't really want to talk about bringing people in at this stage, but that's not to say I'm not thinking about it."

Johnson has said previously he is not in favour of using loan signings, but he recruited centre-back Andy Webster from Rangers on a six-month contract to cover for the injured Jamie McCombe in August and may now feel he needs to make further additions.

He said: "We have nearly two weeks to prepare for the next game, against Norwich (October 18), and now is the time to assess what we need.

"But we have to be careful. We mustn't forget that there are players here who have done very well for this football club and we mustn't get too down too quickly.

"But at the same time we have to be mindful that we're not where we want to be after 10 games. We have to adjust and make sure that, after the next 10 games, we're somewhere higher than we are now.

"We've fallen down the table and we have to make the right decisions. I always said I'd fine tune, but sometimes you need a major overhaul. I think we need something in between that."

City winger Ivan Sproule has been placed on international standby for Northern Ireland's forthcoming World Cup qualifiers against Slovenia and San Marino.