Jose Morais admits that his time at Barnsley 'definitely hasn't gone the way I was expecting or wanted' but he still believes he can keep the Reds in the Championship and thinks this two-week international break will be vital.

The Portuguese has been head coach at Oakwell for five weeks, with his seven games bringing one win, two draws and four defeats including a current five-match winless run. Birmingham City's 3-0 success against Hull City on Saturday meant they are now level on points with 21st-placed Barnsley who lost 2-0 at home to Millwall and are out of the relegation zone on goal difference. The Reds have won two out of their last 24 matches in all competitions and three of 28 home league games, while they have equalled a club record of 11 fixtures at Oakwell without victory.

Their three wins at home all season will also be a club record unless they beat at least one of Bristol City, Sheffield United, Bolton Wanderers and Brentford in their remaining Oakwell fixtures. Morais told the Chronicle: "It definitely hasn't gone the way that I was expecting, or the way that I wanted.

"We are trying to change the trend that is not positive for a long time. We need to reduce mistakes and be more effective. Obviously I am concerned about the situation because, when you don't pick up points, you give possibilities for the teams that are below you to approach you. I have to be concerned about the results the teams in the bottom three are having because we are not getting the results we want to have."

Barnsley's points-per-game ratio has dropped since Morais took over from Paul Heckingbottom last month with caretaker Paul Harsley taking charge of one game between the two. But Jose Mourinho's former assistant at Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Chelsea insists the players are responding well to him.

He said: "I honestly think that the team is understanding my way of working. The team has a clear idea about how to play the game. There are moments that we need to be more structured and organised."

Barnsley are in the middle of a 13-day break from action which has come as a relief to Morais who oversaw seven matches in his first four weeks as a manager in English football. It will also give the likes of Joe Williams and Matt Mills the chance to recover from their current injuries.

Morais is without players on international duty such as Oliver McBurnie – the scorer of six of the Reds' eight goals – and Stevie Mallan who are with Scotland's first team and under 21s respectively as well as Tom Bradshaw and Ryan Hedges who have gone to China with Wales. He has called on strikers Mamadou Thiam and Bradshaw, who have not netted in 23 and 12 matches respectively, to find the net more regularly as well as Kieffer Moore, who has two in 12, and some midfielders.

Morais said: "I am happy that we will have this break and it will give us two weeks when we can work consistently on situations that, in my opinion, are important for the team to have a different stability defensively. I am also getting a picture about which players really can help in the situation that this team is in. One of the other things we need to work on is to be more effective in front of the goal.

"We are now creating scoring chances but we are not effective enough. We have one player who has been fantastic and has been effective in front of goal, that is Oli McBurnie, but we need more people to score goals. I need Thiam to score goals, I need (Lloyd) Isgrove to score goals, I need Kieffer to score goals, I need Bradshaw to come in and score goals. I need the midfielders like (Gary) Gardner and Williams to shoot more, which they are doing. They are not efficient yet but they will get there with more work in training."

Barnsley's next match is a week today at home to seventh-placed Bristol City who are managed by former Reds head coach Lee Johnson. They will then visit mid-table Nottingham Forest on Easter Monday before another two-game week with a home derby against Sheffield United on April 7 and a long trip to Ipswich Town three days later. The season is completed with a home game against Bolton, a trip to Heckingbottom's Leeds, a home match with Brentford and a final day journey to Derby County. Morais said: "We will prepare the players to play against Bristol and fight for the three points because we really need those three points."