Albion’s Second Tier Season Comparison – 30 games | OneFootball

Any encouragement that Baggies fans had after the draw at Derby last week was completely destroyed at Fratton Park as Albion put in a hapless performance in what was a massive relegation six-pointer. In the first half, the visitors looked completely disorganised and you had to wonder what Eric Ramsay had been doing with his first full week on the training ground with his new charges.

As frustrating and disappointing the performance was, I personally don’t see the benefit in lambasting the players or the head coach – none of them are going out on the field trying to be as bad as they’ve been – and the only positive I can see from Isaac Price’s reaction at the end of the game is that it proves that he does care, even if that is not the way to show it.

Bilkul and Andrew Nestor, in particular, are rightly coming into criticism for their football decisions, but I’m sure they will give Ramsay a lot more time to make the difference they believe he is capable of. The performances against Norwich and at Portsmouth obviously point to the group’s inability to respond to adversity and, rather than any perceived tactical deficiencies, that remains the biggest issue to address. A solution has to come from within the group but it’s difficult to see where that will germinate.

At least there is more than a third of the season remaining, plenty of time to turn things around. When Albion did drop to the third tier in 1991, they actually had two points more than the current team at the same stage, but the 1996 team had two points fewer at the same stage and finished 11th. We just need to sign a Richard Sneekes-type character before the transfer window closes on Monday!

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