West Brom's Eric Ramsay reacts to relegation scrap claims after Norwich home humiliation

The meek hosts capitulated on a night of humiliation at The Hawthorns as drop zone rivals Norwich struck five unanswered goals past the pitiful Baggies in just Ramsay's second game at the helm.

There were just four points separating Albion and the Canaries before the clash and the Baggies now face the very real prospect of battling the drop with 18 games remaining as the gap from Ramsay's side to the dotted line is now just three points.

But - after the collapse that saw four second-half goals fly in at an angry Hawthorns - Ramsay, in just his eighth day in charge, said he cannot get drawn into thoughts or fears of the drop.

“We have to recognise where we are and be humble, but it’s for you guys to worry about the narrative and the bigger picture around what this game means for the entirety of the season,” said Ramsay.

“But the second we start to think like that it becomes a waste of our time.

“I genuinely do not think about that (relegation). It’s not something I would weigh into the way I evaluate games.

“It has no meaning to me in terms of how I speak to the players.

“There’s no lack of care to win but there’s a fragility that comes with everything that has led up to this point.

“We have to find a way to ensure that it doesn’t affect games in the way it did tonight.”

It was an eighth Championship defeat in 10 for Albion, six of which came under Ramsay's predecessor Ryan Mason.

The new head coach was asked afterwards if he already felt pressure about delivering a response after starting his Baggies reign with two defeats from two.

“I’ve felt pressure from day one because I’ve walked into a difficult situation,” said Ramsay.

“I find myself here in January for a reason and with that comes a lot of difficulty.

“I would have hoped for a better start after two games and hoped to have something to build on and some positivity that I can attach to our work with the players.

“That is yet to be the case, but all I can do is strive to make sure that happens.”

Portsmouth - who Albion play in two games on Saturday week - now occupy the final relegation place three points below Ramsay's side. Pompey have three games in hand.

Norwich led through Oscar Schwartau's 16th-minute opener and the scoreline was just 1-0 at the interval, but Ramsay was seething enough to make a triple half-time substitution and sent his players back out around five minutes before the visitors.

But the visitors struck within five minutes of the restart and goals three, four and five arrived inside a desperate final 20 minutes as jeers and taunts from the home fans rang in.

"Unexpected is the first thing I would say," Ramsay said. "In a sense that I felt we carried good momentum from the Boro game, I think everybody felt pretty positive going into this game.

"I think what we saw from the first 15 minutes was, I would say, a shock in a sense that we did look a team that really lacked assurance, a sense of personality and confidence.

"I think that first 10 or 15 minutes fed the rest of the game and it was very difficult to recover from that point onwards.

"I won't dwell on this too much - because it is entirely unacceptable what's happened tonight - but I have to try to separate my eight days here from everything that has gone before, the general feeling around the group.

"Because the second I get drawn into that then I'm not doing what I've been brought here to do, which is bring a real sense of positivity, try to help the group move forward.

"I've got to strike that balance of being very critical, holding individuals to high standards, but also making sure we can find a way through."