Lewis Cox's West Brom analysis: Alarm bells are deafening as Albion hurtle towards League One

The club's momentum only has them heading one way. Alarm bells pierced the air in that away end at Fratton Park on Saturday, where it was a mix of vitriol and silent disbelief.

This was a second relegation six-pointer in four games under head coach Eric Ramsay.

And Saturday's capitulation at Portsmouth - not as heavy as the recent historic Hawthorns 5-0 drubbing from Norwich - has the aggregate scoreline at 8-0 against the Baggies.

It underlines one thing, and this is nothing new for Albion fans as this is something that has riddled the squad for years, that when the pressure is on and the going gets tough the players are nowhere to be seen.

That is far from ideal for a relegation scrap. A fight that until recently it seemed the squad were too oblivious or proud to acknowledge.

Ramsay had to refer to the "elephant in the room" after the 5-0 Norwich defeat. By that he meant relegation battle.

Club captain Jed Wallace, speaking to national radio last week, has been the only one to utter the 'R-word'. Wallace does not start games but fronts up as he typically does. Beyond the public-facing head coach role, nobody else does.

There are no words from any other hiding players after these miserable no-shows.

Saturday was pathetic. It was 'only' 3-0 but it was somehow as bad as the Norwich humiliation.

Pompey declared by the 49th minute as the relegation rivals netted their third. They were hard done to only going in 2-0 up at the break. It could have been four or five.

Goals for Conor Chaplin, Millenic Alli and Ebou Adams were so easy. The visitors managed one pitiful shot on target from 25 yards.

Home fans cheered and taunted Albion with glee - "going down with the Wednesday" and "can we play you every week?"

Somebody of a home persuasion in the press box remarked the Baggies were the worst side they had seen since the hosts' return to the Championship 18 months ago. It is utterly embarrassing for Albion.

The club and its fans currently feel as low as can possibly be, barring actual relegation. Things are unsurprisingly toxic. The away end sang "Eric Ramsay your football is s***" after four games. "You're not fit to wear the shirt" echoed down again.

Players took the ire of the away end at full-time. Isaac Price, one of those anonymous again, almost reacted but wisely was kept away by Daryl Dike. Souls are broken.

Ramsay's 20-odd days, with 12 goals conceded, have been disastrous. No bounce, but a nosedive. Fans old enough to remember note the comparison of feeling to the 1990s.

The Baggies went to Pompey on the last day of the 1993/94 season where Lee Ashcroft's header secured survival in front of an estimated 10,000 travelling fans. At least there was some resistance and fight with everything on the line that day.

OK, we are not at do-or-die or must-win territory here quite yet and there are still 16 games left but considering Albion have now won just once in nine in the league and not away since October 1 we are getting there.

The most damning thing about Saturday's shambles was - and Ramsay acknowledged this in a roundabout way - that Portsmouth wanted it more.

In a predictability feverish atmosphere, in a physical, frenetic contest, only one set of players were ready to win the challenges and second balls and 50-50s and they wore home blue. Ramsay called out the "basics" and "fundamentals".

Albion were outfought, outbattled, outplayed, too. Pompey, with respect, should not be able to play around Albion. But they did. All day. The away players did not want to know.

Their confidence is on the floor and it will take some lifting. It is an almighty job now for Ramsay and his inexperience of the Championship. Only a failure to win at home by Valerien Ismael's Blackburn - there is probably some irony in there somewhere - kept the Baggies out of the bottom three.

There is a day or so of the transfer deadline left. Albion are trying on a loan deal for Villa's 19-year-old attacker Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba. He is in for a rude awakening if he comes into this. New boy Danny Imray, chucked straight in for a debut, was one of three hooked at half-time.

The powers that be at Bilkul should be looking on uncomfortably. The players went under again on Saturday at the very beginning of a relegation scrap and the alarm bells are deafening as League One beckons.