Boss identifies 'resilience' West Brom need to discover for a chance to secure safety

A woeful defensive campaign with inconsistency between the sticks has returned just five clean sheets and just five clubs have managed fewer.

New boss Ramsay saw his side mauled for five at home by lowly rivals Norwich in a second game in charge and the head coach insisted the focus thereafter was to find resilience with a defensive control. Albion were improved to draw against Derby and conceded just one effort on target, though conceded from a Max O'Leary goalkeeping error.

"We needed to make sure that we did what I know we can control well, which was being very resilient from a defensive perspective," Ramsay said.

"I think that there's been periods of all three games so far - and I wouldn't dwell too much on the Norwich game in this sense - but we've had defensive control for long stages across three games.

"And Derby was a really good example of that, where we've restricted them to zero shots on target, which is impressive against a team that certainly at home can be a real force and have some exciting attacking talent.

"After where we fell short against Norwich, we needed to make sure that we were strong in that sense and gave ourselves a chance of winning the game."

Albion rebuilt their defence last summer following the £9million sale of star Torbjorn Heggem and exits of Semi Ajayi and Darnell Furlong. Kyle Bartley retired through injury.

Early signs under Ryan Mason were of a solid rearguard but things unravelled and there has been just two clean sheets since October 1.

Midfielder Jayson Molumby said this week new boss Ramsay had been focused on an aggression and attempting to become more defensively sound.

"It's been a very difficult context," the head coach said of his first two weeks. "There's been away at Derby, and we come out of it really well, restricting them to very little.

"There was a real sense of positivity against Middlesbrough. I think we went toe-to-toe with arguably the top team in the league. And we have the unfortunate anomaly in the middle that we now have to move past.

"There was the basis of a very competitive performance. I can see really clearly how this team needs to be competitive between now and the end of the year."