Comment: No realistic way back for doomed West Brom

It was the reverse fixture of this game back in November that ultimately did for Tony Pulis.

Even though the Welshman was sacked after the Chelsea defeat, it was that 1-0 loss at the John Smith’s Stadium that put the writing on the wall.

This 2-1 defeat to the same opponents was just as tepid, just as torturous, and just as gutless, and while it may not be the final straw right now, it certainly is the heaviest one so far.

Alan Pardew is hanging by a thread, and it wouldn’t be surprising if this match ended up being his penultimate one in charge, just like Pulis. If anything, he’s lucky to still be around.

His perseverance with a failing team is baffling.

Gareth Barry has been a lightning rod for abuse after the debacle in Spain, but his legs have gone.

In Pardew's defence, Barry has been one of the most consistent performers during his tenure, but he turned 37 recently and has looked off the pace in the past few weeks.

This was his 800th club game of his career, and it looks like those miles have caught up with him, but surely the blame lies with the person who keeps picking him in a two-man midfield when he obviously needs a rest.

There are also others, like the ineffective Matt Phillips, who should have been dropped for this game if not earlier.

And the decision to leave Chris Brunt out, considering he has now set up four of the club’s last six league goals, was crazy. It almost always is.

That mistake was magnified by the man himself, who dragged Albion back into this game after just seven minutes on the pitch and was the only player in blue and white to emerge from this wreckage with their reputation intact.

Because this time the fans, who deserve immense credit for starting the game in boisterous spirits given the season so far, eventually turned on the players as well as the head coach.

‘You’re not fit to wear the shirt,’ came echoing down from the stands, and after this gutless performance, it’s hard to disagree.

The lack of quality in the squad is something the recruitors, particularly Pulis, need to answer for. But the lack of fight? The lack of bottle? That is down to Pardew and the players.

There is no cohesion, no joined-up thinking, no plan.

It’s staggering that Jonny Evans and Grzegorz Krychowiak – more than 30 games into the season – still can’t agree which one should be the quarter-back who starts off Albion’s attacks.

Huddersfield played ok, they were brave, and they closed down well. But they were hardly stunning. They didn’t win this game, Albion lost it.

In many ways, it is a cocktail for disaster. The Baggies have got an ageing squad that desperately needs refreshing, but a head coach who doesn’t trust youth.

Sam Field wasn’t in the match-day squad, and while it would be naive to suggest the result would be any different had he been, his continued exclusion after four defeats in a row is puzzling.

It would be understandable if this team was getting results, but it's simply not.

There’s still 10 games to go, 30 points to play for, more than a quarter of a season remaining.

But Albion have three Premier League wins out of their last 37 games, just four in the last 12 months, and Pardew himself has seven from his last 50.

Believing this partnership can muster up the six wins needed between now and the end of the season is frankly, laughable.

It’s a long way back for Pardew from here. The fans have turned on him and less than three months after he arrived, he could be leaving.

But what’s worse is the disconnect between the players and the fans. Continue losing in this fashion, and it could get ugly during the run-in.

Almost 26,000 people packed into The Hawthorns for this game, but there was only a fraction of that at full-time even though there was only one goal in it.

The supporters have lost faith, they think it’s all over. They’re almost definitely right.