Eric Ramsay revealed Albion players and staff are determined to deliver a much-improved showing on Friday night after “letting everyone connected with the club down” in midweek.
The Baggies suffered a heavy home loss to Norwich City on Tuesday – a result and performance which the boss admitted was completely unacceptable.
His side take on tenth-placed Derby County in the first Sky Bet Championship fixture of the weekend and Ramsay insists the group are “desperate” to respond in the appropriate manner.
Eric said: “Players and staff have accepted responsibility for what happened on Tuesday. It’s not been a case of trying to lay blame at anyone’s door. As a collective, there’s a real sense of responsibility and a will to meet the challenge head on a recognition of where we are, which I think is really important in this situation.
“We are in no uncertain terms of where we are at the moment and what we are fighting for. With that comes recognition and responsibility and now, improvement has to come to.
“Our work is about trying to improve day-to-day. If we think too far ahead then we will lose focus on what we can achieve every day. We want to improve every single day and every day is an opportunity to work and to grow collectively. That’s how we get better and start recording positive results.
“There was incredible disappointment on Tuesday. We let ourselves down as a group and we let everyone connected with the club down.
“We are not a group that is downtrodden and we’re desperate to put the situation right. We will control everything we possibly can to do that.
“We’re very clear in where the group needs to get better and we’ve had some very honest conversations over the course of the last couple of days. The line is clear and we fell below that.
“The group wants more from each other and that’s been very clear over the last few days.
“We have to show belief. The group will get better and that’s undeniable from my perspective. I have to show conviction in what we do day-to-day.
“Friday is an opportunity to show a much better version of ourselves. That’s our focus, and we’re so determined to deliver a huge improvement in terms of performance and result.”
Hosts Derby County have won three of their last four matches in the second tier and return to Pride Park on the back of consecutive away triumphs at Preston North End and Charlton Athletic.
Ramsay says his team will need to “rise to the physical challenge” of facing the Rams.
“Derby are a very strong, physical and a competitive team.
“They’ve found periods of good form and periods of difficulty over the course of the season so far. They’ve been up and down, but they’ve managed to pull it together for strings of wins.
“They’re a team that can make life very difficult for any team on their day. We have to rise to the physical challenge, the level of aggression and the difficulty of playing at a stadium like theirs in that kind of atmosphere. We have to be ready to meet that head on.”
