West Bromwich Albion 0 - Norwich City 5

Date:	Tuesday 20th January 2026
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
WBA: 1.8	(5-4-1) Griffiths 2.2, Price 1.9 (Wallace, 46 3.6), Mepham 1.8, Phillips 2.4 (Molumby, 46 3.0), Taylor 1.8, Iling-Junior 4.8, Grant 3.2, Bielik 2.8 (Campbell, 80 3.5), Styles 3.3 (Mowatt, 63 2.7), Johnston 4.0, Maja 2.6 (Heggebø, 46 2.9) Unused subs: Wildsmith, Dike, Gilchrist, Bostock Manager: Eric Ramsay 1.8
Norwich: 5.3	(4-2-3-1) Kovacevic, Fisher, McConville, Darling (Córdoba, 46), Chrisene (Stacey, 80), McLean, Mattsson, Springett (Ben Slimane, 46), Schwartau, Ahmed (Diallo, 63), Makama (Kvistgaarden, 70) Unused subs: Grimshaw, Medic, Jurásek, Wright
Scorers:	Schwartau (16), Ahmed (49), Ben Slimane (69), Chrisene (73), Kvistgaarden (89)
Referee:	James Bell 5.2
Attendance:	21,031 Home Fans 3.8 Away Fans 5.2

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Ratings submitted so far: 18

Brendan Clegg:

Well all I can say about that was that, all things considered, it was the worst performance I can ever recall in my 35 years plus watching us.

The approach, the system, the players - just dreadful.

The lineup was a bit surprising but there should have been enough to compete. Isaac Price is quick, can run all day and over 6 feet tall. He should be able to play wingback but there was absolutely no bottle there to do it. He was dreadful.

Maja played wide right instead of through the middle where Grant was. Maja can't run and Grant can't control a ball.

Taylor is done. Totally done. Can't move. Should be nowhere near it after Friday.

Those 4 problems were bad enough but we conceded another terrible goal - surely the keeper has to do better? And the goal came from us passing backwards instead of attacking.

We should've changed it on 20 mins... get Campbell on for Taylor and go to a back 4.

At least he changed it at half time - he could have changed 11 players BUT I would say that, for all his faults, I'd have Phillips over Mepham or Taylor because he at least cares and fights.

We changed 3 of the personnel but the system did not change - that was a problem.

But really before we could get going we conceded a powderpuff goal - just nobody putting a solid challenge in and despite loads of numbers back.

And worryingly from there we gave up. Every other goal came from us not trying, not fighting, not giving it everything. The whole team... they surrendered.

I left on 75 minutes. I don't think I've ever done that in my life.

We've got to sign a keeper and find a way to get another couple in.

Personally I think we've got to go back to 4-5-1 and just find a way to better manage games and subs better than Madon did. Evolution not revolution. Leave the big changes to the summer. You can't go from Corberan to Mowbray to Mason to Ramsay and their different styles in 12 months. It's crackers. There is still time to fix this but if we persist with the current approach through coaching delusion or arrogance we will go down.

Griffiths - 4 Just not inspiring confidence at all
Phillips - 5 Not at fault for goals but ropey
Mepham - 4 how does he keep getting picked? Casual rubbish.
Taylor- 3 Can't move. Ludicrous.
Price - 2 A shocking showing - no bottle
Bielik - 4 immobile and a disaster at the back, we conceded 4
Styles - 4 nowhere near it
SIJ - 6 only player with any credit. Looks competent on the left and is still a kid.
Maja - 3 can't run... finished
Grant - 4 Can run... but that's about it
MJ - 4 Zero supply or influence... just petulant rubbish

Subs-

Nobody did any better.

Have to say even before kickoff- I've never known it so dead as an atmosphere. There was nothing. That's a really bad sign.

Mark Koppel:

After the worst performance in decades I believe the Club need to sack Eric Ramsey now, or risk relegation plus years in oblivion.

Sounds drastic after just 2 games but we haven't got the luxury of time, or the luxury of a strong squad to get us out of this huge hole.

Here is the rationale for this recommendation:

Rightly or wrongly, in the last 2 years we have lost our best 6 Players. The replacements, when we have had them, have been inferior.
As a result, any Manager/Coach will struggle more than before given this weaker Squad.
But to add insult to injury, this Regime have made 3 bad Management/Coach appointments out of 3. And this last one is the worst.

I was very worried straight away about the possibility of Ramsey getting the Role after looking at his CV, and hearing how defensively he set up Minnesota. No professional football playing experience at all at any level. Yes great Players don't automatically make great Managers, but that doesn't make the opposite of this true.

No relevant coaching experience really, and certainly no relevant English Football Management experience.

He certainly is academically clever, but I fear this is what got him through the interviews by speaking well.

So these were my fears. The reality after two games was actually even worse.

Multiple errors in selection, tactics, and formation on Friday were not learnt from. In fact this Boy Coach went and repeated them, and more yesterday against Norwich.

Probably won't happen, but the best hope is to sack him now before anymore damage is done.

If the Club just admit they have made a colossal mistake, and sack him, most Fans will respect that. They won't respect hanging onto him, like we did with Pardew, and then only bringing in a replacement when its too late.

When in this Division, and this position before, we have appointed Managers like Atkinson and Megson, with experience and knowledge, that have saved us from being relegated to the 3rd Tier.

The other problem is President Nestor. It looks like Patel is no Paul Thompson ,who knew about English Football, and knew he needed to get Megson to save the Club.

As Patel seems as clueless as Nestor, perhaps he needs to find a Consultant to go and get a much more suitable replacement. If this isn't immediately available, then perhaps the next best thing is to give it to James Morrison as an Interim. I'm sure he cannot be as bad as this Boy Coach.

As said the Squad has been weakened in the last 2 years but I believe with proper management is still good enough to get us to survive.

Player ratings for Norwich game:

Griffiths 3 - The failure to replace him or Wildsmith after Palmer was sold, was the biggest single factor why Mason failed.
Taylor 2 - Been bad since he arrived. Was especially bad against Boro but bizarrely Boy Scout picked him again against Norwich, and kept him on despite numerous errors.
Mepham 3 - Looked really shaky
Phillips 5 - Has gone backwards since a promising start to the season. Think he can come good again.
Bielik 5 - Good Central Defender but not a midfielder. Yet another stupid decision by the Boy to play him here TWICE.
Price 3 - Not a winger.
Junior 6 - I take it back. Was probably the only Player who improved yesterday compared to Friday.
Mikey 6 - Showed that the best form of defence is attack and in the first half was the only one attacking with purpose. Understandably his head dropped 2nd half when all around him went to mush.
Maja 5 - I still think he is a good player if played in the correct position.
Grant 4 - OMG. Have years and years not told us, he isn't a target Man? He played where Maja should have been, and probably vice versa. WTF was Boy Coach thinking here?
Styles 5 - Five for effort.

Subs: Wallace tried to get a revival but the rest were totally ineffective.