Blog: How can West Brom bounce right back?

A comfortable home defeat, barely any shots, booed off and ironic cheers when one of our players was subbed – it's beginning to sound all too familiar.

I must confess that when I heard the starting line-up for the game against Everton, I feared the worst,

Chris Brunt, James Morrison and Graham Dorrans are all decent functional footballers individually, thrust them together in the same four-man midfield alongside Craig Gardner and there's a notable lack of mobility, adventure, width and flair.

My initial thoughts were that head coach Alan Irvine was looking to nullify Seamus Coleman and Leighton Baines' attacking threat from full-back areas.

Looking at the substitutes bench it would seem that he wasn't blessed with a huge number of starting options, whatever his game plan was.

Either way, Albion needed to stay in the game to stand a chance and not present the ball to Romelu Lukaku in our penalty area after two minutes.

The only surprise when Jonas Olsson's sloppy clearance found Lukaku was that it was returned so accurately with his right foot, something I scarcely remember seeing from him in an Albion shirt.

We're yet to score first in a league game this season. By my reckoning, we scored first in only 11 of 38 league games last season and won just once in the 25 in which we conceded first, the other two being goalless.

If you stretch back as far as Boxing Day of 2012, we have opened the scoring in 17 of 61 league games since. That trend simply has to change. In truth, Albion lacked spark for much of the match.

Bobby Brown let us all know that two can play that game – one that looked mildly threatening at Swansea and Southampton; another virtually anonymous against the Toffees – but I guess that's his prerogative (sorry).

An uncharacteristic Ben Foster error later and it was game over. Much debate since has centred around the crowd reaction to Chris Brunt's withdrawal on 70 minutes.

I, personally, find heckling your own players mid-game to be completely counter-productive barring a lack of effort on their part.

Everybody who pays their money clearly has a right to opinion, but it's sometimes easy to forget why we are there.

We are a group of supporters, not neutral theatre attendees demanding to be entertained. There's also a remote possibility that we can influence the outcome.

We all get frustrated but, for instance, I don't think that booing the team off at half-time is a proportionate reaction to a first-half, in which we more than matched a top-five side but for a 20-second passage of play.

Sadly, it seems to be coming more commonplace in the modern game to cheer or jeer, with little in between.

The widespread use of social media has become a platform for discussion amongst Albion supporters, often critical.

I must confess that I sometimes find reading Twitter and Facebook Albion feeds to be quite emotionally draining.

Is it really that painful supporting Albion? With that question in mind I'm going to try and remain positive, here are some reasons to be cheerful.

Early days: No, none of us would have picked Alan Irvine as head coach. Yes, there's been little to be inspired about thus far, but we're four league games in.

His reign is being written off by some as one of the most ill-fated in living memory, but none of us can possibly predict that after such a short period of time, during which most of our creative players have been unavailable.

Early signs are that he likes to err on the side of caution, but didn't Roy Hodgson too?

Also, if you could judge Irvine's ability after four games, then it's possible that Sir Gary Megson might not have seen the fifth in 2001-02, where we'd already tasted defeat against Walsall and Grimsby.

Sebastien Pocognoli: What a really good player he's beginning to look.

Squad depth: I'm a big fan of Jonas Olsson. Statistically we pick up more points when he plays and he's colossal in the air, if not always with the ball on the floor.

However, the last two games have seen him produce a couple of costly errors. In years gone by, we'd have to live with that.

This time around, we have the likes of Joleon Lescott waiting in the wings. Once everybody is fit, the players who start will have to produce.

Usain Bolt: I'm pretty sure it was him who came on for Pocognoli late in the game, either that or Cristian Gamboa has an impressive burst of pace in him,that will change the dynamics of our, sometimes pedestrian, build-up play.

Silvestre Varela and Sebastian Blanco: Albion fans love a wide man. Willie Johnstone, Laurie Cunningham and Mark Angel lay testament to that.

OK, maybe not Mark Angel, and neither of our new signings are likely to sit on the ball and summon defenders towards them, but both promise to be capable of opening games up, and our opponents.

Saido Berahino: Berahino's by no means the finished article, but he's looking leaner and more focused than he was at times last season.

In a central position and with better service, he could score a few goals, as he's proved he can with England Under-21s.

Tottenham Hotspur: On paper, a trip to White Hart Lane seems a daunting prospect, but we have a respectable record down there.

They have also had to travel to Belgrade and back for a UEFA Europe League game, which offers a beacon of hope.

Spurs lost to Arsenal, West Ham, Newcastle, Liverpool and Norwich after Europa League games last season. We might get nothing, but with more players closing on match fitness, that's by no means a certainty.

Things really aren't that bad just yet. Come on you Baggies!