Why has it all gone so wrong at West Brom?

Like most crises, there is not one sole reason behind this disaster, it is down to a number of different factors that have slowly built up to create this barely-believable run.

Here are some of the main reasons the Baggies find themselves in such a mess.

Recruitment

Albion strengthened from back to front in the summer, bringing in a left-back, a centre-back, two central midfielders, a winger, and a forward.

On paper, the window could hardly have gone much better, but six months later only half of those six additions can be counted as successes.

The issue is they are all defensively-minded. Ahmed Hegazi, Kieran Gibbs and Gareth Barry have been impressive, particularly in recent weeks under Alan Pardew.

Further forward, the Baggies have made some expensive signings yet to bear fruit.

Oliver Burke and Jay Rodriguez cost a combined total of £27million, but have scored three goals and one assist in the Premier League between them.

Grzegorz Krychowiak’s wages for the season add another £5m to the bill, but he’s struggled to get into the starting line-up since Tony Pulis left.

The Krychowiak loan looks increasingly like an unwise vanity exercise, and Pulis’s perversion for holding midfielders has left Alan Pardew with a lopsided squad.

Albion’s former boss signed three holding midfielders in 2017 despite having Claudio Yacob established at the club and young Sam Field emerging too.

Pulis appeared to sign Krychowiak just because he was available, without thinking whether it was what the team needed.

The Baggies were fifth in the Premier League’s net-spend table in the summer, which makes their current plight all the more damning.

Furthermore, the business of summer 2016 has belatedly caught up with Albion. Matt Phillips and Nacer Chadli both have quality, but are too injury prone.

Hal Robson-Kanu and Allan Nyom were cult heroes last season but they’ve struggled to cut it this time around.

The fact Albion are still relying on Chris Brunt to create their chances, and are praying James Morrison is back soon shows how ineffective recent recruitment has been.

Injuries

The Baggies boasted the best injury record in the league last season and their award-winning medical team were deservedly lavished with praise.

But injuries to key creative players like James Morrison, Nacer Chadli and Matt Phillips have left Pulis, but particularly Pardew, hamstrung going forward.

Albion are keeping the ball under Pardew, they’re having more shots and sending more crosses into the box, but they still lack that inventiveness in the final third needed to unlock the key.

Jake Livermore was the most advanced midfielder on Tuesday night against West Ham, which proves how few attacking options the new man has.

Managerial appointment

Chairman John Williams has proven to be a shrewd negotiator in the transfer window.

Off-loading Saido Berahino to Stoke for £12m and waiting for Kieran Gibbs’ price to fall to £5m are signs that he’s a dab-hand when it comes to transfer negotiation (although £15m for Burke looks steep at the moment).

But in November, Williams and the board were faced with by far the biggest decision of the new regime’s short reign at the club.

Tony Pulis might have gone a game or two earlier but after guiding the club to a top-half finish the season before, Williams probably pulled the trigger at around the right moment. There were still 26 games to go in the season after all.

Firing a manager is the easy part. Hiring the next one is where it gets difficult.

Pardew has improved performances and, as outlined above, he inherited a bottom-heavy squad with limited creative forces.

Anecdotal evidence suggests the fans have warmed to him. The Arsenal game drew the biggest gate of the season, despite being at an ungodly hour on New Year’s Eve and on television too.

And it seems supporters appreciate the new approach, which is at least designed to try and threaten the opposition’s goal.

But after eight games without a win, and Pardew’s recent record in the Premier League, the jury is still out.

The team have forgotten how to win and the concern is Albion have hired a manager who has forgotten how to as well.

He’s made an impact, but it pales in comparison to the effect Roy Hodgson, Claude Puel, Sam Allardyce and David Moyes have had at their respective new clubs.

The Pulis hangover

There are mitigation circumstances to Pardew’s winless run, though.

Tony Pulis set his teams up to win 1-0, and his safety-first approach to both recruitment and tactics has unnecessarily shackled this side while lowering their confidence in the final third.

The Baggies have scored 23 goals in those 34 league games since the start of March. That is clearly not enough, and when a team is working to such fine margins as this one, it puts more pressure on individuals.

That pressure is magnified as every game passes without a win, crippling the players with fear, especially in the final third or when the clock is running down.

Albion have lost 13 points in the last 16 minutes of games this season. Which brings us onto...

The players

Too many of Albion’s experienced professionals have under-performed this season.

Jonny Evans is nowhere near as consistent as he was last season, Krychowiak has failed to justify his big wages so far and up front the finishing has left a lot to be desired.

Albion’s wastefulness started at the back end of last season when Chadli conspired to miss chance after chance as the campaign dribbled over the line after nine games without a win.

This season, there have been many at fault. Salomon Rondon has improved under Pardew but his finishing is still woeful, and Rodriguez has wasted too many good opportunities this season.

The troubles in front of goal were epitomised on Tuesday when Burke missed a one-on-one.

There have also been individual errors at the back. Hegazi has been superb but he messed up at home to Stoke at the start of this 20-game winless streak.

And James McClean has made a series of rash decisions in the dying embers of games that have lost Albion points.

How to fix it

The January transfer window will be key. Pardew has shown signs he can build a team disciplined at the back and threatening going forward, but he needs the tools to do that.

Albion are looking for a striker and a playmaker this month, and if they land the right ones, they could drag themselves to safety.

Thanks to a top-heavy congested Premier League table, the Baggies have not been cut adrift on this dreadful run. There is still hope.