Hull City v West Brom - Match preview

Albion have completely collapsed over the past few months.

There are multiple reasons for their decline.

And you can look back at various points over the past few years where the club should have done better.

But somehow and from somewhere manager Steve Bruce has to start getting a tune of out of his massively underperforming players.

The misery that comes with a run that has seen the Baggies lose six of their last seven games has to end at some point.

But it is incredibly hard to see how the 61-year-old goes about getting his team back on track.

Virtually every Albion player is a shadow of their former selves.

They all appear to be lacking confidence and faith in their ability.

While a striking lack of character and leadership has made fans angry and led to understandable accusations that this group of players no longer care about the club.

The vast majority of problems at Albion are nothing to do with Bruce – the truth is he’s walked into an absolute mess.

But the former Newcastle chief hasn’t had the impact he would have expected since replacing the sacked Valerien Ismael as boss.

Bruce’s decision to switch to a 4-3-3 formation was a bold and understandable move following his arrival.

The 61-year-old had reservations about the change at the time because Albion had been so indoctrinated in Ismael’s 3-4-3.

But he felt change was needed and went for it.

In hindsight, it hasn’t worked.

Albion had Jake Livermore sent off in Bruce’s opening game in charge at Sheffield United.

Since then Jayson Molumby, Alex Mowatt and Adam Reach have been the midfield three – either in Bruce’s preferred 4-3-3 or the 3-5-2 system he implemented at Luton.

But the reality is those players don’t appear good enough to play in a three together.

And speaking after Monday’s defeat to Swansea, Bruce admitted he may have implemented change too quick.

“I will look at myself too, have I tried to implement change too quick,” Bruce said when assessing the loss.

“That’s something I’ll ask myself over the next few days, but we have to find a way.”

Albion are boost by the fact Livermore’s four-game suspension is now over and he can face former side Hull tomorrow.

That means Bruce could stick with his 4-3-3 while also making changes with the skipper as good as certain to return.

Fans are also desperate to see Taylor Garnder-Hickman given a chance in the middle of the park while Quevin Casto was introduced from the bench on Monday.

Or – if the boss feels change has been implemented too quickly – he could return to Ismael’s 3-4-3, or make subtle changes to make it more 3-4-1-2 or 3-5-2.