Albion No.2, Eddie Newton, claimed the Baggies’ inexperience was their downfall after a second home defeat of the season against Swansea City last night. Former front-man Craig Beattie came back to haunt his old club smashing home the winner five minutes after the break.
The Baggies managed only a solitary shot on target in the whole 90 minutes with Newton calling for Albion’s senior-pros in the squad to take more responsibility on the field.
Despite the reverse, Albion still sit on top of the Championship after Newcastle suffered a consecutive defeat away at Scunthorpe.
"We asked in the dressing room for the more experienced players to stand up," said Di Matteo's No.2.
"We're all in this together - win, lose or draw.
"At present, when things are going against us and the opposition are a hard nut to crack, it just needs a senior player to say calm down when in possession.
"Also, when we lose possession, we need them not to go mad and to stay compact.
"We do everything together - both attacking and defending.
"These are the things we are trying to establish within the side and, in the most part, they're doing it.
"They've played some fantastic stuff already this season.
"But there are times when we will get hurt like this and it's a hard pill to swallow.
"However, we, as a coaching staff, have got to look at the longevity of the season and not get carried away.
"Obviously, we've got to focus on why things are going wrong at home sometimes when we lose that first goal or show a little bit of naivety.
"That's what we're doing every day.
"It's hard when we get in a process like this and we're going from game to game, playing Saturday-Tuesday all the time.
"It's very hard to work on those things on the training ground.
"Every day seems to be recovery, recovery and tactics, tactics and you can't really work on the subjects you want to work on.
"When we have a bit of time, we will work on it.
"Until then we have to keep going like everyone else."
With Roman Bednar suffering from a trapped nerve in his back, 17-year-old, Chris Wood, partnered Luke Moore up front as the fragility and inexperienced squad was once again exposed. Newton admits he and Roberto Di Matteo are searching for new faces but stressed only quality will be added in the coming months.
"We're always looking at new players,” he admitted.
"We're not saying this is the squad and that's it.
"We're looking towards January and we just have to make sure we bring in the right personnel and don't panic.
"There's no point in getting someone in who isn't exactly the player we need.
"It's no good for them and it's no good for us.
"We've targeted areas and we're working on it."