Tony Mowbray admits feeling "frustrated and disappointed" after Albion were beaten 1-0 at home by his former club Sunderland on Saturday lunchtime.
The only goal of the game came shortly after the half-hour mark, with Black Cats full-back Trai Hume firing a free-kick into the far corner.
The Baggies dominated proceedings at The Hawthorns and had a number of chances to level matters, but, sadly, were unable to break Sunderland down.
The boss said: “Football is a cruel game. I’ve had a long, long chat with the players in there because they are trying their socks off and they are working really hard.
“I’m not questioning how I’m asking them to play because I feel like it gives us dominance in games, it gets us into great areas on the pitch and gets us 21 shots and over 60 per cent possession, yet we lose 1-0.
“That’s two weeks on the bounce and I’m questioning it with the players and hopefully we have the humility to say, should we play two up top and play a lot of long balls and keep the ball around opposition boxes that way. I think you might end up having 30 per cent possession and about four shots and you might scrape a 1-0 win now and then.
“My belief is dominate games by hard work and denying the opposition the ball, and then being good with it ourselves and playing around their box and trying to get lots of shots and crosses off.
“I think there was enough of that today. We were better today in the final third than what we were against Norwich last Saturday, and yet, ultimately, no goals again.
“I think there was a lot of positivity to take from today and I know some fans won’t want to hear that. They just want to win, as we just want to win.
“We have to stick together, the players, the staff and the fans. We have to keep going and hopefully this place will be bouncing next Saturday because we’ll have beaten Bristol City in midweek.
“We need to keep pushing on. We can still win our final games and we need to keep believing. Let’s stick together.
“We’re a decent team, we just need to show that by scoring goals and getting results. Obviously, we’re not doing that very well at the moment.
“I find it hard to think that we didn’t score when you look at the positions we got into around their box. There was a scenario where there were a few blocks on the line and it just wouldn’t go in.
“Jayson Molumby had an unbelievable chance to score with his head on the edge of the six-yard box which he put over the top. Daryl Dike had a chance which he put over the top when he was at full stretch.
“We must have got to the byline a dozen times and tried to cut it across the goal and it was never our side foot into the goal, it was always Sunderland clearing it.
“You have to give some credit to their defenders who played well. I’m frustrated and disappointed. I feel the game is still cruel because we deserve a lot more from the last two games we’ve played.
“We’ve played a lot worse than that and found a way to win. Let’s stick together, stay positive as a whole group and keep going. We’re still in there fighting.”
