At the final whistle, I was frustrated, angry and wondering where the next point was coming from. After a little time for contemplation, I remain frustrated and angry but I am a little more optimistic about the season. There is no hiding the fact that this was a dreadful result, but in my opinion the performance, while disappointing, still showed signs that there might not be the long desperate battle against relegation we saw last season.

This may seem to some that I am inventing a sliver lining where there is none, but there were displays from individual players that were extremely encouraging, and Albion did play some decent football from time to time. Greening was the outstanding player with an excellent performance on the left wing, Horsfield continued his excellent form this season and Steve Watson put in an accomplished display in midfield. And at the back, Gaardsoe looked much better although he still gave away too many free kicks, Robinson was back to the masterful left back we saw at the back end of last season and both Albrechtsen and Clement also did well. So why did Albion lose?

In my opinion, the core problem with Albion, both against Wigan and Birmingham, lay in central midfield. Darren Carter has failed to impress in both games, and Ronnie Wallwork seems to have returned to the ineffective midfielder we saw eighteen months ago. Their shortcomings are different. Carter has generally been neat on the ball but has failed to impose himself in midfield. Wallwork on the other hand, has started to give the ball away with alarming regularity. The biggest problem, however, is that they have both been guilty of giving the opposition far too much space and not tracking runners, and yet they still managed to get pulled out of position time and time again such that Greening and Watson were both having to cover - at times in the first half, the midfield was all over the place.

The Wigan equaliser was a case in point. It was a good ball through from Francis and a great finish from Connolly, but the time Francis had to play the pass was criminal. He'd pushed up into the space in between midfield and defence and neither Wallwork nor Carter picked him up.

The ineffectiveness of the central midfield pair meant that possession was lost too easily causing promising moves to break down, and not won back quickly enough. And it was only on rare occasions that either Carter or Wallwork got anywhere near the Wigan goal. On one of the few occasions when Carter got in the box it resulted in the Albion goal - it was he that challenged Pollitt causing the error which allowed Greening to grab his first goal for the club.

The other real disappointment was Nathan Ellington. I'm not sure whether he was affected by his treatment from the visiting fans or whether it was simply a symptom of his not having truly settled in yet, but he offered little bar the fierce strike on goal just after half time. He failed to really link with Horsfield and didn't get into the box nearly often enough, or quick enough.

There were a couple of positives from the second half following the substitutions. Earnshaw and Chaplow both impressed once again and injected that little something that had been lacking, an argument for them to have been introduced earlier, if not from the first whistle.

Hopefully, that is one thing that Robson will learn. It seems obvious to many Albion fans that he does not know, or is certainly not picking, his best side. If he is trying to rotate the squad, it seems that the players are not responding to the tactic, and perhaps they do not have the adaptability to chop and change their teammates and positions from game to game.

Trying to be as objective as possible, there was little to choose between the two teams on the day. The winning goal could have gone to either side and it was a lucky break by the touchline that opened up the opportunity for the visitors. Albion can and will play much, much better - I'm not convinced that Wigan can. As for Roberts, he was frighteningly similar to the player we had in the Premiership three years ago - I don't see that he has really improved in either ability or attitude.

A match against pointless Sunderland may seem like the ideal game for the Albion to get back to winning ways, but the fact that they are desperate for points won't make it easy. I said in my last report that Albion could not afford to lose to Wigan. The fact that they did simply piles the pressure on Robson and the players to produce results quickly. I saw signs today that the defence was much more organised with Albrechtsen at right back, but Robson still needs to pick the right midfield, and the right partner for Horsfield - once the right combination is found, I believe that changes should be kept to a minimum.

Marks

Chris Kirkland - 7 - Another decent display.
Martin Albrechtsen - 7 - Decent performance.
Neil Clement - 7 - Solid game.
Thomas Gaardsoe - 6 - Better, but still liable to give away silly free kicks.
Paul Robinson - 8 - Excellent performance
Ronnie Wallwork - 4 - Pointed a lot and gave the ball away.
Steve Watson - 7 - Much improved on his last performance.
Darren Carter - 5 - Ineffective.
Jonathan Greening - 8 - MOM. Albion's main danger man and great to see him get his first goal.
Nathan Ellington - 5 - Very disappointing.
Geoff Horsfield - 8 - Another great performance.

Richard Chaplow - 7 - Added much need zest to midfield.
Kevin Campbell - 5 - Failed to make an impact.
Robert Earnshaw - 7 - Another impressive substitute appearance.