Bristol City's usually reliable defence imploded at The Hawthorns as the Robins were soundly beaten 4-1 by the league leaders amid a catalogue of individual errors and overall poor performance.
Collectively and individually, , albeit against one of the Championship's best teams but the Robins still lie seventh in the table after a start to the season punctuated by injury problems.
Tomas Kalas and Taylor Moore were both absent again from the City squad, having also missed the 0-0 draw against Nottingham Forest with separate knee problems.
Following the 4-1 loss we asked head coach Lee Johnson for an update on the two important defenders and the response was mixed.
Moore, who underwent a scan earlier this week, is expected back imminently but it could well be a longer lay-off for Kalas as he battles a long-standing problem with tendonitis in his knee, which flared up after the 1-0 win over Cardiff City.
"Moore's close. He's not a million miles away. He had a bit of swelling on the knee but it was good news from the surgeon," said Johnson.
"Kalas is difficult to say at the moment, I'll be honest with you. It could be one of them that's three days or it could be one of them that's three weeks I'm not sure."
City are reasonably well-stocked in central defence with Moore's return boosting their numbers to four alongside Bailey Wright, Ashley Williams and Nathan Baker but Kalas remains the team's premier defender.
The 26-year-old is outstanding not only in competing physically and organising the backline but also his ability read the play and act as a cover defender, an aspect of City's performance lacking at The Hawthorns.
Johnson added that Callum O'Dowda was withdrawn with a dead leg on Wednesday night after a crunching Jake Livermore challenge in the first half left the Irishman on the ground for a couple of minutes.
While Johnson also explained that the decision to play O'Dowda as left wing-back against the Baggies, was a tactical decision and not to do with resting Tommy Rowe, who then came on after 40 minutes.
"The idea was to be able to exploit the left-side where they press narrow and be able to get the ball to O'Dowda and have a natural winger and try and attack," said Johnson.
"But too many individuals didn't start with enough quality. That's the bit I've got to process why. Is that a tactical reason or a game state reason or is it just that we're not good enough?"
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