Pepe Mel defends Liam Ridgewell against online abuse

The Baggies boss claimed the club must find serious competition for Ridgewell's spot as he admitted he would be "crazy" to recall Goran Popov to cover for the injured defender.

And he blasted trolls who wished Ridgewell more serious injury on the club's official Facebook page, claiming they were not true Baggies fans.

Ridgewell will miss at least the next two games, starting with tomorrow's Hawthorns clash with West Ham, with medial knee ligament damage but, when the club posted the news on Facebook, several users responded with abuse.

One fan said: "Shame it doesn't finish his career," while another posted "If it's not that bad please just leave me in a room with him for half an hour with a hammer. I'm sure we could make it worse."

Another Facebook user said: "Hope he has to have his leg amputated no team deserves to have a player this rubbish! Can't wait for him to leave sick to death of him!"

However, other fans were quick to leap to Ridgewell's defence and Mel said yesterday: "Since have been here I think the fans have shown an awful lot of kindness towards the team and maximum respect to the players.

"I think the true fans will be there tomorrow and showing their support for the guys."

Ridgewell's form has been a source of concern this season and, with Popov frozen out for more than half the season, Mel hinted that a lack of serious competition for the left-back spot had not been healthy.

"For me this relates to the Popov issue," said Mel. "What West Brom need for the future is a competitive squad and no one being certain of a starting place.

"It really must be very difficult for the player to get in the line-up, no one should be certain that they're going to be involved in the next game.

"Competitiveness really is very important in football but Ridgewell has played well and been performing at a good level."

Mel had previously said captain Chris Brunt would move to left-back but he is now considering other options, including specialist right-backs Billy Jones and Steven Reid.

On Popov, the Spaniard said: "We really are playing in our cup final and we really can't be playing this game with a player who hasn't played for a very long time.

"There are two ways to approach the game, either with Chris Brunt playing at left-back or Chris Brunt in his normal position.

"When I arrived here Popov and Rosenberg were players who weren't really involved in the setup.

"I have no problem with Popov. He's a player who has a really professional attitude and has played really well.

"But the fact is that he hasn't played and with three games to go it would be crazy to put him back in."