West Brom 3-3 Tottenham - match analysis

But to throw a away fourth comfortable, winning position in a single, rotten season points to major problems for Albion.

And so it was on Saturday, as a draw that most Baggies fans would have gladly accepted at kick-off time became a point that left Pepe Mel and his players more heavily damaged than ever in the court of public opinion.

To the wider football public watching the fight for survival develop from afar, it looked like a useful result for Albion as they clamber desperately towards a tally that will keep them safe for another season in the top flight.

And it was, with Mel's men now almost certainly one victory away from avoiding an ignominious drop into the Championship.

Yet the shambolic but depressingly predictable manner in which they squandered another glorious winning opportunity left them damned once more for the failings that have underpinned a horrid campaign.

It hinted at a lack of professionalism, discipline, bottle and even fitness on the field and a total absence of direction, clarity and composure off it.

Having raced into a 3-0 lead inside 31 minutes with their most high-octane attacking display on the Spaniard's watch, the final hour was a tale of raggedness and utter chaos that summed up a season of failure from top to bottom at a club that until recently was a watchword for order and structure.

A little over an hour after Stephane Sessegnon fired them 3-0 ahead, Mel stood accused of tactical failure and his players of lacking nerve after they succumbed three times to a Tottenham side who had defended like the Dog and Duck before the interval and, for all their summer big spending, looked there for the taking.

And the most depressing aspect of the latest Baggies implosion was that the vast majority of the fans who packed into a rocking Hawthorns saw it coming.

From the moment Jonas Olsson deflected Kyle Naughton's cross-shot over a helpless Ben Foster to make it 3-1 on 34 minutes, there was an nervousness that the Baggies' 'giveaway demons' would return to haunt them.

And once Harry Kane had made it 3-2 with a remarkably easy header with 20 minutes remaining, it seemed inevitable that the equaliser would come.

It duly arrived in the fourth minute of stoppage time as Albion's rearguard allowed Christian Eriksen to cut in from the left and bend a shot past Ben Foster to give another promising afternoon a heartbreaking conclusion for supporters who have suffered so much disappointment already this term.

There were plenty of excuses that Albion could reach for.

There was the obvious attacking quality of Spurs who, for all their troubles this season, have forward players capable of unlocking even the meanest defence.

There was the loss to injury for the final stages of defensive lynchpin Olsson, who was missing by the time Eriksen took two points from his team.

And there was the poor refereeing of Neil Swarbrick, who handed the visitors a dubious penalty from which Foster saved and upset home supporters with a string of marginal decisions that went against Mel's men.

But none of these gripes could explain the way the Baggies folded again, throwing away a 3-0 advantage as shambolically as they had squandered 2-0 advantages twice against Villa and most recently against Cardiff.

They appeared to be paralysed by nerves, undone by complacency at 3-0 ahead and, crucially, uncertain of what was required of them as they tried to cash in on a fabulous position handed to them thanks to goals from Matej Vydra, Chris Brunt and Sessegnon.

Equally worrying was the sense that they were physically shot with 20 minutes to play. Many Baggies players looked dead on their feet while the visitors, inspired no doubt by the Baggies' record of carelessness, found a second wind.

For his part, Mel was blame by many for surrendering territory too early by withdrawing Sessegnon early in the second half in favour of defensive midfielder Claudio Yacob.

And perhaps the change did set the tone and sent a sub-conscious message to his team that they should drop back and defend what they had.

But more worrying for the Baggies was how they played, not how deep they sat.

Just like at Norwich seven days earlier, they eschewed Mel's preferred high-pressing methods and reverted to the Roy Hodgson-esque principles of shape to defend their lead.

But unlike at Carrow Road, they abandoned their pressing altogether. In Norfolk they got men behind the ball then closed down as a unit.

On Saturday they got the first part right, but then stood off Spurs, allowed them to play and paid the price.

Such concerns had seemed a million miles away when Vydra produced a fine finish for 1-0 with just 28 seconds on the clock after Hugo Lloris had palmed away Morgan Amalfitano's before Brunt's crisp left-footed volley doubled the lead on four minutes.

Albion were rampant against a Spurs side whose defending was dreadful and who looked determined to hasten manager Tim Sherwood's exit from his job. When Sessegnon seized on Younes Kaboul's awful header and raced from halfway to make it 3-0 on 31, Spurs looked in disarray.

But Albion asked for trouble when an utter lack of urgency allowed Naughton to breeze on the right and his cross-shot looped in off Olsson.

Even before then, Kane had missed two fine chances as Albion's defence looked suspect, first firing wide from the edge of the box and then missing a great opportunity at the near post from Danny Rose's cross.

And Foster then saved a dreadful Emmanuel Adebayor penalty after Rose had tumbled under Morgan Amalfitano's challenge.

The decision looked harsh but the Frenchman's defending was lazy and the challenge clumsy, setting the tone for what was to follow.

The second half became a siege on the Baggies goal and, when Kane headed home Aaron Lennon's cross, he was one of three unmarked players waiting to pounce.

Foster, who had made several smart saves early on, was then powerless in stoppage time as Eriksen was given time and space to seize on a loose ball and complete the comeback.

Albion clung on for the point which at lunchtime they would have taken but after half an hour of action would have looked like scant reward and, despite a season of repeated similar nightmares, they will probably still do just enough to stay in the top flight.

Yet it was a depressing yet familiar ending for Baggies fans. Actually, it was worse.