Ludo, who has known a relegation battle or two himself with West Ham as a player, says he can see the similarities with those past campaigns and this one - and says a lot of it is down to luck, as the Villa game illustrates.
"I don't think it is different, it is the same; if you are at the bottom you think everything is going against you," he says, "and at Villa it was an unbelievable game because we should have been easily 2-0 up, they had absolutely nothing, and they scored with their first attack.
"I still think we played well but we didn't take our chances - anyone who saw that game would say we had the chances but we didn't take them, and if you don't do that you can't win the game.
"But it is the whole team; you can't blame attackers or defenders because we are all working together, and the defenders need to push the midfielders forward and the midfielders need to push the attackers forward.
"It is the same at the back; the whole team needs to defend and we have to sort it out.
"I just couldn't believe it on Saturday because we played well and lost 4-1; one day we have to start winning, and when you are winning everything looks very easy.
"It is the same squad as last year and they have to believe in themselves because only they can change it.
"It is not the best time but we are doing everything we can to put it right and sort it out."
Ludo says David James was not happy about the third goal when Dion Dublin rose to head home just ahead of him and he adds:
"David was frustrated because it was 2-1, we had a chance to score another goal, and after a few seconds we conceded a quite bad goal - but he is only human."
As for Czech compatriot Tomas Repka, currently out of the side after being substituted at half time against Leeds, Ludo explains:
"He is working very hard and maybe it will help him, having a couple of good weeks training, and hopefully he will soon be back.
"He is definitely remaining positive about things; the only thing is, he has never played in relegation battles and maybe that is why he loses his head and couldn't concentrate like he would want.
"But that is because he is passionate."