Blackburn Rovers

The appointment of Sam Allardyce has had more negative than positive reactions from the Blackburn faithful but this isn't about his appointment or even Paul Ince's departure. This is about the writer's chance of a paper selling headline. The first game!

Now this headline always includes the phrase "Baptism of Fire". However, the team the new gaffer needs to be playing against needs to be one of the big four or an old team of his looking to show how good it’s been with out him.

Big Sam got this last time when he took over at Newcastle he went straight back to Bolton and took all three points in a convincing win. He must have wished time stood still then, but we won't mention the rest of his Newcastle career. However, this time he is playing Stoke at Ewood Park so no baptism of fire, or is it?

If you play one of the big four then you are expected to lose. Therefore, if it all goes Pete Tong no one will bat an eyelid and just laud praise on the superstars of the opposition. If you get a result you have got a whirlwind of support heading in your direction to help you push on.

So with those first games it really is everything to gain. If you play one of your former clubs it really is between the boss and his old club. The new club still just cares about the result and the performance and doesn’t care if the new boss has any ties with them at the moment. The only thing they get the chance to do is invent chants to brag about the situation.

So do these games really deserve the phrase "Baptism Of Fire"?

Big Sam’s first game against Stoke, I believe, does deserve that tag for many reasons. The first reason is the way Stoke play; it is remarkably similar to the way Bolton used to play under Big Sam, but with a bit of pretty football thrown in for good measure.

Stoke look like Bolton 2.0 and who should be more able to deal with them and their not so secret weapon, Rory Delap, than Big Sam.

The Blackburn fans will wonder if he cannot deal with tactics he knows well being used against him how will he deal with tactics he isn’t so familiar with? This brings me on to another reason for my claim, the fact Blackburn have a really good chance of beating Stoke.

Stoke haven’t won away from home all season and with Blackburn badly needing a result to avoid being cut off at the bottom of the table, they can’t afford to lose. Unlike when you play one of the big four a good performance will not be enough on Saturday, they need a result.

This fixture maybe there best chance to grab three points all season. No game is easy but apart from a match with the floundering West Brom who would you consider easier?

A loss here will not only be seen as three points to a relegation rival, but as a good chance wasted. This really could be one of those games known as a six pointer come the end of the season if Stoke can’t keep up there good home form and the away form remains poor.

Stoke may not be the best team but because of the implications of a bad result could mean to Blackburn’s chances of staying in the top flight, this game truly deserve the title "Baptism Of Fire".

Sacked. Sacked. Sacked.

In football, the word "sacked" is being used way too often for my liking or that of millions of football enthusiasts around the world, especially in Britain.

Please don't even get me started on the statement "departed by mutual consent." Sure, it's a polite way to say he was pathetic and he was sacked or forced to leave. Kevin Keegan and Alan Curbishley didn't leave Newcastle and West Ham after a mutual agreement. Yes, they have done their fair share of cursing the owners from across the table.

Paul Ince was recently fired by Blackburn Rovers after a string of poor results. Seriously, I fail to understand the logic being used by bigwigs at Ewood Park!

When you sign a manager who's done well in League Two—getting his side, MK Dons, promoted to League One—and tell him to manage a Premier League side, you know that you are taking one hell of a risk.

After taking such an extraordinary gamble, give the lad some time to get results, allow him to settle in at the club, allow him to win over the players, the supporters, and the owners.

However, unfortunately it's not fair to blame it all on the money men at Blackburn Rovers because such is the trend around the world of football!

Football is no longer merely just a kick of the ball, it's a commercial world that has taken over the game.

Seriously, with tons and tons of money involved in the game, the stakes have been raised. But it's not just the financial chunks. Hell, even the expectations from the supporters, let alone the owners, are sky-high and I'm not blaming them just yet.

If you pay so much money to watch your team play, week-in and week-out, you are bound to want results!

Getting frustrated easily is a part of human nature and that of the millionaires and the billionaires and the trillionaires.

A defeat means a great chance to grab three points goes down the pipeline. Most chairmen have absolutely no clue about the ABCs of football—all they know is that too many defeats lead to relegation, which can cause a destructive amount of losses and I'm talking millions!

All this leads up to the simple fact that the margin of error has been significantly trimmed to the extent where it is almost non-existent.

In this world, not even the special people are safe—they have to be escorted from London to Milan due to some insane black-suits—let alone the normal people.

At a time like this, I find it necessary to salute men like Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger who have managed to hold on to their hot-seats for over two decades and a decade respectively.

Beware : Nobody is safe, the axe can hit you before you know it

Latest casualty : Paul Ince, Blackburn Rovers (June-December 2008)—RIP  Paul, you will always be loved and admired as the fighter you were.

Yet again another pathetic excuse for a chairman propelled himself into the footballing limelight today as news of another Premiership sacking did the rounds.

John Williams, the chairman of Blackburn Rovers Football Club, became part of the demolition squad who gave the new blood of Premiership management, Paul Ince, the heave ho.

And what might the reason be? A weaker start to his debut season that we all expected with the Rovers. Forget his illustrious title-winning time at struggling former Premiership outfit MK Dons, and forgetting his only recent positioning within his new club just a few months previous, the board at Blackburn felt it necessary to give up on him and therefore showed themselves as unwilling to provide any opportunity for the former player to allow himself to build up any sort of reputation with his new club.

Chairman John Williams himself was quoted as saying that the team was "currently in danger of becoming detached from the pack", but surely in Paul Ince’s premature sacking they have put themselves in more danger of detaching and alienating themselves from a different kind of pack—the pack that comes in the form of an army of fans, many of whom were willing to give Ince the benefit of the doubt and allow him to forge a longer period to prove his worth.

A period in which he could have turned the tables on his team’s under-performance that was the first half of the 2008-09 season.

The Premiership is consistently attacked for its readiness to sack anyone who fails to meet the seemingly ridiculous and ludicrous standards of the powers that be. Even Jose Mourinho, who produced a team of pure quality at Chelsea, could not meet the misguided requirements of the buffoons that presided over him.

Many have spoken about the stupidity of sacking debutants into the top class management world, a list of premature maulings that will become obviously longer in seasons to come.

Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill himself echoed these sentiments in describing the sacking in proclaiming: "It seems like he's been in the job for only three minutes, which he has been, and it is exceptionally difficult. You are getting judged so quickly."

In a dream world, Paul Ince—wherever he goes—will be given a greater time to develop and prosper in future seasons. Possibly in years to come, if karma has its way, he will come back stronger and more prepared for the fight, so as to allow the powers that be to eat their words.

Such an event would also show that without being given a chance to succeed a hero can not be created. Perfection is not an instantaneous revelation, but rather a wondrous revolution.

If Paul Ince can pick himself up and repeat his lower league success then maybe such a fantasy can and will become reality.

Paul Ince was always going to struggle as Blackburn Rovers manager as pointed out in this article http://bleacherreport.com/articles/45867-blackburn-rovers-in-for-a-tough-season, written months ago.

The former English international just clearly wasn't getting the support of his bosses or players. Put it this way, Rovers were either overachieving under Mark Hughes or underachieving with Paul Ince at the reigns.

In all honesty, it is probably a bit of both as Mark Hughes worked wonders with a squad he knew inside out and finished seventh last season.

Ince, on the other hand, took just three wins in 17 league games and left the club second bottom of the league, five points from safety.

It all looked so different after round one of the Barclay's Premier League, with Blackburn celebrating a great 3-2 win over Everton at Goodison Park. Sadly, it was a false dawn as just two more wins in the next 16 games just isn't good enough for a club who could easily follow the likes of Leicester City into oblivion should they go down.

Where exactly did it all go wrong for Ince?

To start off by replacing Brad Friedel (a loyal servant and inspirational keeper) with a man who has never looked the same since that horrible night in Zagreb. Who thought moving out of London would help Paul Robinson regain his form?

Bringing in your captain from your previous club has happened often over the years, but probably not while leaping three divisions. Keith Andrews has performed admirably, but is no David Bentley. Far better players have gone down before and many more will be relegated in the future.

In each of the last two seasons, Blackburn had a striker chasing the top goal scorers golden boot. This year, Benni McCarthy and Roque Santa Cruz have scored just 5 between them in 17 league games. Michael Owen has 7 in 13 and for a team like Blackburn, they aren't exactly on form.

Up front isn't the only place that Blackburn has troubles, having conceded 34 goals so far this term. That tally is significant as it means Rovers have the worst defense in the league.

It is clear that Paul Ince was unable to get the best out of his talented squad, but why didn't he bring in more of his own players? Experienced ones for example (not past it former greats like Robbie Fowler). Did he think he would make it to January? Or were the Blackburn money men just not willing to cough up?

Lastly, if ever there was a player who needs a NEW challenge, it would be Morten Gamst Pederson. He is simply festering at Ewood Park and hasn't done Ince many favors over the last four or five months.

Where to now for Blackburn?

They need a clear out. They have had practically the same squad for years now and players like Pederson, McCarthy, and Tugay need to move on if Blackburn are to have a hope of staying up.

A new manager needs to be appointed straight away so he has time to assess his options before the transfer window opens in January.

No new manager by January and a lack of activity during the transfer window would mean one thing for the Ewood Park side: relegation.

That would be a travesty of justice for the only club outside of Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United to win the Barclay's Premier League.

How they must wish they still had Alan Shearer now.

Earlier today, Blackburn Rovers of the English Premier League sacked manager Paul Ince. The side, struggling at the foot of the EPL, have managed just three wins in 17 games this season.

The decision comes as no surprise; Ince was widely rumoured to be on his way out long before this morning. But can Ince's failure be attributed solely to himself?

Probably not.

Mark Hughes was and is a good manager and had run a good team on Blackburn's small budget. When Ince arrived, he inherited Hughes' squad and had to make do and fit them to his way of playing football.

A manager cannot change his style of play overnight. More so, he was not really able to evaluate the players until it was too late and the August transfer window had passed.

Blackburn's Chief Executive, John Williams, is quoted as saying, "Three wins in 17 games has seen a squad which finished seventh last season fall to 19th place. We are currently in danger of becoming detached from the pack."

On the face of it, that seems a fair statement. However, if you look closer at the squad, the two most influential players on the team were sold over the summer.

David Bentley went to Tottenham Hotspur, and Brad Friedel went to Aston Villa. No real replacement was made for Bentley, and England international Paul Robinson was brought in as the new No. 1.

Any Premier League fan will tell you that the change from Friedel to Robinson was a huge downgrade. Friedel was one of the most consistent goalkeepers in the EPL since Blackburn's promotion. Always high in the OPTA ratings, Friedel gave Blackburn a chance to win games by himself, something that goalkeepers are rarely able to do.

An analogy can be drawn to when Blackburn were previously relegated from the EPL. Many fans will believe that the sale of Alan Shearer to Newcastle was the beginning of the end, but in truth it was the sale of central defender and influential captain Colin Hendry that was the key ingredient to the drop out of the top division. 

Other than the 1994-95 championship season, Blackburn have never been a potent attacking side. They have always built from the back, which in truth is the most sensible way to construct a side.

Friedel has won rave reviews from Aston Villa supporters, a side which is currently sitting in a Champions League spot, but deemed surplus to requirements for a side currently mired deep in relegation trouble.

One of last season's key players, Roque Santa Cruz, has been unhappy and looking like he wanted away from Ewood Park since the summer. Rumours were abound that he was going to join up with Hughes at Manchester City. Blackburn tried in vain to help him by signing his 18-year-old younger brother Julio. Still, the Paraguayan has not been up to scratch this season.

Was Paul Ince up to the job? Perhaps not. We'll never know now and the main reason for this is because he was hamstrung and given nothing to work with in his first stint as an EPL manager. The management has made him a scapegoat for the poor decisions they made during the summer.

As I write, Sky Sports News is constantly flashing up with speculation about Paul Ince's future as manager, the speculation and mystery surrounding a board meeting is building up into a media frenzy which will peak once Ince's sacking by the Blackburn board is announced...how sad.

Let us ignore for the fact that Ince is one of the finest young British managers currently in the league system.

That upon being appointed he was being hailed as a pioneer, the first British-born Black manager in the Premiership.

The fact that he was being asked to take over at a club who had grossly over-achieved under their previous manager.

The fact that Ince is still by and large managing a team built by someone else, and finally that the board themselves at Blackburn were taking a risk themselves by appointing someone with no experience of managing at the highest level.

The brutal truth is that Ince has been charge of Blackburn for less than 6 months, under half a year, and has only been in charge of Blackburn for 17 top flight matches, and yet now his job is seemingly hanging by a thread.

If this course of action was being speculated at a purely business level by the Blackburn board six months ago, then do you think they would they have proceeded with the appointment? Appointing someone but then only giving him six months to prove himself? No.

It seems almost ludicrous that they would sack a manager after such a short space of time, and at times like these you do have to ask what has changed in six months? What has changed so drastically in the manager that has made him the wrong appointment six months later?

Has anything changed that has made Ince a bad manager in the eyes of the board? And specifically, what about him has changed in six months that it is now being said that he could be replaced by managerial luminaries like Sam Allardyce and Graeme Souness, while six months ago he was chosen above all other candidates?

Ince, undoubtedly is suffering for results, six defeats on the bounce is bad for any manager, but a look at the fixtures coming up shows that they have matches against Stoke and Sunderland coming up-winnable matches against teams in the bottom half of the table.

And if this season’s Premiership has shown anything, it is what a couple of good results can do, look at Bolton, relegation candidates earlier this season, a few wins on the trot and they are suddenly looking like one of the more upwardly mobile teams in the lower reaches of the league.

But whether Ince is given time is another question. With the January transfer window looming, the board are in a stick or twist situation, stick with the man they appointed six months ago and back him in the transfer window, or twist in the hope of improving results - a new manager who may or may not succeed in achieving better results than Ince. 

At a time like this, any manager needs backing, history tells us that if managers are given time then results can improve-it is simply a matter of patience.

But for board members looking nervously at the relegation trapdoor, remembering just why they appointed Ince in the first place will hardly be at the forefront of their minds.

So a message to the Blackburn board: just what has changed in six months? Has Ince really become the wrong man? Or are the pressures of relegation making it harder to remember just what it was that made you appoint him in the first place?

In recent years, a lot of criticism has been dished out for the way under-pressure managers are treated. Many have said that they don't get enough time and, after a spell of bad results, they are too often given the boot.

Recently, the criticism arose once more, but this time for a more distinguished manager—Arsene Wenger. Since that argument died down, however, another one, for a relatively new manager, has surfaced.

The manager in question is Blackburn's Paul Ince, who, since taking charge in the summer, has seen his team go from European contention to relegation candidates.

After today's results, which included another demoralising defeat for Blackburn, they are five points behind 17th place Sunderland, and have lost their last six league games, the worst run of results for the club in 42 years.

They are without a league win in 11 games, and have conceded at least three goals in each of their past four games. Clearly, then, the defence has been a huge problem.

But where did it all go wrong?

Big things were expected of Paul Ince when he became the first black British manager in the top flight, after impressing at MK Dons, winning the Football League Trophy, and then League One.

However, the step up from League One to the Premier League seems to have been too tough for Ince so far. If there was one thing he demonstrated throughout his illustrious playing career, however, it was that he was a fighter.

I fully expect him to keep fighting until it gets better, or until the board get rid of him. He won't quit. Then again, I said the same about Roy Keane, and the pressure of management seems to be getting to Paul Ince in a similar way.

In almost every interview since the pressure started mounting, Ince has complained that he, and other former Manchester United players who have become managers, get unfair treatment from the press.

But any manager in his position would be under pressure. His team has been on an awful run of form recently and, since taking over as manager, he has just a 28% winning percentage.

Ince has already received the dreaded vote of confidence from both his chairman, and even his players.

Today's 3-0 defeat to Wigan could well be the straw to break the camel's back, but if not, it can't be too long before the Blackburn board hammer the final nail in Ince's managerial coffin.

He needs to do something, and soon.

Manchester United made 10 changes from the side that beat Manchester City 1-0 at the weekend, but they weren't really troubled by a bedraggled Blackburn Rovers until the closing stages of the match.

Carlos Tevez bundled home a free kick as he tussled for possession with Aaron Mokoena and put United ahead in the 36th. Four minutes later, Nani played a one-two with Tevez before slotting under goalkeeper Paul Robinson. So we can add one assist to Tevez's four goals. Not surprising really as Tevez was his usual powerhouse with non stop hard work throughout the game.

Blackburn striker Benni McCarthy took just three minutes to make an impact after coming off the bench at half time. Roque Santa Cruz flicked on Robinson's deep goal kick, and after outmanoeuvring makeshift centre back Gary Neville, McCarthy fired past Ben Foster. Tevez quickly restored United's two-goal lead in the 51st and made it 4-1 three minutes later.

Blackburn threatened a late comeback when Matt Derbyshire slotted under Foster in the 84th and McCarthy scored a second in the second minute of injury time.

Tevez further pushed his claims to a regular first-team place by finishing off Rovers before the final whistle when latching onto Anderson's lofted ball forward.

Another major boost for United was the return of midfielder Paul Scholes in the 66th for the first time since damaging knee ligaments in September.

Well, let's start off with what we knew about Paul Ince before the start of this increasingly dire season that we are having.

He played for numerous clubs including Manchester United, Liverpool and Internazionale making 609 appearances and won 53 England caps which shows he was a good player especially in the central midfield role. But what is he like as a manager?

He joined Macclesfield with the club bottom of League Two, seven points off their nearest rivals. He then revived confidence and after a 3-0 win against Chester they managed to climb off the bottom of the table. They subsequently avoided relegation, albeit on the last day of the season.

This was a decent start to his managerial career as he then went on to manage MK Dons where he won the LDV Vans Trophy and won them promotion into the Coca Cola League One.

Then came the big step-up, his move to our beloved club Blackburn Rovers. The decision to appoint Ince as manager came as a shock and to some fans a bit of a joke as he is inexperienced and not good enough to be a Premier League manager. Let’s start off with a review of the transfers that have occurred under Ince at Blackburn.

The Good: Paul Robinson is probably one of the best replacements for Brad Friedel we could of got that was available at the time, sure he has his critics as he has made mistakes in the past but so has every other keeper in the Premier League. The main thing we have to do is keep his confidence up and give him plenty of practice as our defence seems to do every match.

Next up is Vince Grella, although we haven’t seem much of him as he is plagued with injury, i was extremely impressed at his first half performance against Chelsea and hope it is a sign of things to come.

The final two are questionable on whether they are up to standard or not as Danny Simpson who is on loan from Manchester United has made many woeful mistakes in the past few weeks but has shown that he has the right platform to become a decent right back, the other is Carlos Villanueva who at first glance was absolutely brilliant, he put in a brilliant performance against Grimsby and made an assist in the Fulham match after coming on from the bench.

Apart from those games, he hasn’t really shown us what he can do as he has been played on the wrong side of the field and has been more like a ghost than a player.

The Bad: Robbie Fowler, I do not know why on Earth we have signed this useless waste of space who is literally past it. He is a merely a patch on what he used to be and can hardly manage 30 minutes without needing to be subbed off.

When, Ince started Fowler with Roberts in attack against Bolton, I could not believe it when we had talent such as Matt Derbyshire and Benni Mccarthy on the bench. To be honest, the bench is too good for Fowler and he should not be at the club.

Another dismal player is Keith Andrews, the only reason he is at the club is because he was Ince’s captain at MK Dons. I don’t have a clue why everybody is giving him so much praise just because he scored the equaliser against West Brom, he is a terrible player who can not tackle or pass which are the essentials for being a central midfielder.

The final two are Julio Santa Cruz who was only bought to try and keep Roque at the club and Mark Bunn who we have seen none of, we don’t even need him as we have a perfectly able substitute keeper in Jason Brown.

Next I shall review the season so far.

Well, it started off brilliantly, all fans were in great expectation for the new campaign and had a lot of aspiration for Europe and maybe even pushing for the top four. The first match against Everton went well apart from the shaky defence and goalkeeper but it gave everybody a lot of confidence as we won with the last kick of the match.

Then came Hull, West Ham, and Arsenal. In all these matches we suffered from the same things. The most important of all being the giving away of the ball in the middle of the park and not being able to defend. Hull capitalised on a goalkeeping error, West Ham outplayed us and Arsenal showed us a footballing lesson. So one win, one draw and two losses turned a promising start into a worrying start.

Then came our last win for a while were we played absolutely wonderful in the first half and then hung onto the win in the second half against Newcastle. After that thing went downhill very fast. Three draws and five losses followed. Four of the eight teams included Bolton, Middlesbrough, West Brom, and Sunderland.

All of these teams we should be beating easily if we want to secure ourselves in the Premier League.

The other four games where Chelsea, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Tottenham. We should of at least got two or three points from these games but something is different from previous seasons where we have got points from these sort of teams. The main difference is that we do not fight for it, the ambition in the team seems to have disappeared completely.

The fight that we usually show against the so called “big” teams has gone and i don’t know whether we will ever get it back while Ince is manager as we seem to be getting worse and worse every week. As for the Portsmouth match, we were woeful in defence and not composed in front of goal.

The last point I have to make is, what is he doing with his team selection?

Why does he insist on changing to 4-5-1 when we go behind or even starting with the formation, especially when he is going to play Jason Roberts upfront on his own. This is a position he can not possible play because Jason Roberts is someone who you have in your team to hold up the ball and lay other players off like another strike partner which he doesn’t have in this formation.

Ince also plays players out of position like Steven Warnock and Carlos Villanueva. Playing Villanueva as a right winger is basically playing without a right winger as he is predominantly left footed and doesn’t get enough of the ball as most of out attacks unfortunately go down the left side to Pedersen. We also need to play Warnock at left back as he is the best one we have got and we have other suitable midfielders.

Finally, why does he play Mokoena at home, he is a player you play when you want some assurance in front of your defence when you know you are going to be on the back foot because all he can do is tackle. We simply can not play him against teams like Sunderland who we need to be attacking all match.

In summary, I believe that if things do not improve within the next month, we should seriously consider replacing Ince as manager as if it carries on we will find ourselves in a terrible position as we approach the second half of the season.

Last season, some would have argued that it had become quite a joke at the number of axe-wielding Boards of premiership clubs that never thought twice about sacking managers if the results failed to show signs of immediate improvement.

Blackburn Rovers however, they had Mark Hughes who couldn't have been more sure that his position as Manager was as safe as ever. This season however, we have lost Sparky to City and their millions and we turned to Paul Ince to steady the ship.

Unlike other graduates of the Ferguson School of management, Incey chose to start his management career in the lower divisions and work his way up based on merit as a manager rather than fame as a player.

14 games into the season however, Blackburn have found themselves in 19th position and with a long list of injuries and one of the tightest bank balances in the league. What then can be done to get Rovers out of this mess? i have a few ideas.

When Blackburn lost Friedel and Bentley in the summer, it was obvious they were going to have to change tactics and formation as they both played such enormous roles in the team's football. Are we to blame Ince's new signings or Ince's tactics? I believe it is not only a mixture of both but also that it isn't completely down to Ince.

Let's take a look through the first team and examine why the formation isn't working and how Blackburn can fix this.

Firstly, even though we've been failing to keep many clean sheets, i do believe the signing of Paul Robinson was great for Rovers and his performances at times have been outstanding. a lot of goals he has conceded haven't been down to faults of Robinson and he has at times even saved Blackburn's skin.

Keeping hold of Robinson is a must! Also having a consistent partnership of Ryan Nelsen and Chris Samba is also important a Samba's strength and Nelsen's leadership work extremely well together. the mistakes are made in the Full Back positions.

Keep Stephen Warnock at Left Back! On his day, Stephen Warnock is arguably one of the best left-sided defenders in the league yet due to his Flexibility and our lack of leadership in Midfield, he's been playing out of position.

A few decent performances in the midfield does not warrant a player of Warnock's ability to be continuously out of his strongest position and allowing our left side of defence become vulnerable, as we saw with Tottenham.

Fix the whole of the Right side! Blackburn's right flank has been one of their most inconsistent aspects of their football as of late. Last Season, Brett Emerton's pace and strength at Right Back and the influence it had on the performances of David Bentley was largely overlooked.

Moving him up to Right Wing to replace Bentley has left that right full back position extremely vulnerable as Ooijer (who is naturally a Centre Back) just hasn't got the pace to deal with many of the Premierships's faster wingers. Either Blackburn need to invest in a new Right Back or try to involve Danny Simpson a little more or they need to put Brett Emerton back in that position and invest in a creative Right Winger.

Fix The Centre of Midfield!! Even though it has to be remembered that Blackburn's most expensive summer signing, Vince Grella has hardly featured at all this season due to injuries, it is worth noting that towards the end of last season, there was another face in that position that seemed to improve with every performance until the end of the season.

That Player was Johann Vogel. I refuse to believe that a player can lose form so drastically from how he performed last year to someone who is below Aaron Mokoena in Blackburn's pecking order.

The reasons for why Vogel is so unpopular with Ince is unclear but hope can be rested in the fact that Emerton and Grella have a history of playing well together for Australia and once back from injury, Grella may be the answer to Blackburn's problems in that defensive midfield position.

Dunn however may not come back from injury so lucky and Steven Reid will probably never be the player he was so Blackburn are still left with a dilemma. who to play in front of Grella? i'd say Invest In January.

Consistency with Strikers! This season, Blackburn have failed to play the same two strikers for more than two games in a row, how can players develop in a specific formation together if this is the case? Blackburn need to stop putting so much emphasis and pressure on the health of Roque Santa Cruz and capitalise in their squad depth when it comes to strikers.

Matt Derbyshire has been way out of position on the Right Wing this season and it simply doesn't work. Santa Cruz as well as Benni McCarthy have proven in the past that they can both work well with Derbyshire. Playing Derbyshire behind the attack is a must for Blackburn and starting McCarthy when Roque isn't 100% is too.

When considering the club's unsuccesful run of games, it is easy to notice how the team have failed in every point above. Rather than start a Witch-Hunt against Ince, Blackburn fans need to take responsibility for the fact that the club chose Ince knowing full well that he had never managed in this league before and also wouldn't have the finances available to him as managers such as Roy Keane had.

Ince was always going to struggle at first because Sparky didn't have 10 or 12 billionaire owned clubs to compete with when he started at Ewood. It is up to Blackburn Fans to stick by Ince and continue the support they gave to an untested premiership manager by encouraging the club when that manager inevitably struggles at the beginning.

Consistency is what Blackburn need and a couple of additions to the squad. it is all well and good shuffling your team around to fill gaps but without cover for the gaps that shuffle creates, the task becomes pointless.