THERE'S never a good time to visit Anfield as our past record shows, but coming off the results we've had, Sunday was as bad a time as any to visit a side just starting to find its form.

The way I saw it was that we had two choices. We could either get men behind the ball and frustrate Liverpool, or we could get in among them and have a real go.

Either way we needed a performance, regardless of the result.

Now being in the position of looking back at the game, I can't see which option we decided to take. The fact we lost 4-0 and it could/should have been 10, shows we didn't set our stall out to defend, and no worthwhile efforts on goal proves we didn't 'have a real go'.

A bad result, yes, but more than that a wretched performance.

With every passing week I am at a loss to explain what preparations we make during the week before the game.

Do we actually sort tactics out before a game? You couldn't accuse Souness of being tactically nave because he doesn't have any tactics to begin with. We can't even resort to Plan B these days because we haven't got a Plan A!

Such has been the lack of media coverage Rovers have had this season that pundits cannot understand

the position we are in, and are sure that it is a false one. After Sunday, respected Five Live commentator Alan Green was shocked enough by our performance to describe it as 'truly abysmal' and 'utterly embarassing'. A shock to him, but old news to Rovers fans.

He also went on to say that 'we're deep in the mire because the players are showing a basic lack of desire'.

Again that's no shock to Rovers fans, but why is that the case?

Souness, for all his faults, has always appeared to get that extra 10 per cent out of his players through motivation. I always had that down as his major attribute as a manager, but this season it appears not to be the case.

Judging on Sunday's performance you'd be hard pressed to name any player motivated to play for the manager.

The net result of all this is that it's the fans who are suffering most.

We are the ones who are paying hard-earned money to watch this rubbish. The players and management can go home and forget about it, we have to live with the trauma of possible relegation every day.

We feel the disappointment most, we see the club on its backside and in danger of a return to the dark days of the Eighties, and all the staff at Ewood can do is fall out with each other.

If the players and management had a shred of decency about them, they'd put all differences to one side, starting against Leeds, and put in a performance worthy of the name.

I won't hold my breath.