WORRIED Blackburn boss Graeme Souness has conceded that Rovers are in a 'desperate situation' following Saturday's 4-3 defeat at the hands of Bolton Wanderers.
Rovers crashed to their SIXTH home defeat of the season in the Premiership after tossing away a 3-1 lead against their north west neighbours.
That result leaves the club hovering nervously above the relegation zone going into Saturday's crucial battle with Manchester City.
And the Ewood chief believes Rovers may even need a spell in the bottom three to alert some of the players to the seriousness of the current situation.
"This result puts pressure on us and we have to realise exactly where we are now," said Souness.
"It's going to be a long, hard 17 games that we have left.
"We've got to get some points on the board as soon as possible so that we don't end up in that bottom three.
"Maybe it would be a good thing if we went into the bottom three sooner rather than later.
"It might make people realise that we are in a desperate situation and we might get more from them.
"We really have to hammer the message home. You are stuck between the chicken and the egg.
"If you make the point then some people may start to react in a negative way but there's no kidding any more.
"We've dropped into an area where it's become very dangerous and we all have to realise that, and realise it quickly."
Rovers got off to the worst possible start when they conceded a goal after just 13 seconds.
However, Vratislav Gresko then restored parity with his first goal for the club barely 60 seconds later.
And further strikes from Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole appeared to have put Rovers in full command.
But former World Cup winner Youri Djorkaeff grabbed a lifeline for Bolton when he scored a wonderful goal on the stroke of half-time.
The tables turned completely in the second half as the home defence capitulated in the face of a spirited Wanderers fight-back.
Substitute Stelios made it 3-3 in the 73rd minute then five minutes Kevin Nolan wrapped up the points for Sam Allardyce's side when he capitalised on yet more hesitant defending to notch his second goal of the game.
"If we continue to defend as poorly as we did today then we could be in real trouble," added Souness.
"The easiest part of football is defending but that's the part that we find the hardest.
"From the first 10 seconds to the 92nd minute, we didn't defend well.
"We were caused problems by the simplest form of attacking football, which was a big centre forward and the ball being knocked ito him.
"We didn't deal with that from the start of the game to the end of the game and that's why we lost."
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