GRAEME Souness's decision to take his players off for a team bonding session in Scotland this week might not be everyone's idea of dealing with a crisis.

But if it gets us a win against Everton on Monday night then I'm sure the sceptics will be happy to eat huge slices of humble pie.

Some fans will argue that Graeme and his players would have been better off trying to solve their problems on the training ground rather than disappearing on a mini-break.

But speaking as a former player, I used to find a few days away with the lads often helped to re-focus the mind in times of crisis.

Kenny Dalglish once whisked us off to Scotland when our promotion bid looked in danger of faltering.

On another occasion, we sought solace in Spain under the leadership of Don Mackay.

And we also went on a similar trip with Bobby Saxton, although I can't for the life of me remember where that was to -- we must have had too good a time!

Seriously, though, it's a chance to get everyone together and create a siege mentality about the squad again.

Rovers have had a tough time of it of late and if they want to turn things around quickly then it's vital that everyone pulls in the same direction.

Whenever we went away as a team, our results always seemed to pick up when we returned.

Maybe it's down to the change of scenery. You can get stale doing the same thing day in, day out, particularly if results in between are going against you.

But by taking the players away, it gives everyone the chance to have a break and a bit of laugh, which stops the monotony.

It's also an opportunity to get away from all the negative Press and the pressures that go with it.

Normally speaking, you'll go in for training in the morning and then go home in the afternoon, which gives you a lot of time to think about things and that can get to certain players.

But at least if you're all away together then you train together and socialise together, which should help to bring the players closer.

Monday night's game against Everton is another potential banana skin.

They might be struggling to score goals but David Moyes' teams are always hard to beat.

Therefore, one goal might be enough to win it, which means our strikers have got to start being more ruthless in the final third.

At the moment, whoever plays up front is under great pressure to produce the goods because we can't keep a clean sheet at the back.

We could do without losing Andy Cole for three games through suspension at such an important time and it's going to be an interesting to see what Graeme does in his absence.

Does he bring back Matt Jansen or take a punt on young Paul Gallagher?

It's certainly not an easy game for anyone to come in who's suffering from a lack of confidence.