So another turbulent month in this amazing season for Blackburn Rovers.
At the turn of the year Rovers were in the top eight of the Premier League, semi finals of the Worthington Cup and facing a very tricky FA Cup third Round tie at Aston Villa. A 1-0 home victory against Middlesbrough consolidated their position in the top half of the table, this was backed up by a magnificent 4-1 victory at Aston Villa in the FA Cup, with Matt Jansen scoring two goals to continue his comeback from the horrific accident that he suffered during the summer, and when Rovers came back with 1-1 draw against Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Worthington Cup Semi-Final everything in the garden looked very rosy.
Rovers fans were eyeing a return to Cardiff and hoping that Rovers could push for a top six finish in the Premiership, and with the team playing attractive attacking football, even Sir Alex Ferguson praised Rovers for the quality of their play.
Oh my what a difference three weeks can make. Out of the FA cup after dominating both home away ties against Sunderland and two away losses against average Premiership sides.
In the second leg of the Worthington Cup Semi-Final against Manchester United an early lead was just not enough.....but that's how semi-finals are won and lost.
On the plus point the game against Southampton was just the tonic we needed. Thanks to a large part I think to the return of Short and Berg.
So a team which was flying coming into the New Year, now looks unrecognisable. So what has gone wrong? Now that is the million dollar question! Recently they have defended poorly, lacked attacking ideas and generally lacked any sort of cohesion.
One can look at injuries and suspension to key players such as Duff, Dunn, Short and Berg as a reason, however what is obvious is that something needs to be done before this becomes a crisis and Rovers get sucked into the relegation battle. Manager Graeme Souness commented '"There's a lot more to do here at Blackburn and I'm looking to improve us all the time.
"But I know we are a better team than we were last year and our younger players are better too. We have some nice experience with Cole, Yorke and Tugay - we have a nice mix. But the time to fully answer how we are progressing will be at the end of the season".
"There is still a big job to be done here. I don't want this club to be a yo-yo club".
So despite the recent slump, one should remember just two seasons ago Rovers were at times struggling in the first division, but now they are a well established team in the Premier League and are widely regarded as a team with some superb young players such as Dunn, Taylor, Duff and McKelvey to name but a few. Add to that experienced players such as Cole, Yorke and Tugay and the coming few months should hold a lot of promise for Rovers fans. Now where have a I heard that before!!!
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