I HOLD a great deal of store by the phrase 'form is temporary, class is permanent.'

So I'm somewhat bemused by the current hysteria in the national Press suggesting Michael Owen is going through a major crisis.

Owen, as anyone with half a brain knows, is the finest striker in England and the fact he is experiencing a bit of a dip in form is nothing to get too alarmed by.

At the end of the day, players are only human just like ourselves, not robotic machines who perform to the same level of consistency week in, week out.

Therefore, it stands to reason, that they are going to suffer peaks and troughs in terms of their performances on the pitch.

And the difference between top notch performers like Owen and also-rans such as Diego Forlan is that the former enjoy plenty more peaks than troughs over the course of a season.

Owen will come good again, you can be sure of that, hopefully in time to inspire England to victory in Slovakia next month.

But what has all this got to do with Blackburn Rovers, I hear you ask?

Well, some of the claims currently being made about Owen have also been laid at the door of Andy Cole in recent weeks by certain disgruntled Rovers supporters.

But the argument I've just used to defend Owen applies in exactly the same way with Cole.

Over the last 10 years, the 30-year-old striker has consistently proved he's one of the most deadly strikers in the Premiership.

And the fact he has only scored once so far this season means nothing in the overall scheme of things.

Cole, like Owen, will slip back into the groove sooner rather than later - it's just a matter of when.

And when he does, someone somewhere is going to find themselves on the wrong end of a hiding.

Let's hope it's CSKA Sofia in Bulgaria next week.

Rovers worked hard to get into Europe and they owe it to themselves, as much as the fans, to give the UEFA Cup a fair crack of the whip.

Last week's performance was desperately disappointing but it has since transpired that Graeme Souness had little option but to field the side he did on the night.

We can only hope that some of his casualty list have healed sufficiently in time to return for the rematch.

Because Rovers, with a fit Andy Cole, Dwight Yorke and Damien Duff, should have too much fire-power for Sofia side who looked distinctly average at Ewood.

So next week's trip should hold no fears, even if CSKA are slight favourites to progress by virtue of their away goal.