I wonder what Switzerland's like in June? Because, after yesterday's draw, that's where we're heading for next summer's European Under 21 Championships.

I must admit I don't know too much about the place so it could be an interesting trip, provided I'm selected of course.

It seems a while now since we qualified following our play-off victory over Holland.

But now they've sorted out the venue, that will help us to focus on the job we've got to do next year.

I believe we've got a realistic chance of winning it as we proved with our perfomances against Holland and Germany.

But we can't afford to let complacency creep in just because we've got an excellent record under David Platt.

Anyway, that's for the future, in the mean time I'm totally focused on the task of doing my best for Blackburn in the Premiership.

And we are moving into a crucial period in our season with so many games coming up in such a short space of time.

As history shows, a lot of issues become clearer immediately after the Christmas period.

And we need a couple of wins over the next few weeks to make sure we keep a gap between ourselves and the bottom four or five.

We were desperately unlucky not to get something against Leeds last Sunday.

But we can't afford to keep moaning about our lack of luck.

We've got to try and make things happen ourselves and Tuesday night's excellent 4-0 win over Arsenal should have done wonders for our confidence.

Tomorrow's game against Newcastle is another toughie but we've got to go there in a positive frame of mind otherwise we can forget about getting a result now.

They've got some top-class players, St James's can be an intimidating venue, so we've got to stand up for ourselves and get amongst them from the off.

We all know about the dangers Alan Shearer poses because I used to love watching him ramming in the goals for Rovers from the Blackburn End.

He might have had his critics over the last couple of years but he will always have my respect and I'm sure I speak for most Rovers fans when I say that.

The fact Craig Bellamy is suspended might help us but it also means my old mate Shola Ameobi is likely to partner Shearer up front.

I know exactly what he's capable of from our time together with the Under 21s.

So Henning and Co will have to be on their guard at the back if we are to take a point from another top side.