PEOPLE can say what they want about John Barnes, but as far as I'm concerned, he's one of the most skilful players ever to pull on the three lions for England.

So when I saw an article from him in one of the papers last week in which he described me as the best young player in the country, it filled me with pride.

It was a fantastic feeling to hear comments like that from someone with his status in the game.

He was one of my heroes as a kid. As far as I'm concerned he's an absolute legend.

It's always good to hear nice things being said about you, especially when it comes from someone like him.

But I'm certainly not getting carried away by it all because as soon as you start believing your own publicity, you'll quickly end up with egg on your face.

The Press love to build people up with the sole intention of knocking them down at the first available opportunity.

Okay, I've had a couple of good games in the Premiership recently but I want to assure everyone I'm keeping my feet firmly on the ground.

Because as soon as you start thinking you've made it, along come a team like Leicester to bring you crashing back down to earth with a bang.

After the excitement of our two games against West Ham and Arsenal, I don't think anyone expected us to play as poorly as we did on Monday night.

For whatever reason, we never really looked like scoring and I can't remember a game so devoid of entertainment for the fans.

I certainly wasn't happy with my own performance and I couldn't believe when I ended up picking up a man-of-the-match award afterwards because I didn't deserve it on the night.

Let's just hope we can put the record straight at Southampton tomorrow but that's not going to be easy, despite their league position.

Any regular viewers of Match of the Day last season know just how passionate Gordon Strachan is about the game.

And he'll have his side fired up, especially as they've yet to win at home.

I know all the lads are looking forward to playing at a new ground but I just hope the trip is memorable for all the right reasons.

As for the England thing, I know people keep suggesting I have a chance of getting called up this weekend but I really can't afford to think like that right now.

My aim is simply to keep playing well for Blackburn and if the England thing follows on from that then great.

I can't let myself start thinking about the World Cup though, because I need to keep my mind focused on the job at Blackburn.

Yes, I'm a very ambitious person but I'm also realistic as well and there are a lot of great midfield players in this country.

Playing for England in a World Cup would be a dream come true but there's a lot of competition in my position.

In England we've got the likes of Steven Gerrard, David Beckham and Paul Scholes, so I'd have to play out of my skin to get into the team ahead of those guys. I think the World Cup is a bit too soon for me really.

Having said that you never know what's 'round the corner! We all live in hope.