GRAEME Souness spelled out a few facts of life for his Blackburn Rovers players today, following their bitterly-disappointing flop against Portsmouth.

And the Ewood boss said it was "unacceptable" for them to perform so poorly at home after the fans had to put up with a scrappy, uninspiring 1-1 draw on Saturday.

Souness, clearly more disappointed than after any of his previous five matches in charge, is demanding Rovers make Ewood a fortress as the foundation stone for a successful side.

But, to achieve that, he knows they will have to show a huge improvement on Saturday

"If we are to be successful next year, we want this to be a difficult place for teams to come and play and get points," he said.

"That's important.

"A team got an easy point from us on Saturday, because we weren't up for it.

" I believe I have a good bunch here and it's up to them.

"But the easy part is talking about it. They are the ones who have to go and do it.

"That's what they get paid for and it's a hard business."

Souness pinpoints home form as a major factor in what he wants to build at Ewood but he felt the team let themselves down for the first time in his six games in charge.

"That's the first time I can say the players really didn't give me everything to try and win a game of football, which is disappointing," he said.

"We were a yard off everything and that comes down to one of two things.

"It can mean you are training too hard and you are tired, or you are mentally not switched on.

"We were not mentally switched on and that was the difference. We didn't look up for the game as we have been. "It's our duty to entertain at home, to have most of the ball and get our supporters on the edge of their seats.

"We didn't do that and it's disappointing.

"That can happen but it's unacceptable as far as I am concerned.

"We have to entertain at home, that is a priority.

"People come to matches to be entertained, as well as to see their team play and win.

"The difference (between success and failure) is just a little bit of concentration.

"I felt we were a yard off everything we did.

"Our passing wasn't crisp enough, our tackling wasn't crisp enough and our whole game wasn't crisp enough."

With the threat of changes in summer looming over the squad unless they come up to scratch, Souness has put the ball firmly in the players' court if they want to be part of the future.

"They know what it's all about and that this is a great club to be part of," he said.

"This is the first game in six that I can be critical of them. That can happen. "But I thought we maybe had only four players out there who had pass marks and two of them were younger players.

"I thought Damien Duff and David Dunn had good games and I thought the 'old man' at the back, Craig Short, had a good game.

"But you aren't going to win many games if only three or four of you are 100 per cent.

"No-one means to go out there and play badly but what I am appealing for is a greater concentration."

There was a slight change of tactics by the Rovers boss on Saturday, employing just the one natural winger in Damien Duff and giving him more freedom to roam.

"We had three working midfield players and Damien Duff had the option to go and wander if he wanted," said the manager.

"I thought that people who had done well recently deserved to stay in the team.

"We also wanted to give Lee Carsley a game.

"I didn't think the team was unbalanced, I just thought we didn't have full concentration and let ourselves down."

Rovers Reserves are at home to Sunderland tomorrow when Souness will consider giving several players a run.

He could even offer Lee Carsley part of a match to help the midfielder continue his rehabilitation, which took a significant step forward on Saturday by playing a full 90 minutes against Portsmouth.

Marlon Broomes missed Saturday's game with a knee injury but it is not a serious problem.