RAY Harford used a video this week as an essential part of his rehabilitation treatment for his rock-bottom Rovers.

And the only sound, as the Ewood squad were forced to sit through a re-run of last Saturday's defeat by Arsenal, was...silence!

The Rovers boss explained: "We watched the video and turned the sound off. When you can hear the commentator, or the crowd it can influence you.

"But, with no sound, it hit home even worse that there was an elementary lack of quality.

"I told the players 'You are far better than that' and they know it.

"We had a discussion for about an hour and a half and one or two were probably cringing after watching it." Asked if he had thought of trying something completely different to try to end the run, Harford said: "That (the video show) is off the wall for me. I suppose there's a case for going out and getting drunk with them, but that's just not me.

"We've had them working at what they need to.

"When you play balls forward, if they don't stick either in midfield or up front, you just give it away all the time.

"And there's nothing more soul-destroying than making a good pass and then losing possession.

"As a manager you have three aims - to improve the players you have got, to be good at buying and selling and to get results.

"Until I can get somewhere with the second and change the third, all I can do is work on the first and that's what I've been doing."

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