IF I had a message for Blackburn Rovers’ players going into the final two games of the season it would be, ‘put yourself in a positive frame of mind and go out and enjoy them’.
As they really have nothing to lose.
There isn’t any pressure on them to get that final play-off place – it’s on the teams above them.
As it stands they are the ones with something to lose, not Blackburn, as they have more points on the board.
If Blackburn can win at Charlton on Saturday they will go into the final match of the season at home to Wigan with a chance of getting sixth spot.
If they can win that too then who knows where we’ll end up?
If Lady Luck is on our side and someone is looking down on us, who knows? We could well end up sixth.
All we can do is take six points out of six – it’s that simple.
Does pressure come with that?
Well if it does, it’s a nice pressure to have.
I would rather go out there with that on my mind than being part of a team at the bottom and being in a relegation fight – because that’s true pressure.
Why shouldn’t you enjoy being in a team that has to go forward, attack and try things in a bid to get a win which could get you into the play-offs and possibly earn promotion?
That’s why the Blackburn players should be relishing these matches, not feeling anxious.
I believe a bit of anxiety crept into their game against Yeovil on Friday.
Nerves are understandable but if you’re a professional player who wants to make it at the top level you’ve got to put things like that aside.
Football is 99.9 per cent mental. The technical side of the game all comes from thinking about football.
And if you’ve got that mental strength, that’s what makes top, top footballers, along with the will to work hard.
Blackburn are certainly doing that.
They’re hanging in there, there are a couple of games left, and maybe that sixth spot is waiting for us.
But unfortunately it’s not in Blackburn’s hands at the moment – it’s up to the other teams above them to throw it away.
So we’ve just got to win our last two games and see where we are when the season ends at around 2pm on May 3.
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