PAUL Ince has vowed to bounce back from the barrage of criticism aimed at him in recent weeks – insisting he still has faith in himself as a top-flight manager.

The Rovers boss has been tipped by many to be the next Premier League managerial casualty, with successors already being lined up, but Ince remains defiant he will succeed at Ewood Park.

Saturday’s 3-1 defeat to Liverpool extended Rovers winless run to 10 league games, leaving them in the relegation mire ahead of a crucial end to the year.

Ince though points to a spirited response from his players as signs for optimism and insists he will not let his constant critics beat him.

He said: “I don’t know why people want to see me fail. People have so many opinions of myself.

“But the only opinion that matters to me is what my players think and what my chairman thinks.

“And after that performance there’s a bit of positivity now. The players can walk a little bit higher now.

“If I didn’t think I could be a Premier manager I wouldn’t be standing here now.

“You’re going to go through your rough times and have your highs and lows. Even the greatest, Sir Alex. We go through these bad times but they make you a better manager and a tougher person.

“The only concern for me was that the players performed today and they’ve certainly done that.”

Ewood Park vocally responded to Ince’s call for unity on Saturday after a travelling few voiced their frustrations towards him in the mid week Carling Cup defeat at Old Trafford.

A battling on-field display echoed the efforts from the terraces, leaving Ince confident about the task ahead.

He said: “Certain people are trying to get me out of a job but we’ve all come together as a club.

“The fans were absolutely different class, they were clapping the players off because they have put in a performance that shows they are better than where we are and they want to play for the manager.

“It would have been easy to go the other way. I asked the fans this week to get behind us and they have certainly done that and if we keep performing like that we will be fine.

“The performance they gave shows we’re better than where we are in the table and the players want to play for their manager.

“I asked the fans to support us and stick together and they’ve certainly done that. If we perform like that week in, week out we’ll be fine.”

Goals from Xabi Alonso, Yossi Benayoun and Steven Gerrard were enough to end Rovers’ spirited resistance though – as they emphasised their position as realistic title challengers.

Ince said: “We played against a team that is going for the Premier League and we absolutely matched them for 70 minutes.

“The performance in itself in general was absolutely excellent.

“People can question whether the players want to play for their manager but you’ve seen it today in abundance.”