STEVE Kean has tipped Chris Samba and Scott Dann to forge an exciting central defensive partnership for years to come – despite seeing his Rovers side leak too many goals this season.

The Blackburn Rovers boss is the first to admit conceding 17 goals in just seven Premier League games is not good enough but remains adamant he has the players to tighten things up.

Dann moved to Ewood Park on transfer deadline day, with Kean paying more than £7m for him to Birmingham, but has suffered a shaky start alongside skipper Samba in the heart of the defence.

Rovers have shipped three or more goals in each of their last three league games but, ahead of Saturday’s tough trip to QPR, Kean, pictured, believes he already has the ingredients for success.

He said: “It is inevitable that it will take a little bit of time for Chris Samba and Scott Dann to get used to playing together and to form a partnership in the heart of the defence.

“But the signs are that they can be a very strong partnership. We have done a lot of work with them together and have looked at what we can do better. We have worked on that.

“They are both a very good age, 27 and 24 respectively, and both have played a lot of Premier League games. They are both leaders as well which is very, very important for us.

“Scott, like Chris, is a very good talker and we need to make sure that is in our team because we can be a bit quiet at times. That is natural because there is inexperience in the squad and there are some quieter characters.

“Both players give very good information from the defence and that is very encouraging.”

With Ryan Nelsen recovering from a knee injury and Scottish international Grant Hanley pushing a central defensive berth, Kean has no shortage of options in that area.

And, despite their disappointing start to the campaign which sees them languishing in the drop zone, Kean insists it will only be a matter of times before they start keeping their opponents out to see them rise the table.

He said: “We are very happy with our defensive options, with Ryan Nelsen and Grant Hanley also battling for a spot there and Gael Givet being able to play there.

“We know we have conceded too many goals so far this season but I don’t think you can just blame the defence for that. You defend as a team and we know we need to get tighter.

“Having said for 55 minutes against Manchester City I thought we looked tight and the all the signs are there that we will start keeping clean sheets soon. That has to be our aim now.”