BLACKBURN boss Graeme Souness today called for a winter break to help ease the strain on players after a punishing Christmas programme has decimated his squad.

Souness blames the recent hamstring injuries sustained by Damien Duff and Craig Short on the fact his players have had to play a raft of games in such a short space of time.

And that's prompted the Rovers boss to lead the calls for a mid-winter shut-down, even though that goes against one of the game's great traditions.

"It's very difficult for players over Christmas," said Souness.

"I can't say it ever affected me personally that much because I was always quite lucky as a player.

"But I think the game has changed and I think it's a demanding time for us.

"I know there's a feeling here that's it traditional to play over Christmas but I think we should have a break at Christmas and then look to extend the season into May and maybe even the beginning of June.

"That would be beneficial for players, certainly.

"When I played in Italy they always had a break and that seemed to go down well so I don't see why we can't introduce something similar.

"Take Saturday's game against West Ham, for instance. Our supporters paid good money to watch a miserable match and we ended up with two injured players into the bargain and it was all because the team was tired."

Today's game against Middlesbrough will be Rovers' fourth in 11 days and that punishing schedule has already taken its toll with Duff and Short likely to be missing for anything up to four weeks.

To lose Duff, in particular, is a massive blow given the fact he's already missed large chunks of the season through similar problems.

"It's not anything Damien is doing wrong and I don't expect him to change the way he plays but I can only repeat that playing two games in three days doesn't do a club of our size any favours," said Souness.

"If you look at the way Damien plays he's explosive. He never just gets it and plays easy passes.

"He gets the ball and wants to make something happen every time he gets it and that's what makes him so exciting to watch.

CONTINUES PAGE 28

ROVERS: From back page

"However, the downside to that is he's picking up recurring injuries but there's not much we can do about it.

"He works very hard and, in my opinion, we've got the best medical team around so if we can't get it right then no-one can."

Midfield dynamo David Thompson also supports Souness's theory about the players being tired.

After performing so well against both Manchester United and Liverpool, Rovers looked lethargic during the second half of Saturday's game against West Ham.

And Thompson believes the gruelling schedule is catching up with one or two members of the squad.

"I think some of the players are feeling tired, especially those who went away to the World Cup as well," said Thompson. "It's always tough over the Christmas period and maybe two games in three days at this level is a little bit too much. But a winter break is something I've never really given too much thought to because, since I was a lad, we've always played around Christmas time.

"Maybe they could cut the number of games down a bit, though, because there doesn't have to be so many, does there?"

A VICTIM: Damien Duff out through injury

and Graeme Souness puts that down to a punishing schedule