Confident Berg shows no fear (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Confident Berg shows no fear

6:20am Saturday 24th November 2012 in Sport By Alex James, Assistant Sports Editor

ROVERS boss Henning Berg believes his side shouldn’t fear anyone in the Championship as they prepare to host in-form Millwall this afternoon.

The Lions are on an impressive 10 game unbeaten run to top the Championship form book, but Rovers boss Berg insists he has seen nothing to worry him in his opening month at the club.

Berg picked up his first win as Blackburn boss in last week’s encouraging 4-1 win over Peterborough, and, is confident the squad has the quality to compete for a Premier League return.

“I don’t think we should fear anyone,” said Berg.

“At the same time we have to give everyone respect because it is a competitive league and if you don’t treat your opponents right you will be in trouble.

“We will make sure we have the right focus, that we are hard-working and that we play together as a team and if we do that then we will have a good chance.”

Rovers head in to today’s game in sixth spot and just six points off the top two, and Berg believes the competitive nature of the Championship makes the need for consistency even more crucial.

“This is an even league,” said the Norwegian. “There are not that many points in between many teams. You can look at league positions but I think most managers will look at the points and see how far away they are or how close they are. It’s more relevant then the position in the league.

“There are so many teams at more or less the same level you can make a big, big difference if you get a run one way or the other.

“We have a little momentum going after we lost to Palace where we didn’t play as we should have done. Then we picked ourselves up and we did really well against Huddersfield. We only managed a draw but performance wise we should normally win that game, the same thing against Birmingham and then we beat Peterborough.

“I do think that we are moving along in the right direction. We are looking to get a good run but it is a long season.

“You can go on a long run of winning games and a long run of not winning games. You can win one, lose one, it is just that open. There is not much between the teams. The teams that can improve and make sure they have that little bit of quality will have a good chance.”

And Berg believes he has added a little bit of quality with the addition of Manchester United striker Josh King on an initial loan deal with a view to a permanent move.

The 20-year-old could make his debut against Millwall today.

“The loan window was closing and we are very happy to bring Joshua in,” said Berg. “He will add pace strength and more attacking options to the team.

“He has been at United for five years, He has been on loan at other places and now he is here with us we are delighted with that. I think it’s good for Joshua to play more first team football and continue to develop as a player.

“He’s got pace, he’s got strength, he’s aggressive but having said that he has good skills. He will complement the rest of the team quite well and gives us more options.

He can play in different positions and we will play many games so that is why we are happy for him to come.”

If all goes well with King’s start at Ewood Park, Berg admits he wants to bring the Norwegian international to the club on a permanent basis.

“We have to see,” said the Rovers boss. “We like the player in terms of his qualities. We think those qualities will fit in nicely with the team we have and the players we have. It’s a loan deal until January and if everything goes well we will look to do that (make the move permanent).”

Meanwhile, Berg refused to be drawn on Rovers’ move for former goalkeeper and current Spurs stopper Brad Friedel.

“When the loan window closes there is always going to be speculation and rumours. Brad is a Tottenham player and we have good goalkeepers here so that is it.”