AT the moment Blackburn Rovers fans must be looking at the fixture list and wondering where the first three points of the season are coming from.

As everybody knows there is no such thing as an easy game in the Championship but this season it looks a stronger division than it has been for a long time.

MORE TOP STORIES:

But the players cannot afford to be downbeat. If they are thinking like that they might as well give up.

They have got to stick together, keep on working as hard as they did on Saturday, and hope their luck will turn and they will get a result at QPR.

It was another defeat at the weekend and, while it was hard to take, there might be a small ray of light at the end of the tunnel because it was an improved performance, particularly defensively.

Okay some of them may be away on international duty but the majority of the players have got two weeks now where they can knuckle down on the training ground and get to know each other because it is a new squad.

But there has to be more signings before the window closes tomorrow night.

Shane Duffy may well have wanted to go but he is still a big loss.

We have now lost both of our first-choice centre-backs and that is a nightmare for any manager.

Owen Coyle is starting all over again with probably the most important partnership of any side.

He has got to get two centre-backs who can play together and gel together – and he has got to do it very quickly because we have to start keeping clean sheets otherwise we are going to stay where we are.

But there are other areas of the field that also need addressing and that cannot always be solved by bringing loan players in.

Loan players do not always work out. You have to hope that they come in with a point to prove to their parent club.

But some others may not be as committed and those that are, and those that play well, could well end up being recalled.

You are always on a knife-edge as a manager. That is why it is better to sign players for fees.

Venky’s have got to back Owen now. If he says to them, ‘I need some players or otherwise it is going to be a long, hard season, and we are going to struggle’, they have to listen.

They appointed him, so why not back him?

He said after the game on Saturday the club has brought in £10m. Okay costs have to be cut but it goes both ways.

They should be looking at giving him £2m-£3m. They need to show they still have belief in the club.