Samba: It will only get tougher for young guns (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Samba: It will only get tougher for young guns

8:54am Thursday 11th March 2010 in

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CHRIS Samba has warned Blackburn Rovers’ emerging young stars ‘the hardest time is now’ as he urges them to keep their feet on the ground in their bid for the top.

Rovers’ giant defender believes a handful of their emerging talent have the potential to ‘go all the way’ but insists they have achieved nothing yet - despite a promising start to Premier League life.

Martin Olsson, Junior Hoilett, Steven Nzonzi and Nikola Kalinic have surprised many by the way they have adapted to the ‘’world’s best league’ at such a young age, with Samba calling for more of the same from the starlets.

Rovers travel to Tottenham on Saturday, with some of their youngsters set to start, as Rovers bid to end their away day pain and secure just a second league win on their travels.

Samba said: “We have got a lot of young really promising players in the team but the hardest time comes now. They have to keep on working hard and don’t forget that only hard work takes them into playing games.

“They have to stay focused and work hard. They have so much quality and so much promise so they will have to continue.

“Now is the time for the young players to get experience and play more and more games. I hope he can continue in this way and then he can think about other things like international call-ups.”

Rovers are desperate to continue the form that saw them almost pull of a shock Anfield victory last time out at White Hart Lane on Saturday lunchtime.

And Samba believes Rovers’ vocal travelling support can help them end their misery on the road, before home games against Chelsea and Birmingham.

“I thought we showed a lot of good things during the game at Anfield,” he said. “If we could change two minutes in the game with the two goals it would be very different.

“We were punished really badly, especially with the amount of chances we had. We had much more so we felt disappointed. We felt it was a good day to get something from Anfield because it’s not like that every year.

“We want to achieve something and to go further up the table if possible so it’s encouraging when the fans get behind you and be the 12th man.

“It can really help you. It can make it difficult for the opposition, especially at home.”

Rovers skipper Ryan Nelsen will still be missing on Saturday, as he recovers from a knee injury, but Samba has backed the New Zealander’s replacement to ease their loss.

He said: “Now we have Gael and we have a lot of players who can play as a centre half. For me it is better when we are all here because we can defend very well, especially in the aerial game.

“Yes Ryan is a big loss but we try to continue to play well at the back.”