Blackburn Rovers blog: Young talent will push us on

Despite, or perhaps because of, the poor showing of England in the World Cup, I get the feeling there is even more anticipation among club supporters for the show to begin.

Part of that desire may also be due to the fact that unless you are a Manchester City fan, there has been precious little to set the pulse racing so far as close season transfer activity is concerned.

There’s still of time for Rovers fans to enjoy that delicious experience of opening their overpriced tabloid on some foreign beach and find that we’ve purchased that expensive superstar striker that everyone’s been after.

But then you’ll wake up and have to accept that it’s not 1995 and, as Blackburn fans, we live in a very different football world.

Acquiring a striker has been Big Sam’s summer project we’re told but as I write this it’s still a work in progress, although Mame Biram Diouf has come in on loan.

So here’s my review of the squad that we will be hoping can at least match last season’s commendable 10th place finish: >>Goalkeepers No doubt who our first choice will be. Paul Robinson is at least not tarnished by the collective failure of the national side.

He’s decided his international days are behind him but he will be keen to prove he’s still up there with the best.

Behind him we have the ever-patient Jason Brown who has never let us down when called on, and two other highly-rated stoppers in Mark Bunn and Frank Fielding, who may well end up loaned out again. We have strength in depth in this department.

>>Defenders Last season saw the emergence of possibly one of Rovers’ best young talents. Phil Jones has already been compared to John Terry but I prefer the comparison to a former Rovers star Mike England, who emerged in a similar spectacular fashion.

Some of the press has been OTT and I’m sure the lad himself will be careful not to get too carried away.

Indeed he will probably not be a first team regular unless Sam continues to opt for the 3-5-2 formation that was tried in the early friendlies (and wouldn’t that be a conversion akin to St Paul’s).

Not far behind him by all accounts is young Scot Grant Hanley, who himself has been compared to a young Colin Hendry.

Making up a trio of exciting young defenders is Gavin Gunning.

Their time will come but I anticipate that the season will start with our old guard.

Ryan Nelsen put many of his more illustrious Premier League colleagues to shame by his captain courageous performances for New Zealand in the World Cup.

No Rovers fan would have been surprised as we’ve seen him perform like that for his club regularly.

Together with big Chris Samba, he forms a centre-back partnership that few rivals can match.

They will be ably supported not only by the emerging young crop but by players’ player of the year Gael Givet, who can also play full back when necessary.

The full back slots will be contested between Lars Jacobsen, another who had a decent World Cup, and Michel Salgado, who after an uncertain start last season showed real heart as well as class in the run-in.

Martin Olsson for me is a wing back of real promise and gets my vote for most improved player of last season. Pascal Chimbonda, on the other hand, seemed to struggle after a promising start and may have to look for a move if he wants regular football.

Our defensive options appear as healthy as they have for some time.

>>Midfielders Thank goodness that David Dunn confounded his doubters last season. Without his contribution of creativity and goals we really would have been in a relegation dogfight.

I said at this time last year that the success or otherwise of the campaign would depend on Dunny being fit and in form and that may well be the case again.

We are still crying out for that Tugay replacement. I don’t see anyone that can lay claim to that mantle.

In Steven Nzonzi, however, a very different type of midfielder, we had the revelation of last season. To come from a French second division side and more than hold your own among the best midfielders in the league was remarkable for one so young.

If he continues to develop and can add goalscoring to his repertoire we will be struggling to retain him beyond this season.

Vince Grella had an altogether less happy season. Blighted by injury woes, he never got going.

It was no great surprise when the club was prepared to take a loss on him but the move to Galatasaray fell through. It’s a make or break season for Vince. He needs to prove he is a good enough holding midfielder at this level.

His fellow Aussie Brett Emerton has also been linked with an Ewood exit. You always get 100 per cent effort from Brett and I would be sad to see him go.

Morten Gamst Pedersen has finally committed himself to Rovers and I for one was delighted he signed a new contract.

Our Norwegian is definitely the marmite among the Rovers players.

He seems to be either loved or loathed in equal measure, but he does a lot of unsung work on the pitch and is the sort of player you’d really miss if he wasn’t there.

The central midfield role he increasingly adopted last season appears to suit him better and I can see him making that his own. His rival for that may be Keith Andrews. If Morten is marmite our Irish international is cod liver oil – not to most people’s taste yet he can still do you some good. In fairness to Keith he is a real trier and his fitness is second to none.

Beyond these we have lesser known young midfielders, who have had few first team opportunities. Aaron Doran has shown signs of a good future, Alan Judge and Alex Marrow will no doubt be given an opportunity in League Cup games, while much is expected of young Amine Linganzi (why do all our young midfielders have first names that begin with A?) who could turn out to be the Nzonzi of this season.

I believe we are still lacking some creative quality in midfield and I’d hope that funds may be found to bring in the ‘new Tugay’ if a suitable candidate were to become available.

>>Forwards Now we all appreciate that this is the area where we are weakest in terms of both numbers and quality compared to most of our rivals.

That’s not to say that the players we do have are not good players in their own right. It’s just if you look at them collectively, they don’t appear to be likely to plunder too many goals.

It hasn’t taken long for Diouf the Younger to get off the mark and it’s to be hoped his first Rovers goal in the friendly against Hearts will be one of many.

United usually buy quality but it will be asking a great deal of such a young talent to be our main goalscorer.

As we saw with Franco di Santo last season, the Premier League is a tough league to learn in.

Jason Roberts is far and away our most experienced striker, although it looks increasingly likely he may not be a Blackburn player for very much longer.

Jason does have many qualities as a front man and few defenders relish playing against him.

But a prolific finisher he is not and is inability to convert good chances often made by himself has frustrated Rovers fans and ultimately eroded our manager’s faith in him. What would concern me is offloading him without first bringing in a more than adequate replacement.

We all have high hopes that despite a difficult introduction, Nikola Kalinic might develop into a prolific goalscorer although it’s difficult to see him getting anywhere near 20 goals unless he has a target man to support him.

The present supporting cast consists of El-Hadji Diouf (yes he’s classed as a forward!), Maceo Rigters (yes he’s still here!) and young David Hoilett, who does appear to have the potential to become a goalscoring forward/ wide man in the Jermain Defoe mould.

Last season he lacked the finishing poise to go with his exciting approach play. That may develop but there again we’ve been hoping for that for Jason Roberts since he signed.

If only we could unearth even a 15 goal a season striker to support what we’ve got it could mean the difference between a European place and a bottom half struggle.

Overall, I believe we have a stronger squad than at the beginning of last season and that’s mostly due to the emergence of players who would have hardly merited a mention in last season’s review but can now be regarded as exciting prospects.