OWEN Coyle admits the only way to stop the criticism coming his way is by putting points on the board as Blackburn Rovers look to sign off a miserable 2016 with a positive result at Huddersfield (12.30pm).

Coyle accepts he and the players have left themselves wide open for criticism with a first half of the season which saw Rovers collect just 20 points to sit third bottom in the Championship.

The half way stage of the season passed with a fourth straight defeat at Barnsley on Boxing Day, with Coyle coming in for heavy criticism from the 1,400 plus travelling support at the full-time whistle.

When asked if the job as manager of Rovers was more difficult than he envisaged when taking over, Coyle said: “I think we knew that when we came in it was a huge job for many, many reasons.

“On the footballing side, we inherited a team that’s been on the slide if truth be told, which they have been for a number of years.

“As a manager you understand the criticism that comes with not winning games but I think it’s important that people give balance to the fact that when we came in, we didn’t inherit a team that was challenging near the top of the league or challenging from the play-offs, nothing could be further from the truth.

“What we know is given what we’ve contributed in those games, we should be further up than where we are. But we’re not, and the only way to change that is by going out there and getting those points and the onus is on us to do that.

“We know that, it’s very simple, go and get your points and that’s the only way that criticism stops, by winning games and doing well.”

Rovers, and their fans, have endured a miserable 2016, losing half of their 46 league games and picking up just 12 wins along the way.

In Jordan Rhodes, Grant Hanley and Shane Duffy, Rovers have received transfer fees in the region of £20million, but have spent just a fraction of that. And Coyle admits Rovers are in need of further investment, as he waits on the Venky’s to give him the green light to add to his squad in the January transfer window.

“The team had won just seven games from their last 26 of last season and obviously there have been players who have left for huge money in that period,” the Rovers boss said.

“We lost two centre halves were £10million in the summer, so of course it was always going to be more difficult than having them here.

“There was £200million spent by teams in the Championship who are looking to improve, I think since last January we have sold players to the value of £20million, so of course that will have an effect.

“That won’t deter us from knowing that we can bring that stability and look to build a platform and when there has, as I’ve has stressed numerous time, a time when there needs to be that investment to take the club back to where we all want it to be.

“But no-one is hiding behind that, we know that we can go out and get the points and performances we need, and we’ll to bring that stability to the club, which we will do, and then look to mount and build a challenge for next year.”