Blackburn Rovers Blog: Samba is a beacon of hope (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Blackburn Rovers Blog: Samba is a beacon of hope

9:10am Tuesday 13th December 2011 in Blackburn Rovers blogs By Dan Clough, Reporter

AS things went from bad to worse in Sunday’s defeat at the Stadium of Light, one man stood out as a shining beacon of hope.

That man was Chris Samba.

During an onslaught - the like of which has not been seen since Custer made his final stand against Sitting Bull at the Battle of the Little Big Horn - Samba kept Sunderland at bay, pretty much single-handed, for a good 40 minutes.

As well as that, he set up Scott Dann for a perfectly good second goal that was inexplicably ruled out because Sunderland’s keeper ran into the back of him.

If we are to get out of the mess we are in and stay in the league, we really need to keep hold of him.

On to the match, and it has to be said that sitting back for an entire half is not particularly good tactics.

And when we are doing it against Sunderland, a side that have only mustered one more point than ourselves in this depressing campaign, things are looking bleak.

In fairness to Kean - come on, I keep being asked for balance - his hand was somewhat forced by a succession of injuries.

But to have less than 25 per cent of the possession in a period of 45 minutes is just downright pathetic.

It was heartbreaking to lose the lead at such a late stage. Especially knowing how incredibly crucial those three points would have been, then consoling myself with the thought: “I’d have settled for a point before the game” - only to have that dream taken away as well.

But as has been said ahead of pretty much every game we’ve played recently, the next one is massive. Possibly the biggest of the season.

In fact, I’d say if we don’t take six points from home games against West Brom and Bolton, we will have to accept that we will be playing Championship football next season.

* Rovers fan Ian Battersby’s comments in a Sunday paper about Venky’s use of Steve Kean were spot on.

Currently, Kean’s role goes far beyond that of team manager. He is effectively running the club, and spending half of his time travelling between here and Pune.

Battersby said: “I don’t think the fans have any idea what Steve Kean is having to go through on a daily basis. He should be focusing on the team, not on every issue.”

Protesting against Kean’s apparent lack of management skills is all well and good, but it’s the owners that are to blame for everything the club is going through at the moment.

Kean was offered an incredible opportunity ... and he’s not going to walk away from it.