ITHERE has never been a better time to be a Premiership footballer.

If you work hard and do well for yourself then the rewards are incredible because the game in this country has never had a bigger profile.

But there can sometimes be a flip-side to the coin, too, and I experienced that for myself last week when some of my comments in this very column were taken out of context by journalists working for other newspapers.

Last Thursday, I talked about what a great signing Markus Babbel was for Blackburn Rovers and how I was slightly surprised Liverpool had decided to let him go.

Imagine my surprise, therefore, when I heard several days later how that had suddenly turned into an attack on Gerard Houllier and Liverpool Football Club.

Looking back, I should have known those comments might have been used against me because that's how some people work.

So I just want to set the record straight now before this gets blown out of all proportion, especially as our next game is against Liverpool in 10 days' time.

I have not shown a lack of respect to either Gerard Houllier or Liverpool Football Club in what I said.

If I wanted to say anything like that then I would have done it three years ago when I left Liverpool for Coventry but the fact is I've never said a bad word about either.

I still have a lot of friends in Liverpool and I have a lot of affection for the city, its people, and the football club.

Now that's clear, let's talk about our magnificent performance against Chelsea at the weekend.

We knew it was going to be tough and that's exactly how it proved because they've got some fantastic players. I know the stats said that the possession was shared roughly 50/50 but while we were out there it felt like they had an extra man for most of the game.

I thought Markus Babbel was outstanding for us given that was his first game in a while.

As for my own form, I thought I was average, to be honest.

I worked hard and I feel my fitness is improving with every game. But I'm still half a yard short of where I want to be.

I was starting to cramp up after 70 minutes so it might be November before I can say I'm really flying.

At the moment, I'm still picking up the odd niggle here and there which means missing a day's training and it does become frustrating.

I certainly know I'm not playing well enough to be considered for England right now but that's at the back of my mind because I've got a job on just keeping my place in the Blackburn team.