The Shining Light at Ewood

With the well publicized happenings at Blackburn Rovers often taking the limelight in the UK press, surely someone out their can see some of the positives that are coming out of Ewood Park?.

Well at Vital, I have taken on the stance to only report on the positives, as they happen and when they happen. As with all the bad and negative publicity happening at the moment, there are plenty of positives which are just being wiped under the carpet.

Lets start with the rebirth of Yakubu. The chants have been ringing ever since his debut against Arsenal, feed the Yak and he shall score. Whilst not the hardest working striker to ever grace the football pitch, his clinical finishing and ability to be in the right place at the right time has ensured he has notched up 9 goals so far this campaign, sitting him in 4th spot in the top goal scorers list prior to this weekend. Not a bad return for just over 1 million pounds. The stats don`t lie as well, Yakubu boasts a league leading strike rate of 41%…no that`s not 41% of shots on target, that`s 41% of his shots find the back of the net. So indeed, feed the Yak and he shall score.

And it looks like Yakubu has found a partner in crime, Mauro Formica. It has taken the Argentine plenty of time to find his home at Ewood Park, and whilst the goals have not flowed, he is proving to be one hot man to handle, filling the role just behind the Yak. A tiny figure, but his ability on the ball is causing mayhem for opposing defenders, at times drawing in 2-3 men at a time, giving Yakubu and our wingers plenty of time and space off the ball. He has also started to put the notion of South American footballers being lazy off the ball to shame, with his recent play showing plenty of tracking back, getting stuck in and working his socks off.

We have called for him all season, he came out with a face mask and showed us signs of things to come. Call him Simon, call him Vukevic, call him whatever you like, the Montenegro International has talent and the ability to change a game on its head, as evident in his performance against England earlier this season. There was much skepticism over why he had not featured in the Rovers line up, but the face mask gave us the answer, he had a broken nose! A good eye for a pass, great footwork and confidence in his very own ability will start to come through, giving us all hope at Ewood Park of things to come.

Yes we have shipped in 600 goals in 14 odd games, yes our defence has been abysmal without any clear shape or tactics. But the emergence of Jason Lowe can only mean we have unearthed another gem. Slotting him into his preferred midfield role showed the young Englishman just was not ready. Moving him into the right side of defence to cover Michel Salgado has worked a treat with the young man blossoming in the role, even forcing the veteran Spaniard to watch from the side lines.

So it`s not all doom and gloom. We do have some shining lights within our team, something to keep us awake til` all hours, in anticipation of the next time they walk out onto the pitch, hopefully putting in another special performance.