VB Weekend Winners And Losers

Hello again boys and girls and welcome to the secodn edition of this season's Vital Blackburn winners and losers for the unfortunate (again) 2-1 defeat at the Stadium of Light on Saturday.

You should know the rules by now - three players will get a big up, told to keep it up and listen to me entirely (ed- yeah right) and three will get a kick up the backside, told to do better and listen to me entirely (ed- seriously?!).

Without further a do...

WINNERS

Gael Givet -Not many will have realised this but all the fans in the ground had got down wind of Stephen Warnock's imminent move to Villa by the time 3pm had rolled around and in the ground they had their chance to make some noise about it... so what did they do?

In the first five minutes they boomed out the chant 'Allez, Allez, Allez, Allez, Givet... Givet'. It was something that went largely unnoticed but it summed up the situation perfectly.

Warnock may be going but Givet is a superb direct replacement. Defensively about as sound as you can get and loves playing for Sam.

Just to ram the point home he was also the best defender on show for either side.

Steven N'Zonzi -Rapidly turning into the find of the summer, not just for Rovers but in general.

He still has a way to go but he was giving Catermole as good as he got and stamped his authority on the game.

Was desperately unlucky to have a goal ruled out for infringement and is a big presence at either end of the pitch.

He has come along way already from that third division French player. When Dunn, Reid and Grella come back he will probably be on the fringes for a season or so but he is hard to fault so far turning in another good shift on Saturday.

Morten Gamst Pedersen -Two games this season and two much improved efforts from the frustrating Norwegian.

He needs to stop shooting so much when team mates are in better positions but his general output is a lot more threatening and his corners are very dangerous (much better than last season again).

At this rate we'll getting 2005/06 Morten back in no time!

LOSERS

Nikola Kalinic -I hate to put him here as I think his general play and ball control were very good and his fitness was excellent for someone who hasn't played much recently but his finishing reeked of nerves and at the risk of sounding harsh - he bottled getting us a point at the death.

He has the makings of a very good player and I am super confident it will turn around for him as he goes on as HE IS CLASS but it didn't happen for him at the Stadium of Light.

A for effort but D for end result.

Martin Olsson - There is a good player screaming to get out of this guy but he needs to stop mouthing off and start applying himself a bit better.

I can see an improvement on last season after his White Hart Lane nightmare but he is another one who looks nervous.

Maybe a run out tonight at Gillingham can get him back on track?

Chris Samba -He is always a threat in the opposition area at set pieces and will continue to be so but he needs to stop these lapses in concentration - he slipped for the first goal and was hardly a shining light for the second.

He is going to be another big player for us this season but these little slips are what loses games and I think Chris knows this.

Apart from that he was his usual charismatic self but those two lapses eanrs him a spot in the 'losers' department this week.

Next up for VB Winners and Losers is bogey team West Ham on Saturday.

See you then...

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