Rovers know that they are one of them and it might not be easy, amid their current Ewood Park paralysis, to get themselves out of it.Goals: Sheringham (17) 0-1; Tugay (37) 1-1; Yakubu (82) 1-2.Blackburn Rovers (4-4-2): Friedel 5; Neill 5, Short 6, Todd 5, Gray 5 (Gallagher, 82); Andresen 4 (Yorke 4, 70), Tugay 5, Flitcroft 6, Emerton 6; Stead 4 (Reid, 77), Cole 5. “We didn’t have enough of our good players prepared to be on the ball. They looked nervous, which is understandable, but not acceptable.”Blackburn will need to find some poise in time for their next two home games, which just happen to be against Leeds and Leicester. Rovers lacked quality in their approach work as well as their more familiar failing of a lack of conviction in front of goal. It was not long before Graeme Souness, wearing one shoe and one trainer because of an injured toe, was making regular shuttle runs across his technical area to the touchline, clearly unimpressed with what he was seeing.”We played into their hands by playing too many long balls,” the Rovers manager said. He’s the last I would have thought would cause anyone any problem,” he said, adding that his only criticism of him this season was that he had not scored as often as a player with his strength and speed should.Perhaps he will be helped by an increasing contribution from Lomana LuaLua, on loan from Newcastle.
His introduction, in place of the tiring Teddy Sheringham, was a shrewd move, giving Rovers two aggressive runners to deal with – something they failed to do.The result was Yakubu’s winner and a result that takes Portsmouth out of the bottom three and to within a single point of Blackburn Worried? You bet they are. Harry Redknapp, the Portsmouth manager, actually suggested that they had played rather better on their travels and lost. The difference here was that they found opponents who simply cannot perform on home turf and that they took their chances.As in their recent victory over Southampton, the crucial goal came from Aiyegbeni Yakubu, the 21-year-old Nigerian whose chequered season has included being sent home early from the African Nations Cup. Redknapp believes that was a case of picking out the wrong man.”He’s a fantastic person. “Thursday’s meeting was business,” he was reported as saying. “Sven has two years left on his contract with the FA and he could lose three games in Portugal and be off Who knows? What is the big secret anyway?”.
When it comes to the moment of truth for relegation, it could be the sides looking nervously over their shoulders who have more to fear than those belatedly rediscovering some self-belief. In July Mr Eriksson was pictured visiting the owner in Belgravia but insisted their meeting was purely social. Then came the meeting with Mr Kenyon on Thursday, caught on camera by a photographer from The Sun.The meeting took place only a day after Mr Eriksson and his girlfriend Nancy Dell’Olio had dined at the San Lorenzo restaurant with David Davies, executive director of the FA, and his wife.Pini Zahavi, the agent who has been asked to find a new manager for Chelsea, confirmed last night that Mr Eriksson had met Mr Kenyon to discuss the job. Chelsea won 5-2.Speculation about Mr Eriksson’s departure from the England job began almost as soon as he took over in February 2001. The coach denied he was about to take over at Manchester United – whose chief executive at the time was Peter Kenyon. Mr Kenyon was lured to Stamford Bridge after Roman Abramovich bought the club last summer.
Mr Eriksson was said to have been offered a deal worth £40m over five years. He has been linked with the London club ever since it was taken over by the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich last summer.Mr Eriksson avoided going to see Chelsea play yesterday, preferring to watch Charlton. However, it was also reported that embarrassment at his courtship by Chelsea becoming public had led Mr Eriksson to agree a deal committing him to England until 2008.Furious officials at the Football Association challenged the Swede to declare his hand after a tabloid newspaper published a photograph of him emerging from a meeting with the chief executive of Chelsea. The England coach Sven Goran Eriksson was being pressed to declare his intentions once and for all last night, as the Football Association waited to see if he would quit in favour of a lucrative job with Chelsea. If he was able to name a full-strength party for the summer, the above hopefuls would not be in it. But it is already known that Ferdinand will not be available and past experience suggests he will not be the only one: “Before the World Cup we had Gary Neville out and Steven Gerrard out. If we have all the players fit this summer, we can do very well.”A big worry is Sol Campbell, who has had a groin problem for a long time and is practising very little, just playing games.
