Too many key players were missing

The lack of several established first team stars didn't help Rovers' cause as they fell down the table thanks to a 4-0 loss at Anfield on Saturday.

Already without Steven Reid and Brett Emerton to long term injuries, the continued absence of Roque Santa Cruz was added to by injuries to Jason Roberts, Morten Gamst Pedersen and El-Hadji Diouf.

And that, according to boss Sam Allardyce, played its part as the defeat Rovers suffered at the hands of Liverpool meant they dropped down to 16th in the table, four points above the drop-zone.

"It is no disrespect to the players that played, but our top players were recovering from injuries and we wouldn't have lost 4-0 if we had had our top players here," said Sam.

"You can't forget that we haven't got the size of squad that teams like Liverpool have and when we get key players injured it is a difficult thing to replace them, certainly when you are playing against a club like Liverpool.

"And it isn't just one and two players we were missing, we had Diouf, Pedersen, Roberts, Santa Cruz, Emerton and Reid. Far too many for us to cope with.

"It is difficult enough to cope with if you play a side in and around you, but against the likes of Liverpool it was always going to be difficult."

But perhaps the most disappointing aspect from Saturday according to the Rovers boss was the sides inability to compete in key areas of the pitch.

"I don't think we competed enough," added Allardyce. "I don't think we did enough to stop the opposition and I don't think we did enough to support Chris Samba who was basically the key to our game plan to try and get into the opposition's final third as much as we could.

"So that basic alone, which was part of our key plan never worked.

"Not that Chris Samba didn't do his job, he did, but the rest of the lads around him just let Liverpool pick up the flick-ons and the knock-downs rather than us picking them up which is one of our strengths, but it was just wasn't there from the start until the very end.

"I've no qualms about the result, I think they deserved it, but I am very disappointed in our performance though."