Nelsen feels sorry for Ince
20 Nov 2008 - 11:37:26
Blackburn captain Ryan Nelsen has blamed injuries for Rovers' poor start to the season and believes under-fire boss Paul Ince should be immune from criticism.
Seven first-team regulars missed the weekend defeat to Sunderland which left the club in the bottom three, but Nelsen is convinced the team will soon start to climb the table.
"Injuries have been horrific to us," the New Zealand international told the Evening Telegraph. "You never like to put in excuses, because most clubs have these problems, but we had six or seven out on Saturday.
"Take any Premier League team and take six or seven out and it's going to be pretty hard. We've had situations like that virtually all season where the manager hasn't been able to put his strongest 11 out. I feel sorry for him.
"Of course you feel for the manager. He's the one people point fingers at but any manager would struggle with the luck he's been dealt with - and I mean any manager.
"He never really mentions it to us and never uses excuses but the true reality is any manager in the position he's in would be reminding the media exactly what situation they're in.
"He takes everything on the chin and, even if we have eight or nine out, he'll be expecting a win.
"We hold the majority responsibility, if not all of it, of what happens on the field. The disappointing thing is we've been playing well enough to win games but we've just let ourselves down when it counted."