Kean hopes to curb negativity

Kean hopes to curb negativity

Published Oct. 24, 2011 3:16 p.m. ET

Sunday's 2-1 defeat to Tottenham at Ewood Park means Rovers have taken just five points from nine Premier League fixtures this term. The Lancashire outfit are bottom of the table and have won only six of their 30 top-flight games since Kean replaced Sam Allardyce last December. For the third successive home league match Blackburn supporters staged a protest against Kean, making their unhappiness known before and after the game. After the final whistle a group of fans in the Ronnie Clayton End unfurled 'Kean Out' banners and chanted for the Scot to be dismissed by owners Venky's. The 44-year-old insisted he was "not really paying any attention" to those involved in the demonstrations, but having been encouraged by his players' efforts against Spurs, Kean is still optimistic that he can change people's minds about the direction Rovers are heading in with him in charge. "You hope that you can turn around people who have got a little bit of negativity and want to have a go," Kean said. "We didn't turn them around with the result, but hopefully they can see that we have gone up against a team like Tottenham and dealt with them well. I thought we minimised them. "Obviously they would have some chances and they were very good on the break, but I think it was on the break...for us to control as much possession as we did and create that many chances, I think we have got to give ourselves a pat on the back." Blackburn were undone by two goals from Rafael van der Vaart, who opened the scoring in the 15th minute by slotting the ball past Paul Robinson after Kyle Walker had outpaced Gael Givet to lay on the assist. Rovers levelled through Mauro Formica's fierce strike just before the half-hour mark, but Van der Vaart produced a curling effort from outside the box to restore Tottenham's lead eight minutes into the second half, the Dutchman taking advantage when Benoit Assou-Ekotto's attempted pass ricocheted off Simon Vukcevic towards him. Blackburn pressed Spurs in search of a second equaliser but substitute Ayegbeni Yakubu was unable to apply a finishing touch to the chances that came his way. Kean felt his team might have come away with all three points and is confident that if they keep playing to a similar standard, their fortunes will change. He added: "The lads were devastated because when you have given everything like that and you don't get anything, never mind a point... "I told them you have got to put it into context. I went through the battles in the areas of the pitch in which I felt we dominated. "Sometimes it just doesn't fall for you. But you have just got to keep getting in there and it ricochets off someone, like it did for them."

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