Allardyce keeping Dunn on a leash

lackburn manager Sam Allardyce admits there are times this season when he has had to protect midfielder David Dunn for his own good. Dunn has a chequered injury history and this campaign has been no different with him sitting out a five-week period over December with other shorter spells also.However, despite starting only 23 matches he has scored 10 goals, which Allardyce believes is a terrific return for a Rovers midfielder.And despite his best efforts to keep the 30-year-old fit, Allardyce wishes Dunn had been available for more games."He has had only 23 starts so he is just under scoring one in two, which surprises me," said the Rovers boss."Just think how many goals he would have got for us had he stayed fit."We could have had Dunny getting up to the realms of scoring 12 to 15 goals and that might have made the difference (between being mid-table and inside the top 10)."He scored the goal at Bolton (on November 22) which helped us to our first victory away from home and then we lost him for long periods of time."We didn't score in another away game until his penalty at Burnley (on March 23)."If you think in between that what he might have done for us it is quite scary."Allardyce added: "I've found the right position for him."We try to keep Dunny off the training ground for certain periods of time when he wants to be on the training round."I tell him it's no good training to get injured. You train to stay fit for selection at a weekend."That might mean spending a little bit more time with the boys in the rehab area or the prevention area with the sport scientists because they've known Dunny for a long period of time and know what he needs."They probably know better than him because he always wants to go out and train and not always is that the right thing to do."Dunn scored Blackburn's first goal in yesterday's 2-1 victory over Arsenal as they came from behind to earn a deserved 10th home victory over the campaign.Gunners manager Arsene Wenger complained about the tactics which saw Rovers crowd out goalkeeper Lucasz Fabianski at free-kicks and corners, leading to both their goals.However, Allardyce said he was justified in trying to find a way to level things up against the better clubs - and pointed to his record against the 'big four' at Ewood Park this season.Rovers' home form has been what has lifted them to 10th in the table.Prior to the Arsenal victory they had drawn with Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool and beaten Aston Villa, taking 36 points from a possible 57."We don't always play to shut the opposition down as much as we did against Arsenal but it worked," said the Rovers boss."It worked against United, Chelsea and Liverpool where we got draws. Can you argue against those tactics?"

Source: Team_Talk