Sky Sports pundit, Chris Iwelumo, has questioned the impact of Blackburn Rovers' January recruitment after their post-Christmas drop-off.
Blackburn have won four of their last 20 league games, which has seen them drop to 12th in the Championship. Valerien Ismael has overseen five defeats in six games but the downturn in form had begun before his arrival.
It has left the club without anything to play for in the final month of the campaign despite being sixth when Ismael took the job. The post-mortem will inevitably have plenty of blame to be passed around.
Despite the club defending their winter activities, Rovers' business in January has been a large contributing factor. They didn't land their top striker target, Brandon Thomas-Asante, and were left scrambling at the end of the window.
READ MORE: 'I'm not' - Valerien Ismael defends Blackburn Rovers impact during poor run
Injuries to Augustus Kargbo and Emmanuel Dennis have limited their impact, whilst Cauley Woodrow has made one start. Iwelumo feels the signing made in January were not good enough.
“Yeah, I would think they would make more of a positive influence," Iwelumo said on Sky Sports.
“One goal and three assists between the six of them? It’s nowhere near good enough. I think, when you’re in the position that Blackburn are in, in January, you want to bring in less players but more quality.
“It kind of galvanises the group. It can bring something for that final push. Three of the last four seasons now, Blackburn have flirted with the play-offs and they have kind of fallen away towards the business end of the season.
“So, recruitment, for me, is the second most important thing after the result. I think there’s been a lot of money come into the club — where is it going?
“I look at those players and they are squad players, for me. As a manager, you probably tick them off saying, ‘They’re bringing something in.’
“But you want that extra bit of quality there, just to kick the squad on.”
