Pascal Chimbonda is looking forward to regular first-team football at Blackburn after spending six months in the wilderness with Tottenham.

Rovers boss Sam Allardyce snapped up the French defender on a two-year deal at the end of August to rescue him from a nightmare spell in north London.

Chimbonda only returned to White Hart Lane in January after a brief stint with Sunderland and had been hoping to reclaim the place in the Spurs backline that he had occupied for two seasons between 2006 and 2008.

But things worked out differently and, after making only one league start under Harry Redknapp, the 30-year-old realised it was time to move on.

"He had eight defenders and three right-backs," said Chimbonda.

"I think I knew the first choice of Harry. I'm not going to complain, sometimes this happens and you need to deal with it.

"To change clubs hopefully will make me happier, more comfortable and I will be able to play my football again.

"When I came back (to Tottenham) I thought I would play. Something happened and I don't know why, but I don't want to know.

"Now I've turned the page, it is a new club and I want to give 100% for Blackburn. I want to go game by game and see what happens."

Chimbonda made his Rovers debut against West Ham 10 days ago and admitted that he had been feeling the effects of limited match practice under Redknapp - but refused to criticise the Tottenham manager's selection policy.

"Before the end of the first half (against West Ham) I was feeling a little bit tired because I had not played a full game for so long," Chimbonda said.

"But I think when I have played five or more games, I will see how I feel and how comfortable I am.

"When you are a footballer and you don't play, you are not very happy. But even when I'm training I'm happy, I enjoy training hard and showing the manager I can play.

"Six months without playing was hard for me because I always want to be on the pitch. But you have to respect the choice of the manager and you don't complain."

Chimbonda has come to be regarded as something of a journeyman during his time in English football, having switched clubs four times in the last three years.

His Premier League career started with an impressive season at Wigan, and Chimbonda hopes that having returned to the north west he can rediscover the form that had people labelling him as one of the best full-backs in the country three years ago.

He said: "When you move too much, it is not good for the player, but now I have come here, I need to prove that I can play football again, to show everybody that I can come back to my real form.

"If I play a lot of games, I think I can come back into my real form and show everybody I'm still here.

"My preferred position is right-back, but if the manager asks me to play centre back or left back to help the team I will do it, because I like to be on the pitch, enjoying playing with my team-mates."

Chimbonda revealed that his new team-mates, former Sunderland colleague El-Hadji Diouf, had played a role in convincing him to move to Ewood Park.

"We are good friends, and we always speak on the phone" Chimbonda said.

"During the holidays he told me to come and play here because it is a good team.

"He told me good things about the club and the manager, because he also used to play under him at Bolton and he knows him perfectly. I've made a good choice."