Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray has revealed that he has rotated Lewis Travis in and out of the starting XI in recent weeks, because he has not always been happy with the midfielder's performances.

The 21-year-old Blackburn academy graduate, who first nailed down a place in Rovers' starting XI in the second half of last season, has found himself in and out of the lineup in recent weeks, dropping to the bench for his side's 3-2 defeat at Preston North End at the end of October, before returning to the side for Rovers' subsequent 2-1 win at home to Sheffield Wednesday last Saturday.

Explaining his approach with the midfielder recently, and reflecting on his performance in that win over Wednesday, Mowbray told the Lancashire Telegraph: “I’ve left him out for a few games, because he’s been poor with his distribution and was getting caught on the ball.

“He was really good (against Wednesday), he was aggressive and on the front foot."

Travis is one of a number of young players currently making their way into the Rovers first-team, and it appears as though Mowbray feels that may be holding the club back somewhat, as he continued: “These lads are learning the game and I’m sure that somewhere down the line, they’ll be good footballers for this club, but they have to learn from these mistakes and develop.

“We’re trying to grow this club as a whole and I want to get there really quickly, yet the reality is, is that we have to wait for the likes of Nyambe, Travis, Buckley to really develop into the footballers that we hope they’re going to be.”

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Following that win over Wednesday, Blackburn are now 16th in the Championship table, six points clear of the relegation places, and seven points adrift of the play-off spots, ahead of their trip to Elland Road to face Leeds United on Saturday afternoon.

The Verdict

I'm not entirely sure I agree with Mowbray's approach here.

Since breaking into the Blackburn XI at the start of 2019, Travis has arguably been Blackburn's best performer in that central midfield area of the park.

As a result, it does seem harsh to take him out of the side after a couple of bad games, particularly with the scrutiny other regular starters for the club have come in for recently.

Indeed, if Travis is out of the side, then it is not exactly going to be easy for him to work on and improve those areas of his game that Mowbray is not altogether pleased with, and when you consider that the two matches Travis has missed out on recently - away at QPR and Preston - have both ended in defeats for Rovers, it doesn't seem as though taking him out of the XI has really helped Mowbray's cause.