Blackburn Rovers manager Tony Mowbray has claimed that on-loan defender Tosin Adarabioyo will not have experienced the sort of intensity levels that he is currently experiencing while at his parent club Manchester City.

Adarabioyo made the move to Ewood Park on a season-long loan during the summer transfer window, but has so far made just two league appearances for the Lancashire side, having been hampered by injury for much of the early part of the season.

Discussing the reasons behind that Adarabioyo's absence from Saturday's 2-1 win at Reading, Mowbray appeared to suggest that his intense style of play was taking its toll on the 21-year-old, as he told The Lancashire Telegraph: “He wasn’t ill, he picked up an injury in training.

“We are learning about his body reacts to different situations.

“I think when you’re at Man City you might not have a manager like me telling me to push up, make tackles, put his body on the line, the intensity levels he’s been used to are different."

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Despite that, Mowbray is still confident that Adarabioyo - who helped West Brom to the Championship play-offs while on loan at The Hawthorns last season - can make an impact for Blackburn this season, as he continued: “His body is finding that adjustment difficult but he will acclimatise at some stage and the talent he has will be a big asset to our club.”

Following that win at The Madejski Stadium over the weekend, Blackburn are now tenth in the Championship after four wins from their opening eight games of the season, and are next in action when they host Luton Town on Saturday afternoon.

The Verdict

I do agree with Mowbray here.

While the Blackburn boss isn't claiming that his side are the better of the two, he does seem to be suggesting that they are the more physical of the pair, which is affecting the defender here.

You can certainly understand the logic of that, given Adarabioyo is a young player who is still developing in the game, and may not be used to the physical approach Mowbray takes week in week out.

Adarabioyo has, however, looked promising during his appearances for Blackburn this season, and with only two other senior recognised centre backs in their squad, Rovers will surely be hoping that he can get up to fitness as soon as he can.