Lewis Holtby admits it has taken him time to adjust to the English game again but hopes a first 90 minutes of the season will stand him in good stead moving forward.

Holtby, scorer of two goals in the win over Sheffield Wednesday last time out, was replaced in each of his previous seven starts, as well as making eight further appearances off the bench.

But the German, who arrived as a free agent in September after leaving Hamburg in the summer, says he has changed his routine around in a bid to give him the best possible chance of coming through matches.

The 29-year-old missed the three successive defeats at Huddersfield, Nottingham Forest and Birmingham through injured but has started in his favoured No.10 role in each of the last two matches.

And he hopes to make it a hat-trick of starts for the first time in his Rovers career when QPR arrive at Ewood Park tomorrow.

“I didn’t have a pre-season, I came in straight away, I had fitness but not game-time fitness,” said Holtby who previously had spells with Tottenham and Fulham.

“For me it was finding fluency in my body, even with the English week games it was tough for my body to cope.

“I changed my schedule around, take it day by day and hopefully it starts to reward me.”

Holtby played 42 times for Tottenham across across a two-and-a-half year spell at the club which included half a season on loan with Fulham.

He spent five years back in Germany with Hamburg but was let go by the Bundesliga II club in the summer.

Holtby spent time training with a fourth tier team in Germany before getting snapped up by Rovers in the middle of September.

Boss Tony Mowbray has eased him in to the picture, helped by the form of Bradley Dack, but an injury to the 10-goal top scorer has heightened the expectancy on Holtby’s shoulder.

A double against the Owls, that took him to three for the season, will undoubtedly help his confidence.

But Holtby admits the cut and thrust of the Championship has been something he has had to get used to, particularly with the busy fixture schedule.

“It’s tough, I just send (my mates) pictures of my legs every time after the game,” he joked.

“It’s a tough league but a good league, lots of good individuals and every game is a fight, every game is like a cup final.

“I just enjoy it. Coming from Germany it’s a different way. You need to settle in, see how the games go, what the rhythm is, and I hope, touch wood, that the next 18 games will be like that.”