Rovers will continue to switch formations, with Tony Mowbray keen to learn lessons from last season and become more adaptable.

Mowbray almost exclusively lined up in a 4-3-3 formation with a high defensive line and looked to dominate the ball last season, but while Rovers finished with a high shot count and average possession figure, they managed only a 15th-placed finish after a disastrous run of form in 2021.

Rovers now sit bottom of the league’s possession stats, and have mixed up their formations in recent games, going with a back three for the draw against Coventry City and midweek defeat at QPR.

Mowbray says the change in style comes down the personnel available, but also looking to take on board the lessons of last season.

He said: “As I said very early on, we were going to be adaptable this year.

“We had so many good things about last season where we stuck to what we believed in, played how we wanted to play, and on reflection, looking back on all the positive things we had, I decided, with the group of players we had left after the players we lost in the summer, that we needed to be more adaptable.

“The shape of the team is irrelevant in football because no-one stands in a straight line in a formation for any period of time.

“The ball moves, the game moves, the players move, and so your ability to be adaptable is really important in football.

“Some of the best teams in the country change formation, Chelsea don’t always play three at the back, Man City constantly play with No.8s, or wingers, or inverted full backs, you have to move your team around, it’s modern day football.

“Our philosophy last year was based around the high pressing, the high line, this year it’s more flexible and adaptable because of the squad we’ve got.

“Three at the back was based around the personnel at the time, with that it’s very flexible and will change.

“You will see this team playing 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2 some games, you’ll see it playing five at the back.

“As I’ve said in the past, depending how good the opposition are and what their strengths are, if they’re really ball orientated and playing with wing-backs they can stretch you right out and that’s very dangerous for us, because we’re not ball orientated, to play with a back four, because we get stretched out wide and balls come in our box too easily.

“We combat that with a change and the team understand why we do that.

“I sit here talking about football and I think it’s irrelevant because as you’ve started this conversation, you get judged on results at the end of the day, whether you play three at the back, four at the back, we have to find a way to win.

“Who’s interested in how we play? I don’t know whether the fans are interested, they just want the team to win. They want someone to score goals, the goalie to make saves, the midfielders to win tackles and play forward passes, whether they’re playing in two or three in midfield.

“With total respect the world is full of experts who are not football people. But as I said, I sit here fully aware that all football managers get judged by their results.”