Jon Dahl Tomasson says Rovers must take care of Bradley Dack, particularly during their busy period of games.

Tomorrow’s visit of Swansea City is the first of five games in the next two weeks for Rovers which includes an FA Cup fifth round tie at Leicester City.

Dack has started 13 of Rovers’ 14 games since the World Cup break and re-established himself as a pivotal part of the team.

He is now up to seven goals for the season, including four in 2023, but his withdrawal on the hour at West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday night was questioned by many supporters, including those in the away end.

Yet Tomasson says it is a case of looking after the 29-year-old whose work to get back up to speed following two serious knee injuries has been praised by the head coach.

“We have five games in 14 days so it’s not just about this upcoming game, there could be players in need of a rest, a good example is Dack the other day, so we’re monitoring each player,” Tomasson explained.

“Of course, we all know that he had two terrible years and he’s done an excellent job to get more or less up to speed again.

“I’m really happy with his performances.

“On the other hand you can see a player can get tired and we need to take care of that player, not just because there’s one game, but there’s a lot of games coming.

“Every player when they’re in the heat of it they want to play every game, every minute, which is normal.”

Tomasson says Rovers can’t afford a large number of injuries due to the size of their squad, but equally knows the importance of the whole group during a packed fixture list.

That is why he isn’t ruling out rotating his squad with the possibility of players being left out who would otherwise be considered regular starters.

He added: “We need the whole squad and we need players fit.

“We need the players to be very honest and say if they are tired and need a rest.

“We have an open conversation about it which is important, because if you don’t have those you have injured players.

“We can’t afford to have too many injured players, so that’s extremely important.

“It’s not just about one game, there are a lot of games in a short period and it should never be a surprise if we rotate the squad because we need to do it.”