Neil Warnock reveals why Patrick Roberts didn't play at Cardiff as Middlesbrough boss assesses squad ahead of Coventry and Nottingham Forest

The Boro playmaker re-signed for the Teessiders on a season-long loan from Manchester City earlier this month and made his first start of the campaign against Bristol City last Tuesday.

Yet the 23-year-old was left on the bench against Cardiff at the weekend, with Warnock admitting he will have to rotate his squad in the coming weeks.

“When I was playing you loved playing two games a week,” said Warnock ahead of Tuesday’s meeting with Coventry at the Riverside. “A lot of lads do a lot of running, some do a lot more than others.

“For example, Pat Roberts played a really good game last week. We didn't use him on Saturday because the day after his game, we do tests on his muscles because he's had muscle injuries before.

“It was really down, fatigued and I knew then we couldn't use him.

“But he's almost back to normal again now. We'll have to do that with Paddy, we'll keep a real close eye on him with the physios.

“It's great when you can look at muscles like that and measure it. We don't want to risk him being out long term.”

After the Coventry game, Boro will face Nottingham Forest, Blackburn and Brentford in quick succession, completing a run of seven games in 22 days.

Boro are still short on numbers after missing out on several transfer targets last month, and Warnock knows he’ll have to rotate his squad.

“I think we're going to have to do that with a couple of players,” added Warnock when discussing Roberts and changing his starting XI.

“I think we have to look at games coming up where we can give him a rest. At the same time he’s an important player.

“Young Tav who I thought did well on Saturday, he wants to play all the time Tav. He'd go and play on the Sunday if I let him.

“We've got a very good medical team here so we'll trust them to look after him.”

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