Unbeaten run comes to end
DEFEAT SHOWS WE ARE STILL A WORK IN PROGRESS, SAYS JIMMY MANAGER TALKS OF THE SEARCH FOR A BURTON ALBION ‘IDENTITY’ OLD BOY FRASER STRIKES AGAIN AS SLICK-PASSING DONS TAKE WIN
JIMMY Floyd Hasselbaink said Burton Albion’s defeat at home to Milton Keynes Dons was a reminder that his squad was still a work in progress as they search for “an identity.”
The Brewers were outplayed for long periods of a 2-1 reverse which ended their seven-game unbeaten run, although results elsewhere did not drag them closer to a return to the League One relegation places.
Hasselbaink signed 12 players during and just after the January window and that he and assistant Dino Maamria are still moulding them was loudly evident from their constant instructions from the sidelines on Saturday.
“We are still a work in progress and as much as we want things to go well, we have to accept that,” said Hasselbaink.
“Things that we work on, things that we are, our identity, I want to see them stay with us.
“I want people to recognise them and say ‘that is Burton, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Dino Maamria’s Burton.’ We were a little bit flaky (against Milton Keynes) and I want to see those things back.”
The Brewers pressured their visitors after getting the score back to 2-1 with Lucas Akins’ 74th-minute penalty but that, said the manager, was not enough.
“We didn’t start playing until the last 30 minutes and that was too late,” said Hasselbaink.
“We didn’t do certain things right and we need to do better. Our 50-50s, we didn’t win and when you are playing a side who are comfortable on the ball you need to win them, then you need to play and try and hurt them.
“Some players struggled. I don’t think it’s about tiredness, they just didn’t have their best game. That can happen.”
The visitors had 70% possession in the game and moved the ball around quickly and smoothly but Hasselbaink noted that it was set-pieces which brought their goals.
“We had better chances than them and more chances,” said the Dutchman.
“They were better overall with the game itself but John Brayford and Lucas Akins had really good chances and, after it was 2-1, we had a couple.
“However good they were and however better, especially in the first half, they didn’t create.
“The disappointment is, they scored two goals from a set-piece, one a penalty and the other a corner.
“It’s a defeat and it’s disappointing but when we win, I say we can’t dwell on it and need to move on and with this loss we also won’t dwell on it and we will move on.
“We have another game on Tuesday and we need a reaction from the group.”
Hasselbaink felt the penalty Milton Keynes were awarded after 15 minutes, when Tom Hamer fell under pressure from Scott Fraser and his arm hit the ball, was soft – but was just as concerned with the defending which led to the situation.
“I don’t think we did well as a unit for the penalty. We didn’t make it narrow enough so that Tom could be at the ball quicker and he would not be pushed,” said the manager.
“The penalty was soft. The boy (Fraser) pushed Tom in the back, he fell and hit the ball a little bit with his arm.”
Milton Keynes dealt with Burton’s pressing game better than two other passing sides, Crewe Alexandra and Blackpool, in the last week. Are opponents starting to work the Brewers’ game-plan out now, 13 games into Hasselbaink’s return? “That is the challenge,” he said. “The better we become, the more respect we get, the harder the games will get and the more concentrated we need to become to stay in the game and to wait for our moment. We have to be more patient.”