Brewers must take game to Dons, says Jimmy
IN-FORM RIVALS CANNOT BE SHOWN TOO MUCH RESPECT
JIMMY Floyd Hasselbaink says Burton Albion must show MK Dons “no respect” today, even though he believes that they are a better team under new manager Liam Manning than they were under the departed Russell Martin.
Martin took up his first managerial post in England with the Dons when Martin jumped ship for Swansea City just before the season.
Under Martin, the Dons had developed a painstaking possession-based game with mixed results.
But while they still like to dominated possession, Hasselbaink thinks they are also more penetrative now, as a rise to fifth in League One the back of winning their last two league games 4-1 suggests.
“They have become better, they are improving,” said Hasselbaink.
“With Russell Martin, they would take 10 extra passes. Now they are direct when they need to be direct. They don’t really take 12-13 passes to get to the opposition goal if they don’t have to. That makes them more dangerous.
“They have moved on. This manager has taken them a step further. Russell obviously started it and, knowing him, he would have tried to do that as well. “They are a good team who want to dictate the game from the back to the front. They want to suck you in to get overloads in certain areas. “They are a very mobile team with a lot of movement. You have to go there and not give them any respect. You can’t.
“You have to play high energy, really match them, really get close to them and take the game to them. I think it will be a really high intensity game, or it should be.”
The Dons’ form is nonetheless a mixed bag. They have won three of their last four, including upsetting Wigan Athletic, but also been beaten by Rotherham United and Shrewsbury Town. Burton are more inconsistent, though and go into the game having lost their last three in League One. Hasselbaink maintains that confidence, overall, is undented by that record as his side continue to work to improve their game.
“I don’t think that we are lacking in confidence. I just think certain things have happened in the last three games that we have lost,” he insisted.
“Against Oxford, we didn’t play well at all. In the Wigan game we got an early red card, rightly or wrongly, it doesn’t matter but it was something that we couldn’t really control. “And then the Charlton game, we both went down to 10 men and I think Deji Oshilaja was more important for us than the player who got sent off was for them.
“In that spell when they scored we were a little bit off it. We should have defended it better.
“Overall, they were sitting back on their 1-0 and we had 70% of the ball and didn’t create enough.
“That is a process we must improve upon but that’s just time. So, we have lost three games in a row – and I would be the first to say we don’t want that – but there was stuff happening that I, or we, couldn’t control.”
Burton have generally been more effective under Hasselbaink when the opponents dominate the ball – all of their wins since he returned have come in games in which they had a minority of possession.
The manager does not want to carry on like that – but he admits fans may have to be patient while they adapt their style.
“We can’t keep on doing that,” he said.
“It means the defensive organisation is good but now, let’s get better with the ball as well and keep that organisation.
“Can we be dominant with the ball and hurt the opposition? If we can combine the two, then we will be a great force.
“That is the big one. We don’t want to lose the commitment to be able to defend in numbers and aim to keep clean sheets. That is the platform we want to work from.
“But we want to add that we control the ball from back to front and open teams up.
“We know we have to keep on at it, keep on working, keep on believing. Repetition, repetition.
“I want us to be able to change tempo in games. If we need to go high intensity, then we can, but if we need to calm it down, then we also can.
“That’s the hardest thing, knowing when you need to be 100 miles per hour and when you need to wait for the right moments and the right triggers. We are working really hard for that.”
Hasselbaink has Tom Hamer back from suspension and Terry Taylor and Daniel Jebbison back from international duty to add to the mix.
Hamer lost his “ever present” status through his one-match suspension for reaching five bookings and Hasselbaink wants the all-action defender to balance his game a little.
“Tom’s not someone who misses a lot of games but he is someone who plays on the edge and he got five yellow cards,” he said.
“With some, I think he could have done better but i don’t want to take anything away from his competitiveness, which makes him the player that he is.”
MK Dons have moved on. This manager has taken them a step further. They are more dangerous
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink