Hasselbaink takes after Warnock in tackling spine as a priority
AT FIRST glance you might not think Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Neil Warnock have a lot in common.
In playing terms, that is comparing a flamboyant Dutch international who smashed goals in for Chelsea, Leeds United and Atletico Madrid to a lower-league headless chicken winger (Warnock’s own description and one of the kinder ones).
As managers, they are closer, not least, of course, because they have both managed Burton Albion under chairman Ben Robinson.
Obviously, Hasselbaink has a long way to go to match the record of promotions and rescue jobs Warnock has piled up in almost 40 years as a manager but it took him less than six months to put the first promotion on his CV and now he has taken on the mother of all rescue jobs in a second spell with the Brewers. It’s one even Warnock might struggle to take in his stride.
However, what really brings me to the comparison is the style of their teams and their approach to recruitment.
They are both all about getting the basics right on the field: be organised and defend properly, get the ball forward with the minimum of fuss and play from there.
And then there is the spine of the team.
Google Neil Warnock and “spine the team” and see how often that comes up in his career. It’s a lot. It was the first thing he talked about when, not for the first time, he came out of semi-retirement to take on the Middlesbrough job last year.
He was tasked with making sure Boro stayed in the Championship and immediately noted imbalances in the squad, as Hasselbaink did at Burton.
When he made his first signing, centre-half Grant Hall, from QPR, who he had worked with previously, Warnock said: “I always look at the spine of the team and you really need eight out of 10s down that spine, every week. I’ve not very often seen Grant turn in a performance that would be a six.
“He’s played with me and against me and he’s always been around the eight out of 10 mark. You don’t worry about that as a manager – if you know you’ve got a player like that, that’s one position you don’t have to worry about.
“Right down the spine is important and nothing really changes when it comes to making signings. It’s about getting good value and getting the right players in.” Hasselbaink’s first signing was also a centre-half. Burton are not, financially, in the same market as Middlesbrough, so Hasselbaink’s signing was not a tried and tested centre-half like Hall but a highlypromising young defender, Hayden Carter, from Blackburn Rovers.
Carter has immediately shown he can do the business in League One and scored a goal for good measure.
I’m not sure Hasselbaink has actually uttered the phrase “spine of the team” as yet but that is precisely what he has addressed with his first four signings.
Following the centre-half have come a central midfielder, Sean Clare, a centre-forward, Josh Parker, and a goalkeeper, Dillon Barnes. It cannot be a coincidence.
We are a little way off seeing if they will work out, Carter’s promising start apart, and it seems unlikely that they will be the only arrivals in Hasselbaink’s busy transfer window but the foundations have been laid.
What fans will be hoping the Brewers now have are a big, dominant goalkeeper who will command his box, a composed and quick cenof tre-half who is very strong in the air, a central midfielder who can do the box-to-box role with energy to spare and a seasoned striker with a lot of nous, not necessarily an out-andout goalscorer, who can help to knit things together in attack.
A further comparison with Warnock is the way Hasselbaink rapidly assesses what is in front of him and acts decisively.
When he spoke, brilliantly, to the Brewers’ young players in a zoom call during the first lockdown, Warnock told a story about travelling to watch a player and leaving within a few minutes, having decided to buy him.
He had seen enough in the player’s attitude and awareness on the pitch to be convinced.
Talking about the recruitment team he arrived to work with at Mid
dlesbrough, Warnock offered this: “At the end of the day, what they might think are the attributes of a defender, I might not. We had a disagreement last week.
“The stats showed these two players were the best in Europe at defending against one-versus-ones but within 20 seconds of seeing each one, I said, ‘I’m sorry, but they can’t defend.’”
We have heard the same from Warnock regarding players playing out of position at Burton and seen him make rapid decisions.
People have been playing at leftback for Burton who are not leftbacks, Hasselbaink quickly observed, with particular reference to Colin Daniel, who he does not necessarily rule out as an attacking player – but more on that another time.
In his first few days of training, the Dutchman decided that Owen Gallacher definitely is a left-back, gave him an extended deal and put him in the team. Gallacher has looked the part.
Watching his first game, the 5-1 defeat at home to Oxford United, Hasselbaink saw goalkeeper Kieran O’Hara dash from his line and concede an early goal and Stephen Quinn booked for a reckless challenge inside the first 10 minutes.
Both were on the bench for the next game and Quinn has departed on loan.
Harsh? Maybe. Decisive? Without a doubt.
I did say, as soon as Hasselbaink arrived, that it was unlikely to be dull, just as it isn’t when Warnock turns up somewhere. Bring on the next instalment.