Jimmy: We knew what we should have done to compete
BREWERS’ PLANS CAME UP SHORT AGAINST WYCOMBE
FRUSTRATED Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink says Burton Albion knew what to do to stop Wycombe Wanders but failed to carry it out in Tuesday night’s 2-1 defeat at Adams Park.
First-half goals from Brandon Hanlon and Garath McCleary, the second crucially on the stroke of half-time, put the Brewers on the back foot.
They rallied with a goal from Conor Shaughnessy after 54 minutes but the Chairboys remained good value for a win which keeps them behind Rotherham United only on goal difference at the top of League One.
“Wycombe are very good at what they are doing and we knew it was going to be a battle,” said Hasselbaink.
“They scored two goals exactly from the way we knew they were going to play, so it’s frustrating when we knew what to do about the way they played and had focused on it in advance.
“We talked about what went wrong during half-time and we did better to deal with it in the second half but the damage was already done and it makes everything much harder for yourselves.
“It’s two goals from long balls and losing possession – we know about turnovers and we got punished.
“It’s frustrating and we have to learn quick because we are getting punished from early mistakes.
“It’s difficult to accept, because we know we can do better.”
It was not just about stopping Wycombe, however.
Burton went with Aaron AmadiHolloway up front in the hope that they could put similar pressure on their opponents but, all too often, hurried clearances did not find yellow shirts and the pressure remained on in defence.
They did not create many openings up front and Hasselbaink admitted they had been forced into playing long and bypassing midfield.
“Over the whole match we didn’t test their goalkeeper enough or create chances in the final third where, we have been good of late, really good – with small passes, crosses and pull backs in behind to cause problems,” he said.
“We went with Aaron Amadi-Holloway and we didn’t utilise him enough but you have to give Wycombe credit because they made us go long and we didn’t get the quality up top to him.”
Leaders Rotherham play in a similar style to Wycombe and are next up for Burton, on Saturday, emphasising the need to have learnt from Tuesday’s defeat.
“We now face Rotherham and it’s going to be a similar game but, hopefully, we do it a lot better,” added Hasselbaink.
Shaughnessy, who netted his third goal of a season in which he has yet to miss a minute in the League, said the Brewers know they have the ability to compete and must find consistency in their efforts.
“The quality’s there, we know we’ve got a good squad of players who can get the job done,” he told Radio Derby.
“We just had too much to do from the first half – and we can’t keep giving ourselves too much to do, that’s not a recipe for success.
“It’s just finding that consistency. We need to learn and move on, there’s such a quick turnaround of games.”