Jimmy glad of a clear week for some to rest

JIMMY Floyd Hassebaink says he welcomed a week without a midweek game after the initial rush of nine matches in the first five weeks of the new season.

Despite a long injury list, the Brewers have emerged in fairly good shape from that run, with only one League One defeat in seven games, although they have not now won in four League games, drawing the last three.

It was time, this week, for players to catch their breath.

“Things have not been rushed this week,” said Hasselbaink.

“There were a few players who were new and played on Saturday and had not played 90 minutes at their old club for a long time.

“We were able to give people an extra rest day on the Monday, people like Harry Chapman, Cameron Borthwick Jackson, Charlie Lakin – then also people like Tom Hamer, who have played a lot of minutes. We were just able to look after them a little more.

“From Tuesday we could start working really hard again. It’s been needed, not to have a midweek game.

“I’m happy with where we are, especially with the setbacks we have had. We just need to keep on working and keep on believing.

“You’re always going to have little setbacks. If we keep on improving, then I’m happy. If it means we take two steps forward, then one step back, then two steps forward again, we will be doing well.

“I’m not looking at the League and all that kind of stuff, it’s about every day in training, can we put pressure on each other to keep improving?”

The Brewers have faced contrasting styles, as expected, and there may be few contrasts as great as between last week’s game against Gillingham and today’s against possession-based Crewe Alexandra.

“I call both football,” said Hasselbaink.

“That is the beauty of the League and why it’s so tough.

“Gillingham have a brilliant target man who wins 99% of the first headers and they capitalise massively on that and give you a lot of problems.

“Crewe will be different. They don’t look quickly for the long ball, they want to pass it around you, they want to play it through the thirds.

“That’s the majority of what they have been about – but against Accrington Stanley and Shrewsbury they have been quite direct. They have mixed it up a bit, so we have to be prepared for that.

“We have to be ready for whatever system the other team is playing. We are going to be us, we know what we are and how we want to play.

“The trigger points, the places we want to attack, will be different depending on how the opposition play and how their formation is.

“As a unit, we need to understand where we’re more likely to get joy.

“We have to manipulate the game so that we can get in and the longer we are together, the easier it will be for the group to understand.”