Leaders next and Brewers aim to take it to them
BURTON Albion face potentially the toughest task since Dino Maamria took charge when League One leaders Plymouth Argyle are the visitors to the Pirelli Stadium tomorrow (3pm).
The Pilgrims arrive four points clear and unbeaten in 14 League games since a surprise 5-1 reverse against Charlton Athletic in August.
Eleven of those games have been won and they are so far making a good fist of burying the disappointment of slipping out of the play-off places on the last day of the regular season last time around. They had looked nailed on for a place but lost 5-0 at home to MK Dons.
In Steven Schumacher, they have a manager who, like Dino Maamria at Burton, took over upon the departure of his boss, a year earlier than Maamria did.
There the comparisons end, as Ryan Lowe departed Plymouth when they were doing well, to take the Preston North End job, while Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink left Burton when they were bottom of the table.
Maamria admires the continuity he perceives Argyle have.
“They are a well balanced team and they have been together perhaps four years now,” he said.
“That goes a long way, when you have that consistency, playing the same shape and the same system. The bulk of the players are the same but they add one or two every season.
“That’s what success looks like for any team, when you’re getting better and building on a core of players.
“A lot of teams have made lots of changes to their squads in the last couple of years but that’s where Plymouth do well, I think.
“Schumacher is the manager and was the assistant, he’s kept the same group and it’s working well for them.
“He took over and didn’t have to do a lot, just to keep it ticking really.
“I took over and had a lot to build in terms of the psychology of the players and the confidence, then you try to build a brand of football that works with the players you have, outside the window, and pick up points along the way.”
There will be no inferiority complex for Burton, though. Maamria’s aim will be for his team to take the game to Plymouth, as he hopes to do whoever the opposition are.
“The game is at home. Since the Fleetwood game, we‘ve been playing attacking football and picking points up and we want to keep that trend going because home form is fundamental to our season,” said Maamria. “We’re playing good football, creating chances and scoring goals and probably that’s the hardest part of the game but we are doing it.
“But we’ve conceded more than others, it’s no secret and we’re trying to address that.
“We are very light in defensive areas; we had to drop Deji Oshilaja back to centre-half last week and it might be the same this week.
“I don’t want to stifle the team and be so rigid that players can’t express themselves, where we sit behind the ball and let the opposition dominate the game.
“Our fans, especially at home, come here to be entertained, to see us playing attractive football on the front foot, attacking teams – and it doesn’t matter who they are.
“That’s what our fans expect from us and we have to produce that.”