A cliche but not half stark truth for Brewers

IT IS one of football’s biggest cliches, the game of two halves, and Burton Albion assistant manager Dino Maamria came out with it in his first sentence when he took on aftermatch media duties following Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Plymouth Argyle.

The cliché applied and not for the first time with the Brewers, this season or last. Actually, the last campaign was very much a season of two halves.

Burton were wretched in the first half against Plymouth and could have been punished more greatly than the 2-0 deficit they headed to the dressing rooms with.

That they very nearly made it to the break only 1-0 down had more to do with poor Plymouth finishing than anything else, as Ryan Lowe’s team almost overran the Brewers with quick and positive attacking.

It was an object lesson to the teams in League One who think they are being progressive by retaining the ball for 70% of the game but going nowhere with it. Plymouth were not route one and not averse to a sideways pass when needed but they always looked to get on the attack quickly.

Worryingly for Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, they also found space to pass into repeatedly, much as Lincoln City did playing in a similar style at the Pirelli Stadium.

Lowe and Lincoln’s Michael Appleton are two of the best coaches in the division – and quite possibly the division above – and you have to conclude they out-thought Hasselbaink, particularly in the first half of each game.

In both matches, the Brewers trailed 2-0 before getting their act together and were much better for a re-think. In both games they pulled a goal back and, obviously, in both games, it was not quite enough in the end.

The problem is fundamental enough. They have to be in a position in which they have not been out-played to the extent that a rethink is required.

It was an interesting re-think, against Plymouth, when it happened, because Hasselbaink turned to a formation he has hardly tried, in matches at least.

Deji Oshilaja dropped back between the centrehalves and Burton played three at the back, with the fullbacks getting further forward as wing-backs.

With one fewer at the back, the spare man was a second striker, with Daniel Jebbison and Lucas Akins paired up front.

With a wing-back outside him, Harry Chapman, who had replaced Jonny Smith at half-time, had more licence to come inside and had some bright moments. Charlie Lakin, too, still looks as if he is going to be an asset as an attacking midfielder, as does Jacob Maddox, who was also added to the forward mix for the last few minutes.

Basically playing 3-5-2, Burton matched up to Plymouth’s formation in the second half and gave them problems, not that Argyle did not continue to get forward.

There may well have been a late equaliser, when Jebbison drove a presentable chance into the sidenetting, and it is to be hoped that, with more games and perseverance, the teenage striker soon starts to up his

They could have turned round 4-0 down on another day and could have gone 3-1 down several times after pulling a goal back.

conversion rate.

He has shown plenty of times that he can get into the right positions regularly – but he could have half-adozen goals by now and be lighting up the division.

Maamria said he thought the Brewers had done enough to deserve a draw. I think that was a defiant observation which he probably knows was not true.

They could have turned round 4-0 down on another day and could have gone 3-1 down several times after pulling a goal back.

Yes, they were notably better in the second half but not to the extent they had Plymouth completely on the rack. It was just the better contest that it ought to have been from the word go.

The management team hardly need me or anyone else to tell them progress will only be made when they can impose their own ideas on the opposition from the start, not just from halfway through.

They have shown they can. They did it to Shrewsbury Town and to Portsmouth, games they were in control of, whatever the possession stats say.

And they matched both Ipswich Town and Sunderland in cracking matches neither side truly dominated, coming out on top in two that could have gone either way.

Between those, there have been some poor performances, notably against Crewe Alexandra and in the first halves against Lincoln and Plymouth.

It is already a season of two halves, after 12 games with four wins, four draws and four defeats. At the moment, it is also a season that could go either way.

We await the answers Hasselbaink and Maamria will aim to come up with to send it in the right direction.