Burton manager expecting a tactical battle today.
https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/buxton-expecting-tactical-battle-brewers-4551447Jake Buxton is expecting an interesting tactical battle with League One newcomers Swindon Town.
Burton Albion travel to play the Robins, who were declared League two champions when last season was curtailed with them ahead of Crewe Alexandra on goal difference with a game in hand. It was a successful first full season in charge for Richie Wellens, the former Blackpool, Leicester City and Doncaster Rovers midfielder.
He has seen a big turnover in players since promotion, not least losing leading scorer Eoin Doyle, but Buxton is in no doubt Wellens’ playing philosophy will not have changed - he describes it as unique. It is not unusual for teams to aim to pass the ball out from the goalkeeper in the modern game but Swindon do it more than most.
“Richie Wellens played the right way as a player and his team are doing the same, from what we’ve seen,” said Buxton. “They have a style of play and a formation and the team will not be picked around whoever they sign, they will have to fit in with it. He has been working on it for a couple of years and they have won promotion with it.
“They’re very forward thinking and put a lot of players in high positions. They flood the top end of the pitch, building up from the goalkeeper They use the goalkeeper as something of an outfield player, they go back through him a lot. They do it a little bit more than others, so if we don’t get the pressing right, they can hurt us and play through us.
“If we are aggressive with the pressing and on the front foot, we have the chance to win the ball but if you go too far with that, you can leave yourself open at the back, so it will be a tactical battle. We have to try to dominate, to keep the ball as long as possible. We need to make sure we put them under pressure and get in and around them.”
Often, it can be difficult playing a newly-promoted team early in the season, as the momentum of their success is still high but Buxton feels the lack of supporters at games will nullify that a little.
“With them just having won promotion, I think it would have been a full house with their supporters right behind them,” said Buxton.
“They have been a big club, they still are a big club and any time you play Swindon away is going to be a challenge but we’re coming off the back of a win ourselves and they didn’t get the result they’d have wanted against Blackpool (Swindon lost 2-0) . It’s an opportunity for us to go there and put on a good performance.”
The Burton boss is sure his team will be buoyed by having picked up their first League win of the season last week at home to Accrington Stanley.
“The performance was important but getting the three points on the board was special for the group, so they can believe in how we’re trying to play, what we’re trying to do and that what I’m trying to tell them will win games,” he said.
Charles Vernam, out since the opening game of the season with a knee injury, has trained and may make the bench, depending on how he feels after training, but the game will come too early for injured duo Michael Bostwick and Neal Eardley. Goalkeeper Kieran O’Hara and defender John-Joe O’Toole both serve the last game of their suspensions tomorrow.
It will only be the fifth time Swindon and Burton have met. They each won their home games 2-0 in the 2011-12 season in League Two but the Brewers won 1-0 in both fixtures in 2015-16 in League One, the season they were promoted to the Championship.
Meanwhile, Buxton says he has enjoyed getting out to scout at live matches again...
Jake Buxton relished going on his first live scouting mission of the season earlier this week, when he went to watch Everton and Leicester’s City’s development sides battle it out at Southport.
There were several players he was interested in taking a look at but necessity, because of a lengthening injury list, was why he had taken Jack Roles, from Tottenham Hotspur, and Indiana Vassilev, from Aston Villa, on loan last week without having had the chance to see as much of them as he would have preferred.
Their excellent references, gleaned face to face from manager Dean Smith and his assistant, John Terry, in Vassilev’s case, at the Villa game last week, went a long way to allaying any doubts.
As with so many other aspects of life, modern technology has changed the jobs of managers, scouts and agents a great deal. There are several scouting websites they all use and they can call up footage of virtually any player at any level that would interest them.
Buxton is not the sort of manager who will be tweeting his thoughts any time soon but he does use the websites. That said, though, he thoroughly enjoyed his trip to Southport.
“It was good to get out there scouting properly, live, looking at players for the future,” he said. “It’s OK speaking to someone on the phone but it’s only when you meet them in person that you can judge their character and it’s the same watching a football match.
“When the ball’s on the other side of the pitch to the player, you’re looking to see how they are. Are they walking, are they strolling? What happens when it goes wrong and it’s tough? Are they the type of characters to dig in and try to drag other players along with them?
“That’s what I’m looking at. Would the players on show be the right sort to join our group and make sure we push forward? It’s harder to judge traits on video. There’s nothing better than seeing it live and it’s something we’ve missed. Me and the staff are getting out to watch games now and we’re not just building for this window, we’re looking to the next one as well.”
There will certainly be 2 distinctly differing styles of play on view today, lets hope they try and play football to match us which would suit us and would be there downfall.
