Shrewsbury's Steve Cotterill ready for a tough test at well-drilled Burton Albion
Steve Cotterill has praised the way Burton Albion’s season has played out – while warning of problems that come with a well-known footballing identity.
The Shrewsbury chief takes his side to the Pirelli Stadium tomorrow with a growing need to end a winless run of eight League One matches.
That barren run has seen Town remain 18th in the third tier but unable to claw away from the sides below them.
Town’s problems have increased through the three-game suspension for midfielder Josh Vela and the sorry news of a serious ankle ligament injury for midfield colleague David Davis.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s Burton, meanwhile, despite a run of just one victory in six games, look well-placed for a solid finish to the league campaign while sitting 13th. They are 10 points better off than Town and almost achieved an eye-catching victory at Sunderland in midweek, but were denied by a stoppage-time leveller.
The Brewers were Shrewsbury’s opponents on the opening day of the League One campaign and secured a 1-0 win in Shropshire through defender John Brayford’s first-half header as Town endured a slow start to the campaign.
Cotterill feels Hasselbaink’s side has since changed but credited them for mixing styles in a horses for courses approach. The Town boss argued having a settled ‘identity’ and style of play is counter-productive and ‘easy’ for opposition.
“Burton have changed a little bit, I don’t think a lot of people talk about them being direct and what they do on corners and throw-ins and wide free-kicks,” Cotterill said.
“I don’t think they’ve had the credit for some of the football they’ve played. Their team has changed from the team we played at the beginning of the season, it’s evolved and they’ve done well.”
Burton’s sole victory in February was an impressive 3-1 home effort against resurgent and in-form Bolton.
They have Blackburn loanee Harry Chapman amid their ranks, last season’s Town loan star who scored some spectacular goals to help Cotterill’s side retain their League One status.
“It’s good to do a bit of both, you don’t want an identity. People say they want this identity, but you don’t want an identity, you need to be able to do both,” the boss added.
“There’s lots of ways to win a game and set your club up. It can be either in a low block, a mid block and use a counter-attack.
“It can be using possession, long ball, short ball, it doesn’t matter.
“The minute you’ve got an identity, you’re easy to play against because everybody knows what you’re going to do.
“They key is to not have an identity, but a way of playing that everybody understands it when they go out on the pitch and I think Burton have that understanding by the look of them.”
