Calderwood outlines reason for formation tweak and squad selection against Burton
The desire to play with two strikers was the chief reason for Colin Calderwood’s decision to change formation for his first game as interim manager on Saturday.
Previous boss Kevin Nolan had started with a back four in his last couple of league games before departing, but Calderwood made four changes for the visit of Burton and switched to 3-5-2 as Jake Evans joined Jack Vale in attack.
"We wanted to get two strikers on the pitch and have a focal point,” explained Calderwood. “If we played 4-3-3, we would have ended up with the same front three that we’ve had. We put two together to see if it upset Burton a little bit.
"There were three or four moments where it ran the way we wanted it to and we made good space and there were some half spaces. We put the ball in the right area at times but we fell short in the next bit and we’re still striving for those killer moments.
"Vale and Evans worked quite well but they worked individually and their moments together were not as often as we would like. It's going to take a little bit of time and a little bit of work when playing with two strikers.
"We obviously then had a bigger physical presence when Eavesy came on and I like to have a bit of variation in terms of styles of strikers. We did go a little bit more direct in the second half but I felt we got less out of those moments when we did that.
"We have to find more oomph and scoring the first goal would help – but we have to help ourselves. Burton ran out deserved winners because our goal threat petered away as the game went on.”
Jack Burroughs was one of several players who did not even make the bench having started the last couple of games.
"Jack's absolutely fine,” said Calderwood. “I explained to the squad why we went the way we did with the shape and unfortunately we just ran out of room on the bench. Those were the decisions we made but Jack is fully fit and I'm sure we'll see him soon.”