Sergej Jakirovic admits Oli McBurnie’s fiery reputation precedes him, as the Hull City star faces the possibility of being forced to miss an early-season game through suspension.
McBurnie has picked up four bookings in City’s opening six Premier League matches and is one away from being forced to sit one out, along with teammate Matt Crooks, ahead of Saturday’s trip to bottom side Fulham.
Jakirovic admits that McBurnie could operate with a little more common sense when speaking to officials, but believes his talismanic forward is afforded little protection, and believes referees can help matters by talking to him, a similar complaint to the one he had back in the Championship last season.
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The City head coach was again frustrated after Sunday’s 2-2 draw with Everton, feeling that McBurnie should have been given more against the experienced James Tarkowski, which led to the striker’s frustration in getting himself cautioned. Jakirovic felt referee Michael Salisbury could have handled the situation with a degree of his own common sense.
While the technical staff on the touchline are communicating with the match officials during the game, Jakirovic feels like they’re being fobbed off and not getting a fair crack of the whip, and he also believes the opposition are getting the benefit of doubt in certain challenges.
“I can speak with the referees, but this is always, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, of course.’ OK, in a live game, I don’t see everything, but when you watch the game on repeat, there is a lot of pulling, a lot of pushing, and on the other side, it’s always, for example, foul or at least fifty per cent foul for the opponent,” a frustrated Tigers head coach told Hull Live on the eve of the trip to the capital. “If you have this criteria, you have to keep the criteria in all the game.
“This is my opinion, maybe I have it wrong. Oli now has four yellow cards. This last yellow card is very naive, very naive (from him). There is another way to play in these situations. I see a lot of players who open their mouths a lot and get nothing (from the referee).
“It’s about reputation. You must have man-management skills as a referee as well, because you know Oli McBurnie; he’s not a new guy here, so you can speak with him. You can say to him one more time, I will book you. It’s everything, it’s about how you approach the player, and it’s football. Sometimes your pulse is very high. You will say something that you don’t mean, and then they will book you. He also has to control himself better.”
Jakirovic says he’s had conversations with McBurnie, and while losing him would be a big blow, especially with home games against Brentford and Ipswich Town to come before the trip to champions Arsenal ahead of the international break, if the Scotland international is sidelined, Robinio Vaz and Mohamed-Ali Cho could deputise.
“Yes, of course (spoken to him), but he knows everything. He’s not a baby. One day will come, this fifth yellow, and then he will have a suspension, and then we will have Vaz and Ali Cho for the strikers.”
As for Crooks, Jakirovic says the rules are rules, and if you catch a player late as he did against Everton, you’ll get a caution. The experienced campaigner has been carded in all four of his Premier League appearances so far.
“We have rules,” the boss explained. “If you are too late on the ball, you kick the player, it’s a yellow card. What we can do, but OK, we have players also in this position if Matt Crooks gets a fifth yellow.”
McBurnie is yet to get off the mark this season, and while his work for the team has been crucial, he’s not been presented with too many opportunities by his teammates, but Jakirovic believes the goals will come.
“He’s working a lot for the team, that’s for sure,” the City boss continued. “Sometimes he’s unprotected. I’m not happy with that because when I watch the games, you see a foul on him, so they try to provoke him, which is also a tactic. We are speaking every day about this. Don’t be down that you didn’t score the goal.
“Don’t be, I don’t know the word in English, but it infects you. You have to do your job. He’s great, and our assessment is that the goal will come. For me, it’s very important that he is there, that we can create a chance for him. If we create a chance for him, he will score the goal.”
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