Argh, this blog entry is hideously late. Sorry about that - I do now have two weeks holiday and therefore considerably more free time in which to spout the horrendous drivel that this blog is all about. The flip side is that last week was a mare work-wise, getting every loose end tied up so I can put my feet up. Figuratively speaking, anyway.
For my first action on finishing work on Friday evening was to drive to Glasgow in preparation for Inverness' away game at Killie on Saturday, followed by the joys of the City of Manchester Stadium on Sunday - those of you who watched that game on the box will understand that, whilst the early red card was a shame and denied us a real contest, the opportunity to see Arsenal pass it around against ten men was, well, rather special. The insistence of the Mancunian support (who really all do sound like Liam Gallagher, and display the same levels of intelligence) that their own team were being royally shafted, against all logic, was also special, in its own way.
And on top of it all, my bluenose companion from Glasgow, dragged to Rugby Park on Saturday but an extremely willing accomplice for the following day's trip south, spent most of the time constantly checking his iPhone for updates from Celtic Park. Although his joyous raving after Rangers' 3-1 win was almost unbearable, it was a necessary evil - Celtic's half-time lead had left him on the brink of committing hara-kiri, which in turn would have deprived me of a lift back up the M6.
So, it was one heck of a weekend of football, and it's only appropriate that I use this entry to discuss the most glamorous, exciting, sexy part of it.
That's right. I'm going to talk about Kilmarnock.
Cup winners under Bobby Williamson in 1997, Killie fans have not really had much to shout about since, particularly since Jim Jefferies' brand of football won enough points to consistently preserve SPL status, but not enough plaudits to fill Rugby Park - it's 18,128 capacity is only a monument to the glory days of the sixties, and was only a quarter-filled on Saturday. Kilmarnock have spent seventeen consecutive seasons in the top flight, with a few fourth placed finishes and the aforementioned cup win along the way, but with finances tighter, fewer exciting young players (especially of the standard of Steven Naismith and Kris Boyd) and reduced income, Killie's priority these days is simply to stay up. Last winter, Jefferies left after eight seasons, and his replacement, Tangoman Calderwood, kept them up on only the last day, but left because he didn't fancy more dogfights against the drop.
Step in big Mixu Paatelainen, who might not be the most astute coach in the country, but is almost certainly the cuddliest. As Only An Excuse joked when Mixu was still a player, "Rangers have Broxy the Bear, Celtic have Hoopy the Huddle Hound, and Hibs have Mixu Paatelainen". Mixu came to Hibs in January 2009 with a good reputation from guiding little Cowdenbeath up the ranks, and then some success in his native Finland. He attempted to provide Easter Road with a brand of attractive, passing football...and failed miserably, let down by the inflated egos of his players, a lack of quality or organization at the back and by having no plan B (this may sound familiar to John Collins and John Hughes, and might yet be the fate of Colin Calderwood also).
So Mixu arrived at Rugby Park this summer, a little bit older and, one hopes, a little wiser. Given a budget for the playing squad which would barely feed a family of four for a week, I tipped Killie to go down this season. The big Finn has done his best to get round that with loan signings - young defenders Ben Gordon (from Chelsea) and Momo Sissoko (from Udinese in Italy) - who looks like Sol Bamba did at Dunfermline; big and athletic, but also clumsy and accident-prone, so Mixu will hope to mould him into the Sol Bamba who has done okay at Hibs - plus young forward Harry Forrester (Aston Villa) and his own countryman Alexei Eremenko, a skilful, technically gifted central midfielder with an eye for a pass and an outstanding set-piece delivery. Add in a couple of Portuguese players - winger David Silva (no, not the one at Man City, trust me) and forward Rui Miguel, who got Killie's consolation goal on Saturday, and perhaps there is a squad that can avoid a descent into the first division that might condemn the club, shackled by an estimated £12 million of debt, to a Dundee-esque fate.
And from my vantage point in the away end, Mixu's insistence on trying to make his side play well is fairly admirable. Killie lined up 4-5-1, with three central midfielders - Eremenko, Manuel Pascali and Craig Bryson - who are all useful ball players, each looking to play the killer pass. His wide players, David Silva and Liam Kelly, were clearly detailed to come inside to allow overlapping from the full-backs. It looked quite good. In the middle third.
It's the problems Kilmarnock face in the other two thirds of the pitch which explain why they lost to Caley Thistle on Saturday, and why they currently lie tenth in the table. Their centre midfield are good at keeping the ball - but there is no ball winner there, no hard man to break up play or to win it back. So their defence is over-exposed whenever the opposition breaks, particuarly with the pace that Inverness have in attack. Moreover, the system relies on playing the ball out of defence on the ground - a good idea when Gerard Pique is your centre-back, but not when it is Frazer Wright, who was pick-pocketed by Jonny Hayes for the critical second goal for the visitors at the weekend. It isn't the first blunder they've had at the back this year, and it is unlikely to be the last.
But the even bigger issue is surely up front. I've made plain in previous blogs my belief that a goalscorer is everything for a team in the bottom half, and Mixu must wish he could play himself up front, or alternatively Kevin Kyle, who left for Hearts in the summer. Connor Sammon, the Irishman currently leading the line, is, well, an ordinary striker - ordinary speed, ordinary feet, ordinary in the air, ordinary at holding up the ball, ordinary at finishing. He is not a poor player, but he offers nothing special. Kilmarnock have a decent supply line for a centre-forward, but they need one who can take advantage of it.
We've only played nine games so far in the league, so it is a bit early for judgements on Mixu's Killie revolution. He is likely to get a bit of time to implement his ideas - his chairman does not sack coaches easily, and St. Mirren look so inept they are surely favourites for the drop currently. But a cynic would say the lower half of the SPL is not the place for his style of football, and you can't help thinking that Mixu Paatelainen is likely to go the same way at Kilmarnock as he did at Hibernian.
L.
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