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Alessio


Jimmy Superscot

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Found this article on Alessio’s tactics early in the season when looking for something else. With hindsight it makes an interesting read...

With three defeats and a draw in his first six matches in charge of Kilmarnock, Angelo Alessio has not had the greatest of introductions to Scottish football.

Replacing Steve Clarke was always going to be difficult but after the high of finishing third and reaching the Europa League qualifiers - reward of an entire season's worth of work - Kilmarnock lost their manager and were turfed out of Europe in a humiliating defeat to Connah's Quay Nomads. The pressure is building.

Has Alessio tinkered with the very basics of Clarke's team? What has actually changed? 

A change in approach?

Clarke's teams were always a 4-4-2 or 4-5-1, defended deep and attacked down the wings with clever movement expected of the forwards.

Alessio has started the season in a 4-1-4-1 with Gary Dicker patrolling the space in front of the centre-backs and new signing Mohamed El Makrini joining Alan Power in a very defensive midfield. 

Width comes from wingers, with overlapping runs expected from Stephen O'Donnell and Greg Taylor in the final third - a formation and setup entirely in keeping with Steve Clarke's.

In the 2-1 defeat to Rangers they set up in a compact low block, trying to limit space between lines of defence and midfield, shifting to the side the ball was on. 

Kilmarnock's defensive shape vs Rangers
Kilmarnock's defensive shape vs Rangers

Applying the same basic principles as Clarke - make the pitch small out of possession, make it big with the ball - when Killie had the ball they quickly stretched the shape to allow passes out from the back, pushing play out to the wings.

 

Although we've seen a lot of long balls from Killie defenders humping the thing up the pitch, Alessio appears to be trying to introduce more of a short passing game. The stats are perhaps unreliable because it's so early in the season but according to Wyscout, passes per game have gone up from 342 to 357 per game, with long balls per game down from 60.7 to 51.

This was particularly obvious in the 2-0 defeat to Hamilton, with Alessio getting off the bench to issue instructions to his players after only 10 minutes, encouraging them to stop hoofing it pointlessly towards the opposition defenders.

Killie finished with 73 per cent possession, pushed their defensive line to 72 metres up the pitch (this is very high) after Brian Easton's red card and dominated the game. Although they lost 2-0, Expected Goals has the score at 0.82 to 1.96 - Killie should have won this game 2-1.

Killie's average possession has gone from 50.18 per cent last season to 46.1 per cent this term - is that a natural response to teams being warier of them or is it strategic decision from Alessio? 

What's going wrong?

Alessio did his research before taking the job and knows the players at his disposal. If Kilmarnock are trying to implement more of a short passing game than under Clarke it will take time - possibly a whole season - but the building blocks are in place. The problem is that not all of those blocks are particularly adept at passing a ball along the ground.

 

Greg Taylor missed the 0-0 draw with Aberdeen due to ongoing interest from Celtic but despite being integral to Killie's success last season, hasn't started this campaign well at all.

This passage of play against Rangers shows what Alessio is trying to achieve. Taylor receives the ball at left-back.

Greg Taylor
 

To create passing options, players ahead of him need to move into a diamond shape. Rory McKenzie needs to be closer to the touchline because of Taylor's position - the shape should mirror the yellow lines. This would drag the Rangers player marking McKenzie wide, which would free up a pass to Liam Millar stood at the tip of the diamond. 

Kilmarnock's bad impression of a diamond
Kilmarnock's bad impression of a diamond

McKenzie receives the ball and has no option except to pass back to Taylor, his poor starting position ending the move before it's even begun.

Taylor then also has to go backwards, and passes to Gary Dicker, who is the 'six' in Alessio's 4-1-4-1.

Greg Taylor has to pass backwards
Greg Taylor has to pass backwards

However, Dicker has also taken up a bad position, meaning four Kilmarnock players are currently in the same vertical space (Millar, McKenzie, Taylor and Dicker). The only available option is another pass down the line.

Gary Dicker bravely hoofs the ball away
Gary Dicker bravely hoofs the ball away

For safety's sake, Dicker just punts the ball a mile in the air. Had he been in the correct position (the blue circle), Taylor could have tucked his pass inside and opened up other passing options with the centre-backs or another midfielder.

 

This is one of the differences between Clarke's shape and Alessio's - by having Dicker as a 'six' in a deeper strata than Power and El Makrini, Killie should have a player to cover spaces and link the defence with midfield. In his role as Antonio Conte's assistant, Alessio worked with the likes of Andrea Pirlo, Jorginho and Cesc Fabregas in the past. There's a bit of work to do.

Rather than pass out to the full-backs to progress play, centre-backs are expected to get the ball forward too. Stuart Findlay has the ball here against Hamilton with absolutely nobody anywhere near him. Rather than bring the ball out from the back and take the team forward, he fires a forward pass to Millar, who moves out to the wing from a central forward position.

Findlay's bad pass
 

It might be a tactical instruction from Alessio to get the ball forward quickly before Hamilton can get into their trenches, but playing this pass leaves Kilmarnock massively stretched - the distance between centre-backs and strikers is enormous.

The pass is poor and Millar can't keep it in. Possession is turned over.

Millar can't keep the ball in play
 

There's nothing the manager can do about errors like this during a game.

Defensive errors undoing good work

Kilmarnock had all of the ball against Hamilton but didn't use it well, while the goals they conceded were messy. The first came from a long punt of a free-kick lifted towards the right wing.

Hamilton send a free-kick towards the right wing
Hamilton send a free-kick towards the right wing

Taylor lost the aerial battle, Lewis Smith controlled the header, Findlay couldn't get tight and was so bamboozled by the feint from Smith he almost fell over. Smith slammed a well placed shot into the bottom corner. 

 

The second goal came from Killie attempting short passes around the final third, a hopeful chip into the box headed away and Hamilton's Blair Alston kicking the ball as far away from his own box as possible.

Gary Oakley chased it and controlled.

Oakley chases a pass launched into orbit
Oakley chases a pass launched into orbit

Some great holdup play from Oakley allowed Hamilton to get into Kilmarnock's half and eventually Smith turned up on the right wing.

Smith on the  attack
 

With Killie still in transition to their defensive shape - the entire team had been in Hamilton's half - mistakes were always likely but, as with the first goal, indecision resulted in Smith having time to stab a shot away. Kirk Broadfoot should be on the six yard line, the ball rolls there and Oakley gets a touch (apparently) to put it past the goalkeeper.

Smith shoots low across the box
 

Both of Rangers' goals came from set-pieces. Kilmarnock defend corners with a mix of zonal and man marking, with the onus being on the latter - exactly the same as Clarke had last season. This image is from the opening game of the 19/20 season:

Kilmarnock defensive corner setup
Kilmarnock defensive corner setup

And this is from the last game of last season:

Killie shape
 

One player defends the near post space in the six yard box, another stands ahead of the six yard, another in the corner and everyone else gets tight to a runner.

Killie defensive setup
 

The difference is Rangers' attacking setup. Nikola Katic makes a run towards the penalty spot then darts back, Findlay completely misreads the movement and is caught ahead of the ball.

Rangers corner goal
 

Katic heads at goal, Scott Arfield tucks in the rebound.

 

The winner in that game was more bad one vs one defending. Again a mix of zonal and man marking.

Killie defensive setup
 

Broadfoot is all over the place, hauls down his man, and Connor Goldson gets his head to the cross in prime position.

Goldson header
 

Better defenders might have prevented both these goals.

Change in personnel

A lot depends on Eamonn Brophy scoring but he has been off form since January, coinciding with Greg Stewart's move to Aberdeen. Stewart was statistically one of the most creative attacking players in the league before leaving in the winter window and while Brophy scored eight goals last season with his forward partner at the club, he managed only one after Stewart left.

Without Brophy's main source of chance creation he hasn't been the same player, Findlay has been error-prone, Taylor hasn't been close to his best, Dicker's positioning isn't yet good enough for the 'six' role he has been handed and Jordan Jones' absence means opponents aren't as concerned about the threat from Kilmarnock's left.

It is far too soon to judge Alessio's tenure at the club but his ideas won't work if players don't learn quickly and improve. Nobody can plan for the errors made so far on the pitch - even fans' favourite Clarke and with time, Alessio should be able to apply his style of football. Without the mistakes, Kilmarnock could have taken at least point from Rangers and wouldn't have lost to Connah's Quay Nomads nor Hamilton. Despite results the signs are already promising but points keep supporters happiest and Alessio could, rather obviously, really do with winning some. 

 

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In hindsight (wonderful thing), appointing Dyer would have made more sense, from a continuity point of view. Putting in a guy who would continue Clarke's work, rather than trying to get the players used to a whole new system with a foreign manager. 

Easy to say now. Dyer was unproven as a manager so it would have been seen as a risk. The main thing is that we are now where we should have been. Still early days with a thin squad, but the signs are good  

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1 hour ago, Dillinger said:

In hindsight (wonderful thing), appointing Dyer would have made more sense, from a continuity point of view. Putting in a guy who would continue Clarke's work, rather than trying to get the players used to a whole new system with a foreign manager. 

Easy to say now. Dyer was unproven as a manager so it would have been seen as a risk. The main thing is that we are now where we should have been. Still early days with a thin squad, but the signs are good  

All was handled very poorly. Hopefully lessons have been learned.

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Let's be honest here.... Dyer is on a good run but he is only 2 games from being a useless waste of space again.

If we lose to Hibs and Aberdeen then the same folk who wanted him out 2 weeks ago, and felt they had to apologise when he went unbeaten for 2-3 games, will be sharpening the knives.

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6 hours ago, Scooby_Doo said:

Sorry mate, I’m elderly and memory ain’t what it used to be...:P. Mind you I don’t think I read it when it was originally posted.

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