The Great Big Kilmarnock Thread

[kennysmassiveego]

The opinions on Hendrie here are almost exactly the same as was said when we brought SOD back up the road .

We’ll see if AA’s opinion is worth more than some P&B posters 

[killiefan27]

Like SOD he also appears to be a bit of a handsome b*****d.

Wingers won't be able to rip him to shreds defensively, they'll get lost in his eyes

[Fide]

17 hours ago, kennysmassiveego said:

The opinions on Hendrie here are almost exactly the same as was said when we brought SOD back up the road .

We’ll see if AA’s opinion is worth more than some P&B posters 

This to the Nth degree.  I remember the same chat when SOD came back to Scotland.

[Boaby Fisher]

Hendrie flattered to deceive at Southend where he was mostly second choice left back, and became surplus to requirements after they signed Ralph from the Dees. Seen him a few times down there and I think there’s a good wee player in there, very much needs his confidence levels to be brought up.

[craigkillie]

This to the Nth degree.  I remember the same chat when SOD came back to Scotland.

The difference is that SOD was actually good when he played in Scotland before.

[Thereisalight..]

12 hours ago, craigkillie said:

On 07/09/2019 at 10:09, Fide said:

This to the Nth degree.  I remember the same chat when SOD came back to Scotland.

The difference is that SOD was actually good when he played in Scotland before.

Shame he’s not good when playing for Scotland! 

I really rate SOD at club level, but it’s a bridge to far for him on the international stage 

[killiepiemuncher]

Shame he’s not good when playing for Scotland! 
I really rate SOD at club level, but it’s a bridge to far for him on the international stage 

That could apply to every player on that pitch in a Scotland shirt.

[paul wright scores]

1 hour ago, Thereisalight.. said:

Shame he’s not good when playing for Scotland! 

I really rate SOD at club level, but it’s a bridge to far for him on the international stage 

Just like Forrest

[dumpweed]

Sod was no worse than most of the team on Friday.

Players like Mcgregor and Forrest need to actually turn up for internationals. They are the so called top players.

 

[Guest Moomintroll]

Tbf to Forrest, it wasn't that long ago that he scored a hat trick for Scotland. He tries his best, as does SOD, but sometimes other International Class players are just that bit better than what we can select from. Not the players faults, they are doing all they possibly can.

[C4mmy31]

Today's Times article gives us a wee bit more  insight into AA .....

Respect: an easy word to throw around, harder to put into practice. There are
those who insist that Angelo Alessio is disrespecting Steve Clarke, disrespecting Scottish football, by trying to adapt the way Kilmarnock work
and think. Who is he to tell a side that defied expectation to finish fifth, then third, there might be another way?

Let’s reverse the question and ask about the respect that we, the Scottish football collective, have shown Angelo Alessio, this man whose English is easy to lampoon and who left an open goal by losing to the Welsh part-timers of Connah’s Quay in his first assignment.

To hear Kirk Broadfoot, who had a good kick at the Italian on his way to St Mirren in midweek, you’d think there is nothing a squad of game but largely modest players can learn from a figure who won a Uefa Cup at Juventus while working under coaches like Giovanni Trapattoni and Dino Zoff. Who, in eight years as Antonio Conte’s lieutenant, helped deliver Siena back to the top flight, won three scudetti with the reborn Old Lady of Turin then brought league and FA Cup success to Stamford Bridge.

Doubts, of course, are permitted. Alessio hadn’t been a manager in his own right for more than a decade, had only ever set foot in Scotland for Juventus’ 2013 Champions League game against Celtic, and had never met either of his deputies, Massimo Donati and Alex Dyer. There are questions about the appointment and the man himself, but is it asking too much for people
to actually listen to his answers?

“When there’s a change when things are going well, it’s difficult to accept the need,” says the 54-year-old from near Salerno in Italy’s deep south. “At the same time, it’s important every one of us stays faithful to our credo, our convictions. If you arrive in a team where things have gone badly, it’s much easier to change. When you arrive in a place where things have gone well and for the most part the players are under contract, it’s not like you can say, ‘Right, let’s change more than half the team’.

“I didn’t do that. It wouldn’t have been right to. But at the same time, you need to bring your own solutions. We put more emphasis on the tactical side than on other aspects of training, but every coach in the world will make those kind of decisions based on their methods. Ultimately, my job is to get the most out of every player and find solutions on the pitch.”

Alessio says he wishes Broadfoot “all the best” and is “disappointed he left”, pointing out that the centre-back was his captain for the League Cup game against Hamilton on August 17. Kilmarnock went through after extra-time and have since drawn with Aberdeen and beaten St Johnstone without conceding, a steadying of the ship from Connah’s Quay and the first two league games that saw them lose narrowly to Rangers and horribly to Accies.

“We needed that first league win. The team wanted it, we all wanted it,” says Alessio of last week at McDiarmid Park. “We’ve had some problems because results make you work in a certain way. Bad results make you work worse. We’re on the right road now, but we need to get better. A lot better.

“I want to see a compact team capable of managing every situation. We’ve had to do a lot of work with results being as they were. Now we have the opportunity to keep working, but also to believe more in what we’re doing.”

Alessio is enthused by the prospect of easing the burden on Eamonn Brophy via Osman Sow and Harvey St Clair, the strikers who arrived at the end of the transfer window. Alessio knew the Scotland under-21 man from their shared time at Chelsea, while Laurentiu Branescu and Dario del Fabro were sourced through Juventus. Former Hamilton and Motherwell left-back Stephen Hendrie has arrived after Greg Taylor moved to Celtic, and centre-back Connor Johnson has joined on loan from Wolves.

“This window was very difficult,” Alessio admits. “Lots of conversations happened, and then at the very end, deals got done, but we now have our face as a team.”

As far back as January, Alessio told Italian media that he himself was on the move, uncoupling himself from Conte long before the one-time Italy manager took charge at Inter. “I didn’t want to have any regrets in the future about not trying,” says the man who led Imolese, Massese and SPAL in the Italian third tier before hooking up with his fellow
ex-midfielder. There were rumours of an offer to coach the Juventus under-23 team, but the nature of this task appealed.

“In the last two years, Kilmarnock have achieved extraordinary things, and now we all must understand the need to work even harder. I’ve accepted the exact opposite of a job where things are not going well, but that’s something I find stimulating.

“Working eight years with Antonio, I know what it means to have to stay at the top. Every year we had to do it all over again. It’s a very difficult thing to do, but what we knew was that every year we had to work harder and the same goes for Kilmarnock.

“I know the situation and it’s a big challenge after Steve Clarke. But for me, it’s normal to be under pressure. Of course it’s not easy: I’m Italian, it’s another culture, another tradition, different football. But I think now, step by step, our team is building, we are building. I don’t think the players’ desire to learn is a problem. The problem comes when you can’t find solutions.”

Whatever training ground emphasis he puts on running, Alessio knows what it is to graft. He was one of 11 siblings — six boys, five girls, “a whole football team” — in an age when silver spoons hadn’t quite reached the Amalfi coast. For years he plugged away with the local amateurs, yearning for the break that arrived at Avellino.

“I’d been on so many trials, but I just loved playing; it didn’t matter whether it was in the biggest stadium in Serie A, or some country dustbowl. For me it was the same thing, because I had this big passion.

“At 18, I did a summer with Avellino and that was me. I caught the last train. It’s difficult to go straight from the amateurs to Serie A, believe me, but sometimes what you want arrives when you least expect it.”

Alessio has three grown-up children, a management engineer, a fashion designer and one who studies in London. His wife is due to join him, but for now he lives “a quiet life” across the road from Rugby Park, working long hours with the odd escape for fresh sea air at Troon.

“I always knew this would be a difficult year, for many reasons,” he says. “We’re still building our season and our path. It will be made up of sacrifices, dedication, sweat and difficulty. We need to be patient and really understand the job.”

[Ocular Patdown Required]

Seems like Jamie Mac's off then

Edited September 10, 2019 by Ocular Patdown Required

[C4mmy31]

I'd expect McDonald to be released shortly......

[staggy1929]

27 minutes ago, C4mmy31 said:

I'd expect McDonald to be released shortly...…

Is McDonald still up to It at this level?

[Ocular Patdown Required]

6 minutes ago, staggy1929 said:

Is McDonald still up to It at this level?

I'd say so but he doesn't command his box very well/ isn't exactly the most vocal when it comes to communicating with the defence, seeing a cross or a corner come in always gave me the fear when he was playing. Still a very good shot stopper though. 

[C4mmy31]

37 minutes ago, staggy1929 said:

Is McDonald still up to It at this level?

Imho, as a starter I have my doubts, rooted to his line for crosses, doesnt command his box well & he's slow & inaccurate when releasing the ball. As a backup he'd possibly do a job.

We've been spoiled thou, especially with Bachmann last season, his performance was night & day compared to Jamie Mac.

[staggy1929]

11 minutes ago, C4mmy31 said:

Imho, as a starter I have my doubts, rooted to his line for crosses, doesnt command his box well & he's slow & inaccurate when releasing the ball. As a backup he'd possibly do a job.

We've been spoiled thou, especially with Bachmann last season, his performance was night & day compared to Jamie Mac.

Pains me that we had Bachmann and wouldn't play him.

 

[Dindeleux]

1 hour ago, C4mmy31 said:

Imho, as a starter I have my doubts, rooted to his line for crosses, doesnt command his box well & he's slow & inaccurate when releasing the ball. As a backup he'd possibly do a job.

We've been spoiled thou, especially with Bachmann last season, his performance was night & day compared to Jamie Mac.

Jamie’s entire career here has been strange and it feels that he has never really been that happy.

I rate him as a good championship/reasonable Premiership level of goalkeeper. He probably helped keep us in the league a couple of times but as the team got better it felt as if he couldn’t meet the standard.

[C4mmy31]

1 hour ago, staggy1929 said:

Pains me that we had Bachmann and wouldn't play him.

 

You have to wonder what McIntyre was thinking tbf.......

[C4mmy31]

Thoughts ?

Imho, he needs to hold more of those shots at him, pushes it away to often for my liking.