Killie's game plan was almost perfect at Rugby Park - here's what we need to do in Belgium
Derek McInnes didn't really set his side up to play football - and that's not a criticism
We’re on our way, we’re on our way, to Europe, we’re on our way…
Hopefully many of you will be en route to Belgium as you read this, spirits high after a 1-1 draw in the first leg against Cercle Brugge which keeps Killie very much in the tie.
A packed Rugby Park wasn’t disappointed as Derek McInnes and his players ensured Bruges won’t be a mere sightseeing trip.
Ahead of that second leg, we’ve watched the whole 90 minutes* of the first leg back - twice - and taken a dive into the stats.
Here’s what the manager got right and some potential danger signs ahead of the second leg.
*We’ve also included links to some key clips from the game, but Elon Musk doesn’t allow Twitter embeds on Substack - if you see CLICK HERE TO WATCH THAT MOMENT it’s just a link to Twitter…
McInnes set up with what was largely a 4-1-4-1 shape, with Kyle Vassell leading the line and Liam Donnelly acting as an anchor man.
When Cercle Brugge were in possession, Killie sat very deep with little space between the lines.
The Belgians are a very direct outfit but, as we saw in glimpses, Kévin Denkey can be dangerous when he’s able to drop deep and lay it off to their speedy wide men.
Playing with a back-four comprised of four big men who are natural centre-backs, Kilmarnock were happy to sit deep and narrow, confident that crosses into the box were an issue they could deal with while denying space in behind and making it difficult to get service into Denkey.
Top-scorer in Belgium last year, the Togolese was limited to just one shot and 13 passes.
Cercle are not a side who look to build from the back often, but when they did Killie shifted to more of a 4-4-1-1 with the energetic David Watson given licence to press.
However, the youngster was adept at ensuring that he didn’t then allow them to play through the middle.
In this example we see Watson pressuring Abu Francis, who has dropped deep to gather the ball.
That leaves the obvious option of shifting the ball left to Jesper Daland, who can pass into the space behind him, but Watson has the discipline to then drop back, block off the passing lane, and leave himself in a position to pressure either man.
As we highlighted when analysing Cercle Brugge ahead of the match, their two main weapons are their press and their speed on the counter-attack.
The former was largely negated by a simple truth: you can’t press a team that isn’t actually trying to play football.