McInnesball takes Tromsø, UEFA prize money and should Killie stick with 4-4-2?

A win on the continent is never to be sniffed at and the manager showed his nous with a fluid game plan

In 2018, then Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho introduced the concept of ‘football heritage’ in a clip which quickly went viral.

The Special One was referring to the solid foundations a club needs on and off the pitch to be consistently successful, but in common parlance is usually used to mean a club doing what it does best - think Manchester City passing teams to death or United scoring last minute winners.

With the latter definition in mind: 1-0 win away from home, goal on a set piece and the goalkeeper is booked for timewasting after 53 minutes - what we witnessed on Thursday was McInnesball heritage.

The defeat of Tromsø throws Derek McInnes and his Kilmarnock side straight into a play-off tie with FC Copenhagen, with the first leg on Thursday night, not to mention a knockout League Cup clash with Motherwell on Sunday.

With the games coming thick and fast there’s barely time to reflect on one before looking to the next, but at the Killie Chronicle we like to think we have a squad that can cope.

Let’s take a look at how Killie triumphed on Thursday, what it means financially and whether 4-4-2 is the formation the manager should settle on.

McInnesball takes Tromsø

One criticism so far this campaign has been a lack of pressing, particularly in the first leg against Tromsø.

That was something that was addressed on Thursday, with McInnes setting up in a fluid 4-4-2 system.

Though much of what was on show was defensive in nature, conditioned by the early goal, it was actually a very aggressive start by Killie.

Inside the first minute we can see Stuart Findlay stepping out of defence to prevent Ruben Jenssen being able to turn with the ball.

This was a feature of the game plan, with the 4-4-2 becoming a 5-4-1 out of possession as Bobby Wales dropped to the left wing.

While Killie did sit deep though, Brad Lyons and Liam Donnelly pressed when Tromsø attempted to play through the middle.

McInnes appeared happy to let the hosts have possession, but not to let Jenssen or Jakob Romsaas receive the ball in the middle with time to turn.

Time and time again Killie forced Tromsø backward, meaning that while they did have a lot of the ball it was sterile possession.

Even in the second half, with a 1-0 lead, it was an approach that continued until McInnes made the choice to switch to a 3-5-2.

Once the switch was made, Kilmarnock did drop a lot deeper and sit off more - something which had vexed fans in the first leg at Rugby Park.

However, while they were happy to let goalkeeper Jakob Haugaard come out with the ball, they sought to deprive him of any options to pass to.

In the above example, the goalkeeper strolls out of his box under no pressure but has very few options for a short pass.

Haugaard shifts it wide, receives it back and is pressed by Fraser Murray and is eventually forced to go long.

The passivity in allowing the goalkeeper to have the ball speaks to something we highlighted before the first leg - Tromsø are very ponderous in possession.

To illustrate this, let’s look at what it must be said is an extremely tedious passage of play.

Haugaard has the ball almost on the halfway line with all but one Killie player in their own half.

He tries to play it into midfield but David Watson presses and Tromsø are forced to play it back to him.

He then tries to go out to the left but Fraser Murray presses and it once again comes back to him.

He then once again tries to go into midfield but this time Donnelly applies the pressure.

Haugaard receives it back and tries to play it square, but his centre-back is harried by Vassell.

So he tries to go into the middle again, receives it back and eventually plays a long ball out wide.

That passage of play took close to a minute off the clock, with Killie leading. While it may be jarring to see the opposition goalkeeper standing near your halfway line, it was surely even more jarring for Tromsø fans to see their team knocking the ball aimlessly around at the back when they needed an equaliser.

They did hit the bar on a set piece, but the Norwegian side rarely looked like troubling Killie from open play.

Given their deficiencies one could argue that McInnes could have been slightly more adventurous, but if Vassell scores late on - as he should have - it’s 2-0 and a pretty perfect European away performance.

As well as being a satisfying result, it’s also a financial boost to the club.