Match preview - Kilmarnock Away

Had I written this yesterday, I would have been feeling a lot more downbeat. However, we are now just over 24 hours away from a huge League Cup quarter final clash at Rugby Park and it's time to focus on what I would like to see Steven Naismith and his team do to bring an upturn in the mood of the fan-base.

Admittedly my wishes expressed in this piece are just that – there is strong evidence on the back of Steven Naismith's recent interviews that the first eleven will retake a similar shape to what we have witnessed this season as he attempts to build a long term identity for the club.

However, there is a possibility that the recent injury of Natty Atkinson & the carrot of a trip to Hampden may see a change in philosophy even just for an interim period. The seeds of negativity are many and have been sewn off the back of a poor run of form which has yielded 0 goals and 1 point in fixtures against Kilmarnock, Dundee, Motherwell and St Mirren . It is up to Naismith and his players to now ensure that a wave is built upon which the team can ride the momentum of going into what on paper are a very challenging run of fixtures over the coming weeks.

Predicted Line-up

Just to be clear I expect Naismith to continue with the 4-2-3-1/4-4-2 that we have adopted since he took temporary reigns of the team back in April. I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge that long term, this system could have its benefits with a fit Cochrane, Halkett & Mckay in the team. That said Naismith has to make do with what is available at the moment whilst also taking into consideration the challenges that will be posed by our opponents. Some may read this with the belief that given our financial advantages over Killie, we should not be looking to tweak our system and instead impose ourselves in the match. I agree with that in theory but our away form points to a team who are struggling to convert possession into chances created and goals scored so a new approach is required.

Zander Clark was partly culpable for our concession of a sloppy goal on Saturday, but given the other changes I'd like to see in our shape, it would be prudent to try and keep some level of continuity in selecting certain individuals.

Given the current updates being provided regarding Atkinson, its safe to assume that he will not be available. With this and Offiah looking to regain some fitness and form, there is an opportunity to switch to a back 3 tomorrow which would allow Kyle Rowles to play in a position similar to that that he played back in the A-league with Kent & Sibbick taking the other two spots. This not only helps solidify our back line in open play but also gives us an additional centre half to help defend set pieces which represent Kilmarnock's biggest threat.

A look at the stats from Saturday would highlight that we adopted a very narrow system with only the introduction of Allan Forrest bringing any sort of width to the side. Many fans have their misgivings regarding the player but with Mckay injured, he is one of the few in our squad who is capable of holding a position out wide and being direct with the ball. With that in mind I would be tempted to give him the right wing back role to compliment Kingsley on the left. This means that out of possession it is easy enough for Sibbick to move over to right back and allow Kingsley to slot into a back four if need be.

The centre of the park represents something of a conundrum. Beni was very tidy in possession on Saturday but did not take the opportunity to play penetrating forward passes which drew the ire of Naismith on a couple of occasions. You would also expect him to not be ready for 3 games so that leaves us with Devlin, Haring & Nieuwenhoff. It is very tempting to pick Haring given the already mentioned set piece threat that Killie pose, but they also have tons of legs and energy in midfield so having the combative pairing of Devlin & the Hoff can hopefully combat that.

Kilmarnock this season have switched between a back 3 and at times 4 central defenders across the back line. With this in mind it is vital that we ask Liam Boyce to take up a free role position in the team making intelligent runs across the back line and pulling their players out of their comfort zone. Ahead of him I would go with a pairing of Shankland & Vargas. I have been dissapointed with the petulant behaviour of Shankland this season and we need to start seeing him channel his frustration in a more positive way. Vargas is key to any success we are looking for tomorrow as he represents the pace that can allow our team to mix it up in terms of playing forward whilst also preventing Killie from playing too high a line and pressing.

Opposition Form

Tomorrow night will represent an opportunity to get back into their comfort zone not only due to their good home form last season but also in terms of playing the role of the reactive team rather than the alien position of being expected to be the pro-active side as they struggled to do after Dundee went down to 10 men on Saturday.

Last season, Derek McInnes hit the main metric expected of him by ensuring Killie avoided a return to the Championship and has looked to build on that with some decent captures in Robbie Deas & Stuart Findlay in particular

In doing so, he hasn't revamped the style of play but instead concentrated on working on the continuity of shape from last season but with better individual players.

Final Thoughts

No one was happy with the weekend result, but cup competitions can offer managers a chance of creating a stay of execution or help build legacies. We have seen evidence of this in our own backyard with the 2012 Scottish Cup win banishing memories of an inconsistent league campaign ironically littered with the same passive away displays we are currently being subjected do. Even our neighbours have a recent experience of this with Alan Stubbs gaining a legendary status amongst the Easter Road faithful for delivering the Scottish Cup against the back drop of two failed attempts to get promotion.

I hope that a few home truths will have been delivered and the players who will start on Tuesday will be energised and hungry to get the season back on track. Naismith's post match comments on Saturday would not have resonated with the fans but hopefully that is just to help protect the players in public.

I feel like Killie, sitting in a low block would be very happy to see us play a narrow and passive game similar to Saturday so its up to us to set the right tempo and play on the front foot. Given that Celtic are out and Rangers look a very disjointed side, this is an opportunity to exercise not only our away form but also some League Cup ghosts that have accumulated over some time now.

Despite the turgid display in Paisley expect the away fans to continue their brilliant and vociferous support for the manager and the players, and hopefully we will be looking forward to a winter trip to Hampden

Feel free to leave your feedback and predictions below and thanks for reading.

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