Celtic v Kilmarnock Preview : Hammer The Hammer throwers

Yokerbhoy looks ahead to todays game, and although he thinks the vicious tackle on Frimpong should be ignored to allow for focus, he’s got a point, one wonders of that’s a minority view…personally, I’d find someone from the rough end of the trenches and bring him on with ten minutes to go specifically to boot the kilmarnock player high into the stands. 

After an enthralling European night of football action in the Danish capital, we return to the serious duty of carrying on with our impressive league form as we host the Ayrshire totty terriers of Kilmarnock on Sunday, a fixture which kicks off at 3pm (Celtic Park Time).

The two sides last met very recently on the plastic of Rugby Park which ended up in a fine 3-1 win for our lads in a game that was packed with incident a plenty, including no shortage of hefty OTT challenges (Power’s horror challenge on Frimpong still lingers in our memories like a bad smell), dodgy refereeing and even a silly spat between Leigh Griffiths and a home fan.

This all came about at a time when Kilmarnock were in the midst of a horrendous run of defeats [it finally came to seven league losses (albeit narrow defeats for the most part) on the trot] but it has become quite evident that manager Alex Dyer has successfully managed to turn things around and mount a strong challenge to make the top six before the split in April.

Testament to that have been several highly-charged fighting performances including a fine away win at Tynecastle (defending like men possessed with 10 players on the park for most of the game to hang on to a 3-2 victory after going three up in the first half) and a fine comeback to take full points at home to the sevco hun slime. They narrowly lost at home to Hibs last weekend after pounding the Leith side’s goal area for the whole of the second half with Marciano performing heroics to keep them out and they’ll also be bitterly disappointed to lose out to the sheep by four goals to three in extra time (especially after being 3-2 to the better in the dying minutes) in that cup replay the other night.

In a recent pre-Aberdeen match interview, the in-form Chris Burke describes the manager’s contribution towards the remarkable upturn in the club’s fortunes.

Kilmarnock winger Chris Burke believes that Alex Dyer has restored the confidence of the Rugby Park side and has them looking a lot like the team who finished third last term under Steve Clarke.

Dyer assumed the Kilmarnock role in December after Angelo Alessio’s 22-game tenure was brought to an end. It followed a run in which the Ayshire side had taken just one win in their previous eight games and had gone four games without a victory.

Kilmarnock lost at the weekend to Hibs – a last minute penalty call might well have changed that – but having taken 9 points from a possible 12 in their last four games Burke believes they are far more recognisable to the team who won so many plaudits under Clarke. “He is great [the manager],” said Burke. “He is calming, efficient, effective. He makes you believe in your ability and he is tactically aware. He has everything that a top coach and manager can have. I think he is relished the opportunity because it is his first time being a manager and not an assistant

“We know when we are not performing. He will tell you that. But in any walk of life it is about how you tell someone and get the best out of them. That is what he does. He gets the best out of each and every individual.”

Despite Sunday’s set-back, Burke believes that since the winter break Kilmarnock are showcasing the form that took them into a third place finish under Steve Clarke last term.

“We are a team who looked like the way we played last season,” said the experienced winger. “Everyone knows their role and their jobs and that is credit to the coaching staff and the manager. It is about doing the simple things well. This group have achieved great things in terms of being in the top six over the last two seasons and we are still trying to achieve that.”

After Killie’s parting of the ways with Alessio, it’s abundantly clear that Dyer, a disciple and advocate of Steve Clarke’s combative style of play, is making every effort to recapture the consistency and brand of football shown week after week during the last campaign which saw the Ayrshire outfit finish third and Clarke handed his current position as Scottish national team manager.

The team is still adept when it comes to defending in numbers when necessary but has moved away from Alessio’s ultra-defensive approach to a system that is highly competitive, physical and fast on the counter. They will undoubtedly adopt a defensive strategy when they come up against us at Parkhead but we will have to be very wary of them as they provide a goalscoring threat from several different quarters.

24 year-old centre back Stuart Findlay, an ex-Celtic youth player and maybe one that we shouldn’t have let go, appears to be improving season after season with a good all-round defensive game as well as providing a considerable goal threat at set pieces. He was recently rewarded for his consistently good form with his first full Scotland cap last October where he scored one of his country’s six goals against San Marino.  He has forged a solid defensive partnership with Dario Del Fabro, an ex-Italian international at U-21 level, who is on loan from Juventus, although the experienced Kirk Broadwood was re-called into cup action on Wednesday night.

Full Backs Stephen O’Donnell and Finnish international (although born in Florida) Niko Hämäläinen have been defending solidly enough and can cause us problems on the flanks with their speed and ability to deliver dangerous balls into the penalty area.

Killie’s muscle in midfield has mainly been provided by Dicker the skipper and Power the kicker, who have helped them to gain a lot of control in this vital area of the park in recent encounters. Both Irishmen, aged 33 and 32 respectively, have a wealth of competitive experience under their belts and have even followed a very similar career path plying their trade for several clubs in the 2^nd and 3^rd tiers of English football.

Wide on the right, the pacy Rory McKenzie has improved considerably in recent matches, although there’s always the chance that Dutch veteran Mohamed El Makrini will be recalled once again (he scored a spectacular diving overhead kick against the Dons the other night) to fill that position.  Dynamic winger and playmaker Chris Burke has been their star man for quite a while now. He might have played for the huns back in the day but respect has to be given where it is due. At the age of 36 he is currently producing some of the best football of his entire career and he’s arguably the best in Scotland when it comes to lethal deliveries into the box from both set pieces and open play at this moment in time. Full of trickery, he also has a knack of getting into goalscoring positions himself while his sparkling form of late has had a very positive effect on his team mates. He’s obviously one that will have to be watched closely.

Up front Eamonn Brophy has deservedly been gaining many accolades as well as banging in quite a few vital goals, so he could be a bit of a thorn in the flesh of our defence due to his incredible work rate and physical presence. He has also been linking up very well with his twin striker, the in-form recent signing Nicke Kabamba.

All the controversy, expecially that challenge from Alan Power on Jeremy Frimpong, should not be allowed to prey on the minds of our manager and players who have to be focussed on the job at hand of ensuring full points but, at the same time, it won’t slip anyone’s mind the fact that Kilmarnock are not only a very physical team but also a highly experienced one. They are a stubborn and well-organised side full of big bustling players that know how to defend, will vigorously fight for every loose ball in midfield and can be really dangerous on the break.

The Ayrshire men have been playing at a similar level to Aberdeen in their last few games and are not very unlike them in style of play either. They came agonisingly close to knocking the sheep out of the Scottish Cup in that replay the other night as they were leading 1-0 right up to the 88^th minute, which is when Considine equalised, forcing the tie into extra time. The seven goals that ensued during this period were most likely to have been a result of fatigue setting in, leading to blatant errors through lapses in concentration at crucial moments.

Interestingly, one of their main youth prospects is Greg Taylor’s younger brother, 18-year-old midfielder Ally. He’ll probably make the bench for Sunday while recently signed striker Harry Bunn (calf), Innes Cameron (knee) and Adam Frizzel (knee) are all unlikely to feature. Their team selection could look something like this:

                        Branescu

O’Donnell        Broadfoot        Findlay           Hämäläinen

Burke              Power              Dicker El Makrini

Brophy            Kabamba

Subs: Koprivec, Del Fabro, McKenzie, Kiltie, Millen, Taylor, Connell

————————————————————————————————————————

Both sides had eventful evenings in midweek and there’s a fair chance of Lenny delaying his team selection due to a few injury doubts. Greg Taylor, Scott Brown and Leigh Griffiths would be on that list and all three would probably be selected to start if they’re somewhere near 100% but I’ll put up my own XI on the assumption that this is not the case and therefore they won’t be risked. It seems that El Hammed’s comeback prospects have suffered yet another setback (bad news indeed) but no concrete details have emerged on this story yet. When the provisional squad comes out we might have a better idea regarding who’s likely to be picked.

As Kilmarnock are a very direct team that likes to harrass and bully other teams in the middle of the park, I believe our 3-5-2 would be the ideal option as it would give us plenty of width coupled with considerable strength in midfield. They have quite a few veterans in their team that are competent professionals but might have serious difficulties in dealing with our pace off and on the ball given the large pitch area. Those gruelling 120 minutes in Wednesday night’s cup replay of thrills, spills and gut-wrenching disappointment might have taken their toll on some of them both physically and psychologically so it’s up to our lads to give them the runaround from the off. Our fitness levels along with our superior speed and technical precision are telling factors so we really have to make them count.

I’d like to see Jozo Simunovic re-introduced into the back three as he’s been fairly consistent and provides an extra goal threat from set pieces. Although Ntcham had an off-night in Copenhagen his recent form has generally been great, so I’m pretty sure he’ll be given a chance to redeem himself on Sunday in a game where I fully expect him to put on a show for us as it’s the type of tussle that should enable him to play to his strengths. I’d definitely have big Tom Rogic in there as well as he’s in need of game time and can provide those vital through balls to our front players, particularly big Odsonne. Tom doesn’t allow himself to be bullied either and even though he probably won’t last the full 90 minutes (if selected to start), his dig and craft can hugely influence the outcome.

Johnny Hayes had a far better game in Denmark than his disappointing performance at Pittodrie last Sunday and fully deserves a start as his effort, toughness and energy will be of great help against a physical team. This might not be a very popular choice but should Griff not be available for selection, I’d go with Ryan Christie in a free attacking role to constantly harrass the Kilmarnock defence whilst providing support and creating plenty of space for Odsonne Edouard, Later on Mo Elyounoussi could come on for either Rogic or Christie and make an impact. Assuming Broonie isn’t ready, young Ewan Henderson, who has really been turning it on in recent games with the development team, could make the bench alongside Nir Bitton.

In our latest showdowns with Killie at Celtic Park we have tended to comfortably come out on top and, despite a few possible injury issues, I fully expect this trend to continue. We are so much more mobile and technically adept than they are but I still feel this will be a tough game for us as they have shown how competitive they can be in several games since the winter break and definitely pose a goal threat. It’s absolutely essential that our defence keeps things tight and doesn’t switch off so that hopefully we can enjoy a glorious afternoon of fast flowing precision football with Jamesy, Eddy, Ryan & co delighting us with some clinicial finishing. We are bound to carve out several chances and it’d be magic if wee Jeremy were to recapture some of his previous form to turn those Killie defenders inside out. 

Forster

Jullien                         Simunovic                   Ajer

Frimpong         Ntcham            Rogic               McGregotr                   Hayes

Christie

Edouard

Subs: Bain, Mbombo, Bitton, Henderson, Arzani, Elyounoussi, Klimala

Prediction: Celtic 4 Killie 1 (Christie, Forrest, McGregor, Edouard)

COYBIG