During his lengthy tenure in charge of Aberdeen, Derek McInnes oversaw a period of relative consistency, with The Dons never finishing below fourth in any of his eight full seasons as manager. The club has failed to maintain that level following McInnes’ departure at the end of the 2020/21 season, dropping to ninth in 2021/22, recovering to third in 2022/23, and again competing in the bottom half of the table at present in the 2023/24 campaign.
Since taking charge of Kilmarnock, McInnes helped the club secure promotion back to the top flight in 2021/22, survive in their first season back in the big time last term and taken them forward in 2023/24, with Killie currently sitting fourth in the Scottish Premiership despite competing with a wage bill less than that of Aberdeen and Hibernian (according to Capology), both of whom currently sit below McInnes’ side on the Premiership table and the second-least valuable squad in Scotland’s top flight according to Transfermarkt. Killie are also playing with the third-youngest squad (25.9) in the Scottish Premiership this season, per Wyscout.
None of these metrics are the be-all and end-all — there’s plenty more than just those that go into determining a squad’s quality. However, it does seem fair to say, with Killie just in their second season back in the top flight after their relegation in 2020/21, that McInnes is faring quite well in his current role, producing results that will keep all involved with his club quite satisfied at present.
Kilmarnock’s defence has been fairly solid this term, with their 26 goals conceded being the fourth-fewest in Scotland’s top flight at the time of writing, while they’ve got the third-lowest xGA (29.47), behind just Celtic and Rangers. They’ve done well to limit the number of clear-cut chances opponents have been able to create against them with some solid defensive work and organisation.
McInnes’ side has also produced some solid displays going forward this term, which will be the primary focus of this tactical analysis and team-focused scout report. While their numbers alone (joint-sixth-most goals scored with 27 and fifth-highest xG with 33.97) are impressive but not quite as standout as the aforementioned defensive statistics, it’s the way in which they’ve been consistently opening up defences, in particular through the use of the wide channels, their inverted wingers and specific patterns of play that have inspired us to go into detail in this analysis piece.
Therefore, our analysis will highlight some critical aspects of Kilmarnock’s offensive tactics, their intelligent use of inverted wingers, and how the consistently effective application of some attacking fundamentals has made them very difficult to defend against for all opponents throughout the 2023/24 campaign.
Wing play chance creation
The wings have been vital for Killie’s chance creation in 2023/24, with left-footed right-winger/right wing-back Danny Armstrong and right-footed left-winger/left wing-back Matty Kennedy proving to be their most fruitful providers.
As displayed by figure 1, both players have been fairly high-volume crossers this term, though that especially rings true for right-sided Armstrong.
The majority of both players’ crosses have come from deep rather than more advanced positions. Kennedy is the more likely of the two to advance higher and look to drill a low ball into the box, but again, both are more likely to swing one in early from a bit deeper.
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