Source: Team_Talk
Houston impressed by Killie
Dundee United manager Peter Houston is not surprised in the least to see Kilmarnock become the SPL's form team.[LNB] Houston watched Mixu Paatelainen's side beat Hearts a fortnight ago and went away thinking they looked more like a comfortable top six team than the relegation candidates everyone had predicted.[LNB]Paatelainen took over in the summer after Jimmy Calderwood saved Killie from relegation last season and is working with largely the same group of players.[LNB]However, the addition of Finland international Alexei Eremenko by the former Cowdenbeath and Hibernian boss has been a masterstroke and Houston has nothing but admiration for the job his fellow manager has done so far.[LNB]He said: "I have said all along that outwith the Old Firm, anybody can beat anybody. That's the way the league is this year and Kilmarnock are showing that just now.[LNB]"I saw their good run coming because I saw them for myself at Hearts and they were brilliant that day.[LNB]"They were down the table, but I remember thinking they looked like a top six team and they have kept that form going.[LNB]"I looked at their team from the other night, we had Stevie Campbell there and we had Dave Bowman watching them on Saturday against St Johnstone at Perth.[LNB]"The reports from those games were impressive, but there are only three players new to the team.[LNB]"They have brought in Eremenko, Ben Gordon and the lad (Mohamadou) Sissoko, but the rest of them have been playing for Killie for years.[LNB]"I think Mixu has done really well and he has got the shape of his team the way he wants and is using the his players well.[LNB]"He has taken the squad he inherited, added a few players and is getting the best out of them."[LNB]United lost to St Mirren on Wednesday after producing a performance Houston described as one of their worst of the season.[LNB]The Tangerines' form has been patchy this season but Houston has always watched his players bounce back from adversity and is backing them to do the same again. He said: "We keep taking the same boys who have done really well.[LNB]"I thought they played well against Hamilton and in stages against Hibs, and they are grinding out results, so while I was disappointed on Wednesday night I have not forgotten that.[LNB]"We were not hungry enough and I thought St Mirren were hungrier and that's something I can't label my players with very often."[LNB]United are without Craig Conway, who is to have a knee operation on Tuesday and will be out for around two months, while Darren Dods, Scott Severin and Mihael Kovacevic are also ruled out.[LNB]Midfielder Danny Swanson, meanwhile, could make a comeback after returning to training after receiving a facial injury in an alleged assault last week.
