Source: FOOTYMAD
Killie Looking To Prove Pundits Wrong
The balancing act of movements during the transfer season has tipped Killie into the category of relegation candidates according to some pundits. Kenny Shiels admits he will take care to shield his players from predictions of their impending doom. The Killie manager is well aware that his side have been tipped for relegation by some, despite finishing fifth in the SPL last season. These sceptics will have noted 17 players, including several internationals leaving the club. The quality of the likes of Craig Bryson, Mehdi Taouil, Mohamadou Sissoko, Frazer Wright, Alexei Eremenko and Jamie Hamill have not been replaced and followed the loss of the influential Conor Sammon and Ben Gordon in January. Shiels has seen some of his rebuilding work temporarily undone ahead of Sunday's gameagainst Dundee united at Tannadice. New signings Danny Buijs, Danny Racchi and Paul Heffernan are all out with minor knocks as Killie take on a United side bidding to bounce back from their Europa League exit at the hands of Slask Wroclaw. Shiels said: "A lot of people are writing us off now. It can have a detrimental effect if you listen to them, but everyone is entitled to their opinion. We'll take it on the chin. Last night, when I was driving down from Dundee listening to Radio 5Live, Pat Nevin and these boys who were previewing the SPL season were saying they feared for Kilmarnock, 'it looks as if they are going to go down'. I thought that was a bit drastic talk. You hear it all the time. We are just trying to make sure it doesn't get to the players, that they are not affected by it." Shiels became used to dealing with scepticism after failing to win any of the eight games he took charge of last season following Mixu Paatelainen's departure. He pointed out then that he had lost most of his central defenders to injury as Killie played out the season against the top teams after qualifying for the top six comfortably. Shiels said of the critics: "It doesn't surprise me because we have lost a full team. We'll be looking at all the motivational tools we can." The temporary loss of players he has brought in was a real blow. he went on: "It's just disappointing because when you rebuild a team and lose the players you have brought in, it's difficult. I'm not complaining, it is just something that has happened. Since I took over it seems to be happening consistently. Maybe we'll get some better luck one day. Things have been going okay otherwise but you don't really know how well they have been going until you start the season."
