Alessio: Every boss faces up to same woes
Angelo Alessio is adamant every one of Scottish football’s managers is only a few defeats away from disaster.
The Kilmarnock boss got a rough introduction to life in the country when his new side’s stuttering start to the season led to him being written off as a misguided choice to replace Steve Clarke.
However, with the Rugby Park side having stabilised since, the Italian is able to cast a philosophical eye over not only his own situation but also that of his peers.
“At the beginning it was very hard for me because we had bad results,” Alessio said.
“It was very complicated because after Connah’s Quay it was hard, then we lost against Rangers right at the end of the game.
“Then a bad game against Hamilton. Then we started the season.
“Against Aberdeen I saw my team play well. We didn’t win the game but we played well.
“Then we won against St Johnstone, and against Hibernian we proved we are confident now.
“But I think every manager is under pressure every week.
“The results are important and we work hard every day for them.
“I know when there are bad results consecutively the manager pays, sometimes with the sack. This is football. Every manager accepts the situation.
“Every manager knows this, if they don’t get good results it can happen.”
Alessio’s own potential tipping point, he reckons, was the away game against St Johnstone at the end of August, his team’s fourth match of the 201920 Premiership campaign.
“It was important for me and for everyone here to get a good result,” he said.
“If we didn’t win the game against St Johnstone it would be bad for me.
“But after that game I saw a good attitude. And I saw against Hibernian we played well in the second half when we had some good opportunities to score.
“We won and deserved to win game.”
“Listen, I am happy with the players who have come here.
“When I came in, I had to change so many things because last season there were eight or nine players on loan including the goalkeeper.
“We have added goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and strikers. We have new players in all positions.
“I think now we play around four new players and the rest have been on the bench. When we’ve called them onto the pitch they have played well.
“There was a period that the players needed to understand the football, we have a synthetic pitch here, and some things are different.
“Now we are doing better and I think we can still improve.
“Every game is tough and we have to improve in some situations. Keep the good habits and add new ones, too.” we the