Analysis|KuPS’s championship is above all a model performance of the game process, and at the same time a victory for domestic football, writes sports journalist Ari Virtanen.
Master has fallen, long live the new champion. After four years of HJK’s reign, Veikkausliiga has finally got a new champion from KuPS, and it is above all a model performance of the game process, and at the same time a victory for domestic football.
The same could have been said even if the championship had been won by Ilves. It was caught small, because in the last game KuPS fought a defensive battle against HJK, but won Petteri Pennanen 1–0 with a goal in the opening half.
This season’s two best teams fought on Saturday night for the championship at the same time in Tampere and Kuopio. Ilves needed a win and at the same time a point loss for KuPS, and KuPS needed a win in their home match against HJK if Ilves were to win their match. Ilves beat SJK 4–0 in Tampere.
Ilves and KuPS had a lot of similarities this season. The ways of playing resembled each other, the development of the game process was similar and the structure of the teams was much the same.
Lynx sports director Miika Takkulan I think it was very nice at the final climax of the Veikkausliiga that the championship was decided by the two best game processes and the two best team structures.
At the end of the season, Ilves had five foreign players and KuPS had six. For comparison, last season’s champion HJK used twelve foreign players during the season.
Ilves didn’t really think that even a successful season would propel the team into the final round of the championship fight. The first decisive decisions for the successful season were made last fall, when Takkula moved from HJK’s sports director to Ilves’ sports director.
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“Successful teams are positioned in the middle ground between full control and straightforward management.”
Miika Takkula moved from HJK to Ilves last fall.
Takkula wanted to understand Ilves’ club culture and characteristics and interviewed all the club’s coaches and captains. Takkula heard about Ilves’ reputation as a workhorse gang. It was ten years ago, when the players were working on a construction site. Takkula understood that hard work and tenacity in playing were valued at Ilves.
However, Ilves had to get a new playful identity. For that, Takkula, together with the statistics company Analytics FC, made an analysis from 2016 on what kind of football Ilves has played. The analysis was used to create a visual map based on statistics, where the other Veikkausliiga teams from the past three years were placed. In addition, individual teams that were successful in Europe were placed there.
“It clearly showed that successful teams are located in the middle ground between full control and straightforward management. As I researched it more, I understood what it meant. It means controlled attacks, taking attacks deep and possession of the ball in the attacking third,” Takkula said before the final round of the Veikkausliiga.
To the same on the map, Takkula placed the teams of the interviewed head coach candidates. It turned out that in Gnistan coached Joonas Rantanen placed in the right place on the map. At the beginning of October 2023, it was clear that Rantanen would move to Ilves.
The analysis also revealed that a successful team is able to maintain its style of play from match to match, regardless of the opponents. Rantanen’s advantage was that his team’s functions had not changed in home or away matches.
“In successful teams, the functions are secondary,” says Takkula.
While working at HJK, Takkula used Norwegian FK Bodø/Glimt and Danish FC Nordsjælland as reference teams. In Ilves, he also made a qualitative analysis of the play of these reference teams and studied together with Rantanen the play of the Danish team.
KuPS head coach Jani Honkavaara seems to be impressed by Ilves’ analysis process when he heard about Takkula’s method.
“It sounds like Ilves has a qualified sports manager,” says Honkavaara.
Lynx the quick change is a good example of what a good sports director can accomplish. Ilves’ success is salt in HJK’s wounds. After Takkula’s departure, HJK has been as confused as a wall clock.
“From the beginning, I had the feeling that I was responsible for the sports side, selecting the head coach and starting the game process. I had a very strong ownership of it. I got complete peace of mind,” says Takkula.
For the chosen style of play, Ilves needed fast players and players with ball skills in every line. To Takkula’s pleasant surprise, Ilves already had fast players when the team included, among other things Oiva Jukkola and Santeri Haarala. The most important new acquisitions were Anton Popovich and topper Juhani Pikkarainen.
On October 12, 2023, Takkula drove to Vaasa and met Juhani Pikkarainen of VPS at the Kiitokari gas station. Takkula knew that other top clubs in the league were also interested in Pikkarai.
“I thought that the best way was to take the car under, put the contract offer on the table and tell about Ilves’ three-year plan,” says Takkula.
“I knew he was a staunch Arsenal supporter so I went to the ABC wearing a Tottenham shirt. I immediately took the guesswork out. He liked it. You can only make a first impression once.”
Lynx and KuPS both wanted to control the center of the field and ended up in the winter that four players were needed in the center of the midfield in the quarterback, the square of the midfield. Takkula and Rantanen took their example from the Premier League’s Brighton and FC Nordsjælland. Honkavaara from KuPS sought inspiration from a German coach Ralf Rangnickista ha Red Bull Salzburgista.
KuPS only found their wise stones in January in the league cup, when Honkavaara figured out how to beat VPS, who proved to be an impossibly difficult opponent in the previous season.
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“Whenever you win something, the young players have used their potential. That’s why we’re here now.”
After the season, Jani Honkavaara will move to Palloliitto’s training work and continue as coach of the men’s national team.
“At that time we played purely with 4–2–2–2. I have said that I owe VPS a debt of gratitude. With the goalkeeper, we had the superiority of two players [pelinavausvaiheessa]. Then we fed for so long that we got past VPS’s press.”
In Kuopio, the change process had started much earlier, in the spring of 2023, when Honkavaara returned as the head coach of KuPS. It gave KuPS a head start compared to Ilves with this season in mind. This season, KuPS no longer had a resource advantage over Ilves, when the owner Ari Lahti pulled the purse strings tighter.
The obstacle unexpectedly became a solution, which may partly explain KuPS’s good season. KuPS had very few players available in the winter. Honkavaara had to play a lot of young players.
KuPS Matias Siltanen17, Otto Ruoppi18, Samuli Miettinen20, and Joslyn Luye-Horse21, all had a great season.
“Whenever you win something, the young players have used their potential. That’s why we’re here now. It was the same in 2019. To be honest, we have to say that Petteri Pennanen has kept us going. But still, I see that in addition to experienced players, young people can raise the potential of the whole team by developing”, says Honkavaara.
Lynx and KuPS this season were exemplary examples of how you should trust your own way of playing. Ilves had a difficult time in the early season. The first home match against Lahti ended in a goalless draw. Then came the most entertaining match of the season, when Gnistan claimed an incredible 6-4 away win over Tammela. The third match of the season also ended in defeat in Seinäjoki.
According to Takkula, in a difficult moment, management with knowledge and trust were emphasized. They were measured. Between the end of April and the beginning of July, Ilves lost only one match.
At KuPS, the low point of the season came as three consecutive losses in the league in June. Honkavaara was not worried. According to him, in two matches out of three, KuPS should have won.
He considers the Gnistan match played in Oulunkylä in May to be a kind of turning point. According to Honkavaara, the match that ended in a goalless draw was official football.
“After that game, I had to raise my voice and point out that we don’t challenge and aim for the box.”
The success of Ilves’ and KuPS’s ways of playing has been seen in the points column, but also in many statistics before the last round.
Ilves has scored the most goals (45) from inside the penalty area, HJK (39) the second most and KuPS (38) the third most. Ilves has won the most of all teams on the offensive end of the ball (436 times). It tells about Ilves’ good high press.
KuPS has defended its goal the best and allowed the fewest shots on goal (80) of all teams. KuPS has lost the ball in its defensive area the fewest of all teams, only 268 times. KuPS’s defense has been the best in the league.
To the credit of both top teams, it must be said that their game has developed during the season. In addition, both have trusted the chosen way of playing.
Before the season, Takkula expected Ilves to struggle for a place in the top four. He takes his hat off to the coaching staff and the players.
“The task of the sports director is to enable the operating conditions to achieve strategic and operational goals. The task of the coaching staff and the players is to achieve them.”
With his second championship, Honkavaara became the most successful head coach in KuPS history.
“Honkavaara is an excellent process coach, as is Rantanen.”