Kilmarnock defender Niko Hämäläinen has said he was “shocked” to discover Angelo Alessio had been sacked.

Hämäläinen, who was brought to the club by Alessio in the summer, said the players respected the Italian but he admitted that the language barrier was a problem at times and meant instructions weren’t always clear.

“I wasn’t expecting it and I don’t think a lot of the players were either,” he said. “It was kind of shocking and there was no indication it was going to happen. But that’s football.

“The last three games we’ve played we haven’t been at our top level which has maybe affected things, but the players respected the manager and he respected us.”

The Finnish international did highlight the language barrier as a potential problem between the players and manager, he said: “Since I’ve been here the only thing I could think of that caused a disconnect was the language barrier. Alessio did have Masimo {Donati} to translate but there could sometimes be issues when interpreting instructions.”

News of the sacking was broken to the players by Alessio himself on Tuesday, “He seemed shocked when he told us the news you could tell by the way he walked in.

“I do feel sorry for him because he brought me in here, had belief in me, gave me opportunity, and I’m pretty sure every other player does as well."