Championship Expectations (2017/18)

Just read that, decent piece on us, says it all really.

Yeah, it's a well researched & written piece. Nice to see someone actually write something constructive & largely positive in a fair & unbiased manner.

Bertie Bassett wrote:Yeah, it's a well researched & written piece. Nice to see someone actually write something constructive & largely positive in a fair & unbiased manner.

and from a Dundonian too

Only one game and against the 2nd bottom team in the league, but it looks like we could finally have the striker we've been needing this season. Hardie puts in the effort off the ball, looks big and strong to hold off defenders and is composed when finishing.

I was getting a bit worried about us losing players in January and our team getting weaker, and seeing us drop down the league, but Hoppy has pulled it out of the bag with his Jan signings and we're actually looking stronger than before. Buchanan is a solid looking defender, Miller and Hardie up front looked good, Boyd is a skilful looked player in midfield, and Thompson looks a good replacement for Penrice.
Robinson being back from injury is looking good in midfield too, so kinda like a new signing. Oh and McMillan is a good option to have when we're needing to go 4 at the back against teams like Dunfermline who have nippy wingers.

A point off 2nd placed Dundee Utd now, and we've opened a wee gap of 5 points on 4th placed Morton, things are getting interesting.

Tough run of games in Fe though, 4 of the top 5 teams in our next 4 games, can't wait to see where we'll be placed after these 4 games.

Looking at our quarterly form we're getting stronger again after a dip in the 2nd quarter.

First 9 games-18 points

Second 9 games-12 points

So far in our 3rd quarter we've played 8 games-19 points

Comparing our form to St Mirren's is interesting.

1st Quarter

Livi-18 / 21 St Mirren

2nd Quarter

Livi-12 / 17 St Mirren

3rd Quarter

Livi-19 / 19 St Mirren

So despite us beating them they're still on the same run as us in this 3rd quarter, although it appeared they've gone a bit off form their last 2 games, losing heavily to us and scraping a 1 -0 win by an OG over Brechin.

Really we'd have to win our last game in this quarter and hope Utd beat them to close the gap to 5 pts. Then hope we can maintain our form for the final quarter and St Mirren to have a worse final 9 games than their 2nd quarter.

In the first quarter the difference between us was them winning here. The second quarter was clearly our slump cause if that's our points total out of 27 available we dropped more than we won. They beat us again after we took the lead (I know they deserved the win that day but if we'd ground out a result...) and this quarter... Clearly they were doing very well before we tanked them.

All ifs & buts... but it would be a real scrap for the title if we hadn't capitulated against their 10 men & if we had held on to our lead in Paisley... Just shows that just a couple of results make a huge difference.

The one that annoys me the most was our first league game of the season and only drawing with Dunfermline after dominating the game and also missing a penalty. Wasn't at the Brechin away game and by all accounts we played poorly but were still up 2-0 at HT, even playing poorly it is still a bit gutting to chuck away a 2 goal lead over the worst team in the division, that's 4 points we threw away just in those 2 games.

Still, on current form and doing the same as last season we are capable of keeping this run going and putting some pressure on the Paisley mob, it aint over yet. Worst we should get now is 4th place and a play off spot, we really have nothing to fear and no pressure on our players, 14 points of a lead over Dunfermline and QoS should be more than enough to stay ahead of them and be sure of a top 4 place.

Loads of backhanded compliments.

What annoys me about reports like that is the fact they completely ignore that the best player on the pitch on Saturday was a wee guy called Jacobs, who can read a game, tackle, intercept & pass and not too far behind him was another we guy called Pittman, who covers every blade of grass & can tackle & pass. Both of them are half decent when it comes to putting the ball in the net as well. Although Keaghan less so these days due to him playing a deeper role.

This is a team that has learned to play to the conditions. We are capable of playing on the deck but we never get recognised for it. We are also on the receiving end of agricultural fouling & rarely get anything for it. Think back to the Morton game, Pittman hurdling a challenge that had it made contact with him would have sent him in to the advertising boards. It was reckless, the player was out of control and there was clearly no attempt to play the ball... if it had been one of our players attempting that "tackle" he would at the very least have been booked when the ball went out of play. The Morton player didn't even get spoken to.

So... C'mon Livi, keep it going & see where we get to.

Yeah we all said that at the time too, that was when Pittman ran on and nearly scored, Morton player took a swipe at his legs, clear intent to take him out but totally ignored by the ref, and only booking Morton got was Harkin's dive, yet we got booked twice for very soft fouls that didn't merit a card.

Yeah we don't get any credit for being a good footballing side, Hartley came out in his post match interview saying he thought Falkirk were the better 'football' team, FFS, what a load of pish. Funny how on a better surface at TFS we've gubbed them in all 3 games, playing good football.

Rafa, Pitts, Keaghan, Cadden, Mullin, Hardie, Lithgow, Gallagher, Byrne, Robinson, all shown they have good skills on the ball and can easily beat players playing it on the deck. Last season we played it a lot more on the deck and ran teams ragged, this season we go more direct and go straight up the pitch then battle for the 2nd ball before passing it around, but it has been really effective so feck them moaning about it.

We used to be push overs when up against more physical teams like St Johnstone in cup games, not now, we can mix it with anyone in any league, I really fancy our chances in the play offs, don't really care which Premiership team is 2nd bottom, we will have a good chance against them but it would be interesting if it was Dundee, due to our history of relegating them in the Kachloul days.

If you say something often enough folk start to believe it. This crap about us being an overly physical, long ball team with little skill has become accepted wisdom among our competitors.
We are no more or less so than any of the other teams in the league.
Us knowing it isn't so is all very well but I'm wondering if the constant repetition is getting to the ears of referees too and is part of the reason our players often receive cards for things other teams get away with.
This fitba can be a dirty business.

Never thought of that Orco, managers do that kind of stuff pre match all the time to get Refs on their side, usually by saying how hard done to they've been by a certain ref and then he's under the spotlight and feart to book one of their players in case he gets it wrong and is accused of being biased.

I think it also fires up the opposition players to get stuck into us when their managers have been telling them all week how physical we are, and turns the game into more of a battle than a pretty footballing one.

As a result none of our final games will be easy, we'll have to fight for every point, might have to watch the suspensions before the play offs come too, and anyone near to being suspended use their heads and take a booking to get it out of the way before the play offs so they're starting afresh going into them. Halkett and Lithgow must be close, we could afford to miss one of them at a time for a game and Buchanan come in, but i'd rather have them both for the play off games.

I've been thinking the same re Halkett and Lithgow suspensions. Wonder if we could "manage" getting the inevitable suspensions staggered.
While we would miss either, I actually think Lithgow would now be the biggest miss. He gives the team an energy with his sheer strength and the amount of headers he wins. And that's not even mentioning those 'good as a corner' throw ins. Great championship player.

Strange how that has worked out, pre season you'd have said Halkett and Gallagher would be the biggest loss in defence, but that 3-1 home defeat against St Mirren where we lost 2 goals from set pieces at the back post was when Lithgow was out, that was when I noticed how much of a good player he is for us.

Liviforever wrote:Strange how that has worked out, pre season you'd have said Halkett and Gallagher would be the biggest loss in defence, but that 3-1 home defeat against St Mirren where we lost 2 goals from set pieces at the back post was when Lithgow was out, that was when I noticed how much of a good player he is for us.

Even stranger; 18 months ago I would have said Creighton was better than Lithgow - how wrong can you be.

Yeah, I was questioning Hoppy's decision making when Lithgow kept starting games while Crighton was left out... But big Al has really grown into a very dependable defender who has more skill than he is given credit for.

He is one of my player of the year candidates.

orco wrote:http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/16095753.Neil_Alexander_says_Livingston___39_overachieving__39___but_Falkirk_captain_Aaron_Muirhead_believes_Livingston_strong_enough_for_play_off_promotion/

"WHO better to ask about play-off prospects than Aaron Muirhead"

Maybe a player who plays for one of the play-off prospects

Given Falkirk were in the play offs for the last 2 seasons & I assume he was part of those campaigns, it's actually not a bad idea to get the views of someone who has experienced the play offs on a team that he has just played against which looks like it will be having a play off campaign this year.

The only thing wrong with the article is the "snobbery" regarding our alleged playing style. The reference to Pep Guardiola is irrelevant because anyone who actually listens to what Pep says or takes the time to read Guillaume Balague's excellent book on the man will see that Pep wants to play his way but has never insisted that everyone else has to do the same, he has said every way to play is valid & provides a different challenge that he needs to work out a solution for. That aspect of the article is just lazy journalism & snobbery.

https://www.falkirkherald.co.uk/sport/football/falkirk-fc/in-quotes-livingston-v-falkirk-hopkin-hartley-1-4708470

Ooft, love how they built Hartley up as some international Zinedine Zidane before asking his opinion on the game, aye he was an international player for Scotland, not France, Italy or Spain, last time I got excited about watching Scotland play was Archie Gemmill's mazy run taking Holland apart.

Falkirk players have this idea that they're playing football 'the right way' nonsense, as Bertie says, football is played a variety of ways and our way is working better than most teams. We aren't just about long balls forward, we put pressure on the defender so we can pick up the 2nd ball, then work it forward with our midfielders to get inside the box, but nobody seems to pick up on that and just lump us with the agricultural long ball tag.

Football is as much about working hard off the ball too, and I've not seen any team this season doing that better than us.

orco wrote:I've been thinking the same re Halkett and Lithgow suspensions. Wonder if we could "manage" getting the inevitable suspensions staggered.
While we would miss either, I actually think Lithgow would now be the biggest miss. He gives the team an energy with his sheer strength and the amount of headers he wins. And that's not even mentioning those 'good as a corner' throw ins. Great championship player.

Just read on twitter that both Halkett and Lithgow will miss the Dumbarton game, well that's going to make our defensive line up interesting, Gallagher-Buchanan-Longridge?

McMillan-Gallagher-Buchanan would prob be our best line up but not sure any of them can play left sided CB, both Gallagher and McMillan are right sided players. Perhaps we'll have to change to a back 4 and have Longridge in his natural LB role, with McMillan at RB.

At least it gets their bookings back to zero before the play offs, just need to try and not pick up more than 2 yellows before getting there.

The erse end of the season kicking in with a vengeance now. Two games a week and losing key players will stretch the squad. Our defence has been the basis of success this season imo so this is indeed a blow. I am now going to pray for the health and well being of Neil Alexander because losing him would put the tin lid on it.

Liviforever wrote:

orco wrote:I've been thinking the same re Halkett and Lithgow suspensions. Wonder if we could "manage" getting the inevitable suspensions staggered.
While we would miss either, I actually think Lithgow would now be the biggest miss. He gives the team an energy with his sheer strength and the amount of headers he wins. And that's not even mentioning those 'good as a corner' throw ins. Great championship player.

Just read on twitter that both Halkett and Lithgow will miss the Dumbarton game, well that's going to make our defensive line up interesting, Gallagher-Buchanan-Longridge?

McMillan-Gallagher-Buchanan would prob be our best line up but not sure any of them can play left sided CB, both Gallagher and McMillan are right sided players. Perhaps we'll have to change to a back 4 and have Longridge in his natural LB role, with McMillan at RB.

At least it gets their bookings back to zero before the play offs, just need to try and not pick up more than 2 yellows before getting there.

Better against Dumbarton than QOS in my opinion. Dumbarton only have one goal threat and if you keep him under control... well anyway.

To be honest a four at the back lineup wouldn't be two bad with Longridge; Buchanan; Gallagher and McMullen. Provided Longridge could rein in his urge to run up the field and leave a gap at the back, for the first half at least, then it should be okay. McMullen is more defensive than Longridge.

Of course if one of our defenders gets injured then we're really struggling