Livi v Dundee Utd

Baby it's cold outside.

First half was fine, totally dominated proceedings and should have pressed home that superiority but 1-0 was acceptable- superb play by Noobs to set up Bradley for the wallop in. Bradley unlucky earlier to see his rocket hit the bar and in the second half when their keeper fumbled his shot on to the post. There was a warning for us late in the half when United missed a sitter but all things considered the first half was good stuff.

Second half? Absolute garbage. We didn’t get going at all & from being exposed & humiliated in the first half, Sibbald owned the midfield in the second half. We were so bad in the second half I expected United to score late on and thankfully Shamal saved Mulgrew’s late free kick.

Apart from being too passive, too slow & just generally poor in the second half, we also saw nothing from the bench. Montano was getting caught out of position so why not put Penrice on? Anderson got no service whatsoever in the second half and although we moved Nouble into the middle, he ended up wide right even before we brought Guthrie on (he’s turning into another Goncalves btw, he really doesn’t offer us much up front)…but why take Anderson off? Get someone on who can take hold of the game and start creating chances for him.

Finally the officials…how United still had 11 men on the pitch at half time never mind full time was a joke. Even Goodwin knew number 22 should have walked which is why he subbed him before the break. The ref allowed United to foul with impunity and while he may have booked 6 of them he should have sent off at least 2, possibly 3 of them. There looked a clear hand ball in the second half but it wasn’t even reviewed. The VAR checks on both goals were laughable, there was no way the ball went out during our build up and there was no way anyone was remotely offside for theirs. It’s like our officials just make it up as they go along.

Positives… good first half and we stopped the run of defeats.

It sounds like an excuse but the influence of referees can have huge consequences for a team. I was at the Hibs and the St Miirren games where Holt and Pittman got very dodgy red cards. Boyes in the game at Ibrox saw red for a tackle too. Playing with 10 men greatly influenced those games. I saw Oneonga sent off for two very soft yellows v Rangers. Yet tonight the guy in the first half should have had a second yellow and the tackle on Pittman in the 2nd half was much worse that either of the two mentioned above. That would have had a huge influence in our favour. Unfortunately the lack of consistency in refereeing never seems to be in our favour.
So, hit the bar, one off the post and having watched the highlights, a decent shout for a handball penalty turned down. United upped their game a bit in the second half but we were the better team overall. We just don't seem to get the breaks these days. Hopefully the tide will turn soon.

Couldn't make the game last night due to a family emergency. And to confound my day LFC Live wouldn't let me purchase the stream.So have had to wait for the highlights on Sportscene. Firstly VAR or the reluctance for officials to use it is costing us hugely .That referee should be embarrassed when he sees this game back.Tottaly amateurish display from him .Shat it so many times with crucial misses that did not do us any favours at all.Challenge on Pittman being the worst among many other glaring offences he missed without even going to the monitor on numerous occasions. How we drew that game is beyond me,but I guess were were just about hanging on to the apron strings of a top 6 finish,although going on last night those chances of doing the aforementioned are getting slimmer by the week.Only plus last night was foregoing the mild hypothermia and frost bite ,though I'd rather been there to suffer for my sins.This game was huge for us,opportunity missed imo.‍�.

orco wrote:It sounds like an excuse but the influence of referees can have huge consequences for a team. I was at the Hibs and the St Miirren games where Holt and Pittman got very dodgy red cards. Boyes in the game at Ibrox saw red for a tackle too. Playing with 10 men greatly influenced those games. I saw Oneonga sent off for two very soft yellows v Rangers. Yet tonight the guy in the first half should have had a second yellow and the tackle on Pittman in the 2nd half was much worse that either of the two mentioned above. That would have had a huge influence in our favour. Unfortunately the lack of consistency in refereeing never seems to be in our favour.
So, hit the bar, one off the post and having watched the highlights, a decent shout for a handball penalty turned down. United upped their game a bit in the second half but we were the better team overall. We just don't seem to get the breaks these days. Hopefully the tide will turn soon.

That tackle on Pitts was scandalous only getting a yellow.



Comes in late after the ball is played and catches Pitts on the ankle with his studs, far far wilder than the one Holt and Pitts got red cards for, shocking from the ref.

Same in the first half not giving a 2nd yellow for the player that hauls down Montano, gives us the foul and ignores the booking because he was already on a yellow, then Goodwin quickly subs him.

Last man foul on Guthrie being the 3rd red card incident the ref shits out of, waste of time having VAR if he isn't going to the monitor to look at these incidents, just waved them away.

2 pts chucked away but the ref really didn't help any, letting Utd kick lumps out of our players, and keeping 11 players on the pitch. That elusive 2nd goal to bury them cost us too, we were well in control of the game 1st half, and a 2nd goal would've killed it.

Onto County now, a week on Saturday, a win might still get us back on track, but every game we fail to get one is making it less likely we'll get into the top 6, the head to head against St Mirren is very much a must not lose game too. They've still to play Hearts and Sevco, so really important we don't lose ground on them in that game to give us those 2 games to get ahead of them.

Still plenty opportunities with Aberdeen, St Mirren, and even Hibs having 2 games against the top 3 teams, and us playing the 5 teams outside the top 5. Hopefully this draw will be the start of us going on a wee run of undefeated games, and we notch up 2 or 3 wins in that run.

Agree with all the comments but it doesn’t change the fact we were woeful in the second half. Davie suggested it was because United tweaked their shape etc… so why no response to counter what they did? Because if the subs were designed to do that, they didn’t.

Auld Nick wrote:Agree with all the comments but it doesn’t change the fact we were woeful in the second half. Davie suggested it was because United tweaked their shape etc… so why no response to counter what they did? Because if the subs were designed to do that, they didn’t.

Yeah he said he made subs to change things but it didn't really come off for us.