Livi v The Fermers.

Hope you all had a good yuletide. Feel its absolutely imperative that we take something from this,and I don't mean a draw.The players owe us big time and must put in a shift to give us any chance of pulling us from the ever increasing mire.St Johnstone will see this as a huge opportunity to lengthen themselves from us.Weve got to match them and some.Christ just have a go Livi,you never know..

We have 4 of the next 5 league games at home; we have to take at least 11 points from those 5 games if we want any chance of staying up. Given that would double what has taken us 18 games to achieve you know we aren’t going to get any where near that total. Putting it plain… I feared it during the league cup group stages, we are going down this season.

That said St J have probably achieved something akin to this since they were bottom, so it’s not impossible.

We were the better of two pretty poor sides tonight. As usual we had some nice interchanges with nothing at the end of it. Cracking shot from Holt brought the save of the match from what looked like a bomb scare of a keeper, that we simply did not put under any pressure. Pitts woefully off target after beating the offside trap and Devlin missed a chance I could have scored at the end. All of that adds up to one thing, we are no longer in a relegation battle, we are going down.

Shinnie had grown into the game when he got subbed. Nottingham never got going because Nouble never gives him an option, he always wants it to his feet. Speaking of which he seems to be breaking his feet in for somebody else. He is quite simply a shadow of the player he was when he first arrived back from Arbroath. He will be leaving on a free at this rate because no one will try to buy him now.

Penrice was my MotM by a fair distance. Holt wasn’t MotM, his best contribution was the shot I mentioned earlier. He did win the ball back a few times too but far too often his passes are sideways or back. Anderson & Guthrie interchanged well but never really created a real chance. Pitts also involved with them but aside from his terrible shot he didn’t really have a chance either.

Obileye, Devlin & George were never really under pressure but got away with a few dodgy moments as a result.

I wasn't going to attend last night , but decided to at last minute - was hoping to see a win - not going to happen with this line up / performance.
I've said for weeks that Nouble shouldn't be starting - he's not bringing anything to the team - I'd have him benched again and give others a chance.

If this is the best we have - it really asks questions how bad the other squad members are ?
or is Davie just not playing them because there's a fall out.
Last couple of interviews , he's went on about a squad of 16 players , when there are actually 27, are they that poor that they are not given a chance ?
They are all his signings.
Also , I see no tactical developments or general on field improvements - got ask what Brian Rice's coaching is bringing to the team ? or again is it Davie being stubborn.

Must admit came away from that last night utterly deflated after a predominantly one sided affair.So frustrating that we couldn't take just one of those gilt edged chances that fell to us.Said beforehand that this was a must win game,and we didn't.Yes there was an improvement,but the boos at the end tells its own story.The players and management have let us down big style and must be held into account here.How long this is going to go on is anybodies shout.Theve been culpable for the position we find ourselves in imo.Also the offield rubbish is having an effect on not just the support but I'd suggest the players and everyone connected to the club.Grim times indeed and to be honest I don't see a light at the end of the tunnel.Worrying!!!.

Huge opportunity to make ground on Motherwell missed, that's us level on games with them now, and 4pts behind, a win would've got us within 2pts of them, and our next game is playing Motherwell, which would've lifted us and put huge pressure on them. Now even if we win (yeah i know, WTF is a win these days), we'll still be behind them.

Draws against the teams closest to us is just no use, we have to be winning these games to give us any hope of climbing off the bottom of the table. The game itself wasn't as soul destroying as they've been, we had lots of press and hunting in packs, turning over possession, and Penrice was whipping balls into their box, but there is just no end product there. We have to get St Kelly and Bradley playing, and dump the likes of Nouble and Shinnie, Pitts just isn't cutting it as an attacking midfielder now either, the whole set up is far too negative, so what else does Martindale expect, when we don't score goals.

Our most attacking players are getting limited game time. Also why are we persisting with Nouble as a RWB, and keeping Brandon on the bench, even when we subbed Montano on we stick him as one of the back 3, replacing Nottingham. We needed a goal, and Montano is a player that likes to be direct and drive up the pitch, but we stick him in defence, give me strength.

The fans cheering Nouble getting subbed will prob make Martindale dig his heels in and keep playing him as a RWB, and that in turn will turn more fans against him, at a time when we need everyone behind the team, saddens me to say it, but his position is becoming untenable.

Yeh,it was horrible hearing us boo off one of our own players but understandable.As I've said before Davie will decide when his time is up,not the supporters.Get the feeling that even if he takes us down,hel want the chance to bring us straight back up again at the first attempt. Looking at the Championship right now that would be such a tall order and one id doubt we'd achieve ‍�.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… he will not be sacked, he will stay at the helm as long as he thinks he can do the job. He will continue to “take responsibility” by pointing out who is responsible for missing chances, and yes they are gilt edged chances but they all fall to different players and no one scores with 100% of their shots. We need to be creating more chances for the guys who will score when they get 3 chances to do so.

Nouble was my favourite player in 21/22 season, but he has stopped doing what he once did. Maybe the opposition gave gotten wise to him, maybe he has gotten sick to death of not being awarded fouls when he has players hanging off his back, maybe he has lost interest after not getting any suitors since Davy said he was worth a seven figure sum but whatever it is he is not doing enough offensively and isn’t suited to a defensive role. When he gave the ball away last night and put us under unnecessary pressure it looked like Davy finally lost patience as he subbed him asap.

We are now in a position where we have to win games just to catch up, so why not go down trying to outscore the opposition rather than going for damage limitation?

Playing Nouble at RWB isn't helping, he losses the ball in dangerous positions, and isn't far enough up the pitch to be any use to us in attack. Though i have no confidence in him being useful up front either, because he's lost the desire to make driving runs up the wing hitting the byeline to get into the box. Even last night, the one time he gets to the byeline he chipped the ball to the back post, instead of either cutting along the line (like he used to do) or firing it low and hard across the goal mouth, where defenders are facing their own goal and just as likely to score an OG as we are scoring a goal.

The negative defensive tactics are the cause of us not scoring goals, get players playing in proper positions, like Brandon at RWB, St Kelly, Bradley in a front 3 with Anderson (all 3 are goal scorers with good shots), and Penrice & Montano as WB's or wingers. Then we'll score goals.

Martindale will decide when his time is up, but the abuse he'll constantly get will have an effect on him, i can't see him lasting the season if things stay as they are and we don't start winning games. Fan pressure does make a difference to boardroom decisions, even when he is in such a strong position within the club. A club our size really depends on the fans support, and the negativity from the stands wont help the players either. Hope he gets a win on Saturday, and it gives everyone a lift, every game we draw or lose will mount pressure on him.

January is also a favourable month for us, with it having all home games, i'd say he wont last into Feb if we haven't had a couple of wins by then.