Livi v Falkirk

Buchanan and White up front, Mullen starting too, high tempo pressing to close down their players, and being clinical with any chances we get, yeah, not asking for much!!

2-0 or 2-1 Falkirk but i'll wait till I see if any more signings are in this week before making my official prediction (no doubt i'll let my heart rule my head again and get 0 points)

Falkirk still on a great run at the moment.....we aren't....we are at home where we are worse than useless.

Liv 0 Falkirk 3

FG 15 mins

Falkirk flying high, whereas we can't seem to buy a win, let alone a convincing performance at the moment. Even the most optimistic of Livi supporters couldn't predict anything more than a draw at best, IMO.

2-0 Falkirk, FG 31 mins.

Afro wrote:Falkirk flying high, whereas we can't seem to buy a win, let alone a convincing performance at the moment. Even the most optimistic of Livi supporters couldn't predict anything more than a draw at best, IMO.

2-0 Falkirk, FG 31 mins.

A Challenge!!!!

I predict a 2 - 1 win for the mighty Livi

First goal - who cares!

Have you been at the Sherry again D??

Another painful defeat: 1-0 Falkirk. FG 31 mins.

Falkirk have tended to struggle against us and if we can shut up shop and hit them on the break, then we have a chance.

I'm going for 1-1 FG 59 mins.

spiggle wrote:Falkirk have tended to struggle against us and if we can shut up shop and hit them on the break, then we have a chance.

I'm going for 1-1 FG 59 mins.

Really? When?

Second top against Second bottom in the league.Falkirk are having a terrific season so far.Expectations from them at the start of the season were somewhat different than ours,although we know they have a healthier budget and far superior crowds than us.They also have six or seven players who can really hurt us.Having said that i cant remember the last time we took an absolute humping off them.On that basis i would bite your hand off for a point tommorow but alas i feel only pain around the corner.First goal and we,l know how its gonna pan out.Wee miracle required! Do it LIVI.

What the heck, 2-1 Livi (Mullen and Buchanan), fg 27 mins. Mon the Lions.

2-1 Falkirk, FG 16 mins

1-0 Us. FG 34 mins.

Liviforever wrote:What the heck, 2-1 Livi (Mullen and Buchanan), fg 27 mins. Mon the Lions.

Damn, took off Mullen before he could score.


Wee Danny had a good game, up front himself for most of the game and did a great job. White looked like he was playing in midfield in a defensive role, and Buchanan kept dropping deep helping out in midfield too, both got up whenever they could to help Mullen but Buchanan seemed slightly more advanced than White. Was an interesting formation but worked well enough to get us the point.

Thought the new boy in defence played well too, looks a decent formation now with him on the right and Longridge on the left, he has a long throw in too, think it was him that took the throw in that got into the 6 yard box for Buchanan's goal.

Everyone worked their socks off, and got a well deserved point. We had to ride our luck at times, Falkirk missed a few sitters, Stanton's header back into our box setting them up, and an open goal blasted over the bar, cracking save by McCallum to keep them out too.

Only player I was disappointed with was Hippo, had a decent effort which their keeper just managed to hold onto as Buchanan was waiting to pounce if he spilled it, but was lazy and looked uninterested unless the ball was hit up to him. Not doing himself any favours to get himself a start.

Great point for us anyway, felt like a win as we were really under the cosh up to the final whistle and managed to hold out, makes a change things going for us when the other team had most of the chances.

Sorry LF if you think he played well he really is your love child! wee Danny was truly woeful today. He hardly moved his entire time in the park. He is never the front man in that formation, didn't chase anything, didn't close anyone down, didn't give their defence anything to worry about and was completely ineffectual for 95% of his time on the pitch. His performance was summed up by someone shouting that he needed to get involved as he must be freezing.

Hippo on the other hand covered more ground in 5 mins than Mullen did all game. LF Mullen wore 10 and started, Hippo wore 11 and came on for him, I think you have their performances confused because you can't confuse their appearances.

That apart, decent point. Bad goal to lose (big Dec at fault IMO) but a good point.

And those officials were a complete waste of space.

Nope, you're totally off the mark on this one Bertie, Hippo came on and got involved in a couple of near things in our box, was waiting on a clumsy tackle to give away a penalty but thankfully he didn't put a tackle in, then he stayed up the pitch and pissed about jogging around not even trying to challenge or put pressure on a Falkirk player, and only made an effort when the ball was played up to him.

Thought Mullen did a superb job as largely our only player up front and held the ball well most of the time. Took the ball into the box, held his marker off, then played it back to White perfectly to set him up with a good chance on goal, but White didn't catch it right and had a weak effort at goal. Wish Mullen had stayed on, and Hippo had stayed on the bench for all the good he was. I was really wanting Hippo on as sub but was disappointed with him when he finally got his chance.

No way LF, I normally disagree with you on somethings for the fun of it but to suggest Mullen played well today is quite simply laughable. He was the weakest link. He did not hold the ball up, he did not have a shot worth noting, he did not work the Falkirk defence, he did not close anyone down, he did not chase anything. He sauntered about and flapped his arms a lot. He had a chance to skin Kerr and drew the free kick and a booking but he should have been too far away for Kerr to even make the tackle. Everyone near me saw it the same way and there was the comment I mentioned above that he must be freezing which summed him up today, his body language was all wrong too.

Hippo held the ball up and tried to link up with others, his shot was not his best but at least was on target and forced a save. He also chased to close down opponents and helped out defensively. As a forward he is always likely to give something away but he didn't.

Mullen should not have been given that role though and for that I blame Hopkin.

Good point for us today. However, the game was shocking And I'm bored watching Livi now. we play like a Sunday pub league team Stray passes and hoof ball football. In parts it was laughable with Livi falling into each other and an after-you defending  We can point fingers at the officials but it's a side issue, we are Pish. Relegation, part time football and a crowds of 200. That is our future.

Bertie Bassett wrote:No way LF, I normally disagree with you on somethings for the fun of it but to suggest Mullen played well today is quite simply laughable. He was the weakest link. He did not hold the ball up, he did not have a shot worth noting, he did not work the Falkirk defence, he did not close anyone down, he did not chase anything. He sauntered about and flapped his arms a lot. He had a chance to skin Kerr and drew the free kick and a booking but he should have been too far away for Kerr to even make the tackle. Everyone near me saw it the same way and there was the comment I mentioned above that he must be freezing which summed him up today, his body language was all wrong too.

Hippo held the ball up and tried to link up with others, his shot was not his best but at least was on target and forced a save. He also chased to close down opponents and helped out defensively. As a forward he is always likely to give something away but he didn't.

Mullen should not have been given that role though and for that I blame Hopkin.

You're describing Hippo not Mullen. Everyone around me agreed Mullen had a good game, had it tough being the front player and thought he did it well. White and Buchanan sacrificed our attack to play their part in getting a point, I doubt we'll do that against any team outside the top 3 so looking forward to Dumbarton next week. If Mullen had more support he'd have got at goal, but that wasn't how we were playing. Hippo brought zilch to the game, didn't chase down balls to put pressure on Falkirk when they had possession, against teams like Falkirk we really can't afford to have players not pulling their weight.

Hopkin's signings are looking good, Halkett looks decent playing at RB, Stanton made some good runs in midfield and Fotheringham is the organiser we've been needing.

Liviforever wrote:

Bertie Bassett wrote:No way LF, I normally disagree with you on somethings for the fun of it but to suggest Mullen played well today is quite simply laughable. He was the weakest link. He did not hold the ball up, he did not have a shot worth noting, he did not work the Falkirk defence, he did not close anyone down, he did not chase anything. He sauntered about and flapped his arms a lot. He had a chance to skin Kerr and drew the free kick and a booking but he should have been too far away for Kerr to even make the tackle. Everyone near me saw it the same way and there was the comment I mentioned above that he must be freezing which summed him up today, his body language was all wrong too.

Hippo held the ball up and tried to link up with others, his shot was not his best but at least was on target and forced a save. He also chased to close down opponents and helped out defensively. As a forward he is always likely to give something away but he didn't.

Mullen should not have been given that role though and for that I blame Hopkin.

You're describing Hippo not Mullen. Everyone around me agreed Mullen had a good game, had it tough being the front player and thought he did it well. White and Buchanan sacrificed our attack to play their part in getting a point, I doubt we'll do that against any team outside the top 3 so looking forward to Dumbarton next week. If Mullen had more support he'd have got at goal, but that wasn't how we were playing. Hippo brought zilch to the game, didn't chase down balls to put pressure on Falkirk when they had possession, against teams like Falkirk we really can't afford to have players not pulling their weight.

Hopkin's signings are looking good, Halkett looks decent playing at RB, Stanton made some good runs in midfield and Fotheringham is the organiser we've been needing.

I already said you had them confused the other way round... Away and get your own insult!
Then either it was just you and your lad sitting alone or you were threatening them with physical violence if they didn't agree with you

Buchanan did more as the lone striker in his brief spell at it than Mullen did all game, the same for Hippo when he did it for the rest of the game. Hippo wasn't great but he was more effective than Mullen. I'll say it again, Mullen did not chase anything, did not harry anyone, did not hold it up particularly and didn't work the Falkirk defence at all. Grant and Watson had the cigars and slippers out when he was on the pitch. And I will say this again in his defence...he should not have been given that role.

I agree with the rest of your assessment of the game and the other players but while you used to stick up for Hippo you have been swayed by the Hippo haters and you have an irrational love for Mullen. Mullen has ability and can be exciting but he has not really developed over the last couple of seasons and as you have noted yourself gets knocked off the ball too easily. If we had a heat map of where he played today I believe the highest concentration of heat would have been in the centre circle.

Got to agree with Bertie here. Mullen was the wrong player to put in that role. He was too wee for the high balls and when it became obvious that the ref was giving nothing every time the Falkirk players muscled him out, Hopkins should have swapped it around a bit. Danny would have been better employed elsewhere.

I thought we were lucky to come away with a point. Falkirk were very wasteful with their shots on goal and we rode our luck at times. They are a decent team. You can see the difference in the resources they have available when they bring nearly as many away fans as we have in the home end.

Another word on the officials... Orco mentioned the Falkirk fans.... Every time the ball went out of play their fans claimed it was their ball, every time their was a remote possibility of our guy being offside they claimed that... So did Houston incidentally - even when our player was clearly in our half! - and every time there was a tackle they claimed a foul. I have no doubt in my mind that this influenced the officials and most of the decisions went their way leaving us screaming at the officials after the decision has been wrongly awarded. I lost count of the times we were flagged for offside when it was clearly not.

And what about the foul given against White for getting in front of his marker and dummying the ball? I don't think I've ever seen a foul given for that before and I've only been watching football for 45 years!

Unexpected point gained by us yesterday against a normally good Falkirk side,but nevertheless a very welcome one at that.Agreed we rode our luck at times due mostly to the poor finishing from the Falkirk players with the chances they wasted.Thought Fozzy looked like his old self and Buchanon did the best he could chasing down everything that came his way.Think the least said about the officials the better because we,re well used to that here.And Mullen is far to small for the roll he was given by Hopkin against big well organised defences.That said looking forward to the Dumbo game next week where expectations will hopefully be a wee bit more realistic than previous weeks.

A very good point, albeit a lucky one.
An improvement on what we've had to put up with recently and against a good team challenging for promotion.
Good to see a change of personnel and tactics from Hopkin, even if it didn't work perfectly.
Not a fan of White, but if you're going to play the long ball, which unfortunately I believe we have to play most of the time at the moment against better opponents, you need someone with the potential of making a challenge (and better out wide then in the centre).
Interesting comments regarding Mullen v Hippo, both are potentially good players and potentially match winners, but when it's not happening for them, they need to work as hard as Buchanan, who showed them what's required, lots of chasing and he got his reward.
I would have given Mullen 45 minutes and told him to work his socks off, closing down defenders when he doesn't have the ball (as did Buchanan & John Baird), then if there's anything left in the tank, give him a start in the second half, but bring on Hippo when Danny is done, earlier if it's not happening.
Hippo needs to be in the final third if we're going to present a threat, probably the same for Danny too.
My pet hate is attackers who allow defenders time to settle on the ball and pick out their forward pass, just puts more pressure on our midfield. However agree on this occasion against better opposition, only to defend in our own half, but we need to be ready to press and really challenge and not let opponents drive deep into our half at will.
Ideally we need a front man who can hold off his defender, bring the ball down, turn his man or bring others into play. I've seen Hippo in this role before and thought he did well, worth another go, but change to plan B if it's not working.
All in all I'm hopeful against lesser opposition, that our midfield can be more influential and we can be brave enough to play the ball out wide, take on defenders and get stuck into teams with a real belief that we can win games.
We won't always be as lucky as yesterday, but with a positive game plan, including plans B and C when required and non-stop hard work, I can take the outcome, good or bad.

Bertie Bassett wrote:

Liviforever wrote:

Bertie Bassett wrote:No way LF, I normally disagree with you on somethings for the fun of it but to suggest Mullen played well today is quite simply laughable. He was the weakest link. He did not hold the ball up, he did not have a shot worth noting, he did not work the Falkirk defence, he did not close anyone down, he did not chase anything. He sauntered about and flapped his arms a lot. He had a chance to skin Kerr and drew the free kick and a booking but he should have been too far away for Kerr to even make the tackle. Everyone near me saw it the same way and there was the comment I mentioned above that he must be freezing which summed him up today, his body language was all wrong too.

Hippo held the ball up and tried to link up with others, his shot was not his best but at least was on target and forced a save. He also chased to close down opponents and helped out defensively. As a forward he is always likely to give something away but he didn't.

Mullen should not have been given that role though and for that I blame Hopkin.

You're describing Hippo not Mullen. Everyone around me agreed Mullen had a good game, had it tough being the front player and thought he did it well. White and Buchanan sacrificed our attack to play their part in getting a point, I doubt we'll do that against any team outside the top 3 so looking forward to Dumbarton next week. If Mullen had more support he'd have got at goal, but that wasn't how we were playing. Hippo brought zilch to the game, didn't chase down balls to put pressure on Falkirk when they had possession, against teams like Falkirk we really can't afford to have players not pulling their weight.

Hopkin's signings are looking good, Halkett looks decent playing at RB, Stanton made some good runs in midfield and Fotheringham is the organiser we've been needing.

I already said you had them confused the other way round... Away and get your own insult!
Then either it was just you and your lad sitting alone or you were threatening them with physical violence if they didn't agree with you

Buchanan did more as the lone striker in his brief spell at it than Mullen did all game, the same for Hippo when he did it for the rest of the game. Hippo wasn't great but he was more effective than Mullen. I'll say it again, Mullen did not chase anything, did not harry anyone, did not hold it up particularly and didn't work the Falkirk defence at all. Grant and Watson had the cigars and slippers out when he was on the pitch. And I will say this again in his defence...he should not have been given that role.

I agree with the rest of your assessment of the game and the other players but while you used to stick up for Hippo you have been swayed by the Hippo haters and you have an irrational love for Mullen. Mullen has ability and can be exciting but he has not really developed over the last couple of seasons and as you have noted yourself gets knocked off the ball too easily. If we had a heat map of where he played today I believe the highest concentration of heat would have been in the centre circle.

Hate to use your own line against you Bertie but is Hippo your love child?

Buchanan does more than any of our players, so that means very little saying he did more than Mullen, if you're looking to play a striker up front without much support then he's the best out of any we've got, White gets mugged by guys climbing all over him and generally gets heehaw from refs, and unless he's got support from another striker he's not going to do any better than Mullen. Hippo is a lazy feck who looks uninterested most of the time unless he has a ball played up to him. Mullen usually falls down a lot and gets pushed off the ball, but yesterday I thought he did pretty well and stayed on his feet to fight for the ball.

Buchanan was dropped back same as White, to battle hard in midfield so Falkirk didn't over run us there, i'd prefer him more forward but I can see why Hopkin did it and thought Mullen did a good job for the thankless task he was sent out to do, Falkirk have one of the best defensive records in the league and with any of our forwards playing that role they'd have struggled without support, but as I said, Mullen did well enough. Was unexpected seeing that line up deployed like that but we got the point so all is good.

Oh and while we're all admiring the sun shining out of Buchanan's arse, to balance it up slightly, he was guilty of giving away possession all first half when he failed to get a pass past his man, which wasn't helping Mullen get on the ball to get his 'heat signature' stats up for you.

We did ride our luck, but defensively we threw ourselves into everything, tackling, blocking shots, and we worked hard all over the pitch, great to get a break for a change. We've done the same as Falkirk many times ourselves this season only to drop points, dominated play, missed numerous chances, then lost when the other team convert the only chance/2 chances they had at our goal.

I'm impressed with the new signings, Fozzy has a good eye for a pass (doesn't always come off but it is good to see him trying to play penetrating passes) organises well, and works hard. Stanton has the odd surging run and looks to go forward all the time, something we haven't seen enough of this season so great having him in midfield. Halkett was a real surprise, defensively good and made good runs up the flank, at last a decent looking RB, hope it wasn't a one off.

Next week will be the real test, a team we need to beat and our tactics should be a lot more attack minded with 2 up front and having a go at them. If we get ahead then we should do what we did at St Mirren away and finish them off, not what Burchill did and sit in 2nd half and try to hold onto what we have.

orco wrote:Got to agree with Bertie here. Mullen was the wrong player to put in that role. He was too wee for the high balls and when it became obvious that the ref was giving nothing every time the Falkirk players muscled him out, Hopkins should have swapped it around a bit. Danny would have been better employed elsewhere.

I thought we were lucky to come away with a point. Falkirk were very wasteful with their shots on goal and we rode our luck at times. They are a decent team. You can see the difference in the resources they have available when they bring nearly as many away fans as we have in the home end.

I don't think there is a right player for that role tbh, attack wise we need 2 up front. We weren't set out to attack Falkirk though, and the energy Buchanan has was used in midfield to break up play, and to get up to support Mullen whenever he could. Can't believe the energy Buchanan has, let alone for his age, still chases about like a kid in the last minute of the game.

The position Buchanan played was the one I've been bursting to see him dropped into whenever Sheerin came on, but Buchanan keeps getting subbed for Sheerin or White. Would love to see all 3 play with Sheerin and White up front and Buchanan dropping into attacking midfield.