The ex-Lions thread

Snoddy to West Ham confirmed. Interesting to see how he does there.

Mensing to Airdrie, looking forward to our next game against them already.

sunderland wrote:Snoddy to West Ham confirmed. Interesting to see how he does there.

Good move for him, he'll have Andy Carroll on the end of his deliveries too, should set him up with plenty of gosls.

Technically not an ex Lion yet but Carrick scored for Cowdenbeah today

Airdrie lost 4-2 in Mensing's first game but apparently he wasn't at fault for any of the goals and their fans are all happy that he's signed for them. Just how bad must their defence be if Mensing has been a stand out in it, and not in the way that he stood out in ours.

He started off looking solid for us, only a matter of time before the OGs and red cards come.

And I still say DJ was more at fault for the OG, should never have been that far off his line.

We could argue who was at fault but there was no excuse for a player of Mensing's experience to pass the ball back towards his own goal and not even looking up to see where the keeper was. Kids football 101. Think Mensing scored more than 1 og too.

He was slower than a week in jail 2 years ago so would imagine he's even slower now, so red card waiting to happen when he fouls players to compensate for his lack of mobility.

There was also no excuse for a keeper to be that far out & not give his defence some leeway in passing it back for him to clear.

Mensing didn't work out for us & I thought he would have but if the keeper had been where he should have been he'd have cleared the back pass comfortably.

Like I said we could argue who was at fault for the mix up between them, maybe 50/50 tbh, but Mensing was 100% at fault for passing it towards his own goal, pundits, players and managers all say you should never do that, something you get taught even when you're in a kids team. If you're passing it back go across the goal or out for a corner if the keeper misses it, not towards your own goal. Esp when you haven't even looked up to see where the keeper is. Or just clear the boody danger and put it out for a throw in or a corner.

Both Mensing and Cole were total bomb scares in defence for us and I was relieved to see both of them leave. Cole thought he was a lot better than he was and Mensing was just too slow and immobile due to age.

I think DJ's confidence had taken a battering and he looked a shadow of the keeper he was a few years ago, hopefully with some decent coaching at Accies he has recovered, def needed to position himself for set pieces better and improve his decision making coming for balls, kicking too was weak. Good shot stopper though, esp for penalties.

Pundits, coaches, players, managers also all say you should play it the way you are facing, which he did. I've never said he was blameless, he should have seen DJ heading towards him, but DJ had no reason to be that far out, no one was clean through and neither was the ball clear of the bodies on the edge of the box. He couldn't clear it due to the congestion of bodies.

Agree with your second & third paragraphs.

Play it the way you are facing, aye but not towards your own goal. So you don't agree he should never have passed it back towards his own goal then?

This is like trying to pin down an MP to answer a specific question at an inquiry.

Ideally no he shouldn't but my recollection of the situation was that he had no real option, if he had played it wide of the goal it would have eliminated DJ from the whole scenario because he was heading straight towards Mensing. That would have given the one of the forwards in the vicinity a tap in to an empty net. As I said, he wasn't blameless but he carries less blame than DJ who should never have been that far out. My reaction at the time as Mensing played the ball was "Where is DJ going?"

Bertie Bassett wrote:Ideally no he shouldn't but my recollection of the situation was that he had no real option, if he had played it wide of the goal it would have eliminated DJ from the whole scenario because he was heading straight towards Mensing. That would have given the one of the forwards in the vicinity a tap in to an empty net.

Then he should've put it out for a throw in or a corner then.

Bertie Bassett wrote: As I said, he wasn't blameless but he carries less blame than DJ who should never have been that far out. My reaction at the time as Mensing played the ball was "Where is DJ going?"

Wasn't DJ who stuck the ball in his own net, don't care where DJ was meant to be, Mensing shouldn't have put the ball towards his own net, he wasn't a young inexperienced player either, no excuse for him doing that. Never going to agree with you on that one.

You have highlighted where I said he had no real option... i.e he could only kick it in the direction he kicked it - this was because of the position of the other players... Therfore he could not do as you are suggesting he should have, it was simply not possible.

And you are correct in saying DJ didn't kick it into his own net...but if he had been where he ought to have been HE would have been able to clear it for a throw in or elsewhere, therefore his position was of paramount importance and he was in the wrong place.

I rest my case m'lud.

Didn't get back to you on this Bertie as it was pointless, we aint going to ever agree on it, Mensing was at fault all day long and was a bomscare in defence. Looking forward to our game next Sat against Airdrie and seeing how Mensing does against nippy mobile players like Mullen and Buchanan.

I see Jordyn Sheerin has left Berwick by mutual agreement, went back to junior football and joined Kelty Hearts. Shame it didn't work out for him, doubt he'll get another chance at SPFL football now.

You're right, we're not but you can be wrong if you want.

We need to get Stranraer out the way first but don't be surprised to see him roll back the years & put in a MotM performance. Not saying that because I think he's better than you give him credit for but just that it would be typical of him to do so against us.

Shame about Sheerin, his impact against Morton in that game where we were four down suggested he had something but looks like it wasn't enough if he couldn't cut it at Berwick.

As much chance of Darren Cole putting in a MoTM performance against us as Mensing, well maybe slightly less with him not signed for anyone yet.
Mensing is even slower than Goodwin, Mullen will have him tied in knots, he'll be a red card waiting to happen.

You've been saying that about Mullen & Goodwin for ages...still waiting tho

Mensing however is much more likely to see red.

So, Yogi Hughes appointed manager of struggling Raith. Rovers. This could be interesting.
Even if they don't win many games it will be ok as long as the football is played "in the correct manner".  

And Bobby Barr! I bet he's choking on his lunch today.

Bertie Bassett wrote:You've been saying that about Mullen & Goodwin for ages...still waiting tho

Mensing however is much more likely to see red.

And he keeps getting ripped apart by Mullen, you mustn't have been at those games this season or have had your Mullen blanked out glasses on. Goodwin got ripped a new one on the 3-1 away win, fouled Mullen all game but the ref decided it was ok to do rugby tackles in a football game. Even decided to leave himself out of the last game, still traumatized from previous ones where Mullen ran him ragged.

orco wrote:So, Yogi Hughes appointed manager of struggling Raith. Rovers. This could be interesting.
Even if they don't win many games it will be ok as long as the football is played "in the correct manner".  

And Bobby Barr! I bet he's choking on his lunch today.

I remember Deuchar tweeted something along the lines of, 'well that's finished now', when Hughes joined Livi. Bobby Barr must be feeling the same. Hughes got rid of Deuchar, Barr, Russell, Easton, and has a bad streak in him that bullies players into doing what he wants or they're out.

Yeah I agree with you that it should be interesting seeing him manage a struggling club, he inherited a good side at ICT and managed to have a few years before things started going wrong, the minute he starts with his 'footballing philosophy' of how the game should be played, it will get very interesting, and not in a good way for Raith fans.

Connor Quinn has signed up for Clyde, their keeper is suspended for this week's game so looks like Connor will get straight into the action.

Liviforever wrote:

Bertie Bassett wrote:You've been saying that about Mullen & Goodwin for ages...still waiting tho

Mensing however is much more likely to see red.

And he keeps getting ripped apart by Mullen, you mustn't have been at those games this season or have had your Mullen blanked out glasses on. Goodwin got ripped a new one on the 3-1 away win, fouled Mullen all game but the ref decided it was ok to do rugby tackles in a football game. Even decided to leave himself out of the last game, still traumatized from previous ones where Mullen ran him ragged.

Yes I saw that game.... No red card funnily enough. That was one of Danny's better performances against him & he may have been booked himself for rising to Goodwin's bait. Goodwin did get away with a lot but just because we saw it doesn't mean the officials did. Goodwin is more savvy than you give him credit for & often makes his deliberate foul look like a stumble thus getting the benefit of any doubt.

Nah, wasn't anything savvy about it, it was desperation at being ripped apart, the ref was just an incompetent arse, like most of the refs in the SPFL have been.

It's especially bad at this level, players will foul the more skilful players to stop them, and if the ref doesn't book them then they'll keep on doing it. We've played a few teams that have got away with murder recently, Brechin were lucky not to get at least 2 players sent off the shit they got away with. I don't like over officious refs, and I don't mind the odd wee meaty tackle getting away with not getting a booking, but sometimes teams are just dirty and need the ref to show a card to let them know to get themselves under control and that they aren't going to get away with it.

As I said, "more savvy than you give him credit for" - I didn't say he was particularly clever, just "more savvy than you give him credit for" - which you have confirmed.

Refs can only give fouls, pens & cards if they see the incident and are 100% sure. We may wonder how they didn't see something but we do not have the view that they do, a player could be blocking their view while we are seeing the incident clearly from our vantage point. They may even appear to be looking right at it but have glanced away in the split second before the incident & they may have preconceived ideas about players who have a tendency to fall over at the slightest contact (Mullen has suffered from this as we all recognise, not being awarded clear fouls because he has gone over too easily in the past). The final point shouldn't come into it as they should judge each incident independently of anything that has gone before (unless it is a repeat offender fouling regularly) but they are human and if they look away, then back to see a regular simulator in the process of falling to the ground, without having seen the cause, then they are likely to give the "fouler" the benefit of the doubt.

I agree that the standard of refereeing is poor but having reffed an amateur 5-a-side game many years ago I can't fathom why anyone would want to do it.