Livi v St Mirren

I'm conflicted here, on one hand our last 2 defeats have brought a right downer on the fans, with abject performances from the players, and not even a goal from us in both games, but on the other our home form is absolutely brilliant, and in no way reflective of our piss poor away form. So why should this game be any different, and we'll go out and smash it against St Mirren.

So on that basis i'm going with another home win for us, and keeping a clean sheet.

Notoriously bad fixture for home teams although we seemed to have turned that particular corner last season... but... it’s gonna be cold & our form has dipped dramatically since our outstanding performance against Motherwell... yes we have tremendous home form but we had tremendous form in general until our highland double header.

Goodwin has Saints much more difficult to beat & I’m not convinced by our goalie options yet.

As usual I fear the worst while hoping for the best.

Hopefully the lads will have gotten the last seven days out of their system.Saints will be a tough nut to crack although they sometimes flatter to decieve i feel.Hearing that theve got injuries but ive heard that one before.We really need to come out the traps flying and impose our game on them.Would be great to get an early goal if only to settle any nerves from the home support after the last couple of games.Not taking this MOTM curse to seriously,we are at home and on our pitch and in that respect i nearvously predict a home win to get us back on the rails.Over to you Livi,do it and warm us up.

The Irishman said ahead of Wednesday's Ladbrokes Premiership contest in West Lothian: "You know what you are going to get with Livingston. They are a very direct team – balls up to Lyndon Dykes, play for set-plays and long throws. Anything within 40 yards of your box is coming in. It's land of the giants and unfortunately we are not

Aye our midfielders are all humongous, they'll be up against it out jumping Stevie Lawless. Good to see all they'll be focussing on is us lumping high balls into the box though, that's really all we did against Motherwell in our last game at home.

This one does worry me a bit. After the result last night; they will know that three points would be a huge step towards safety for another year.

However I suspect they they'll line up to defend in depth and try to settle for a point or hit us on the break. That could be a very risky strategy seeing as how they virtually have no defenders, particularly at left back, so most positions will be made up by players out of position.

Jim Goodwin has already singled out Dykes so expect him to spend most of the evening marked by at least two players; a lot of holding on and shirt tugging.

The referee for tonight is David Munro; as far as I can see the last time we had him was in August against Motherwell (0-0).

Durnford wrote:This one does worry me a bit. After the result last night; they will know that three points would be a huge step towards safety for another year.

However I suspect they they'll line up to defend in depth and try to settle for a point or hit us on the break. That could be a very risky strategy seeing as how they virtually have no defenders, particularly at left back, so most positions will be made up by players out of position.

Jim Goodwin has already singled out Dykes so expect him to spend most of the evening marked by at least two players; a lot of holding on and shirt tugging.

The referee for tonight is David Munro; as far as I can see the last time we had him was in August against Motherwell (0-0).

Wow and he actually booked 3 Motherwell players (still was prob lenient on them) and no Livi players, think I like this fella.

Liviforever wrote:

Wow and he actually booked 3 Motherwell players (still was prob lenient on them) and no Livi players, think I like this fella.

Wasn't there one that should have received a straight red?

I suspect Goodwin will have them lined up for a physical battle.

Durnford wrote:

Liviforever wrote:

Wow and he actually booked 3 Motherwell players (still was prob lenient on them) and no Livi players, think I like this fella.

Wasn't there one that should have received a straight red?

I suspect Goodwin will have them lined up for a physical battle.

Amazingly St Mirren have the lowest card count with the only team not to have gotten a red card too, unusual for a team battling down the bottom end of the table, just look at Accies. I remember when they won the Championship and we played against them, they were one of the worst for cynical fouls to stop you breaking on them. And Goodwin was never afraid to kick and elbow opposition players when he played for them either.


Pitts is due a 25 yarder into the top corner, he's had a few pot shots that narrowly missed the target, hopefully he sticks one in tonight.

Thought we were going to run away with it the way we started the 2nd half, that St Mirren goal was the kind of defending we usually save for away games though, and it made it a lot harder than it should've been. Wee Robbo should also have buried them with his 1 on 1 with the keeper.

Still, we got there in the end and a good job too, with Killie beating Sevco and Hibs winning, getting very interesting for us at the top end of the table. Motherwell have hit a slump, Aberdeen catching them but both are only 4 points ahead of us, and Hibs are only 4 behind, all very exciting this run in to the split.

Huns are there for the taking at Ibrox too, they've scraped wins, a draw, and now a defeat, this is a good time to play them when they're looking vulnerable. We go a goal up again and I think they'll shit it.

Yeah we were good value for 2-0; outstanding pass from Keags & a fine finish from Dykes & we were looking good to boost the GD. But Saints worked their goal well - I agree we should have defended it better but they upped the tempo & moved it about well before the through ball & finish. Thereafter they were pretty dominant without really threatening the goal but it made for an uncomfortable last 35 mins.

Robbo should have scored when through on the keeper & had another chance when he couldn’t connect with a header.

I thought we started well with the chance cleared off the line but it quickly petered out until Dykes won the pen. Then we were in charge until we got 2 up.

If St M had played for 90 mins the way the played after we went 2 up they might have gotten something from the game.

It was torture watching that last 15 minutes as we sat in and soaked up the pressure. So glad to hear that final whistle. My blood pressure was getting to dangerous levels.

I should also mention the Goodwin-esque fouling that Saints got away with all game. He certainly has put his stamp (pun intended) on his side.

That said I quite like the work ethic & pace of their front two.

Can't actually believe the amount of penalties we've been awarded this season, think we must've had more already than the last two seasons combined. Still should've had one against Hearts at home too, wrong ref for us that game.

Will need to see again but was worried about Brown's reaction speed to cut out the attacker just before their goal. Likewise I thought our goalkeeper seemed to get caught in two minds or whether to come for the call and commit or hold back for a one on one with the striker - at the end he did neither particularly well.

For me Bartley was easily man of the match; others did well but, for the time he was on the pitch, he absolutely bossed it. Others put in a shift but I still think Bartley was well ahead.

Its rapidly boiling down to a three horse race for top six between ourselves; Hibs and Killie. For the remaining games I feel we have the most challenging run in; closely followed by Killie.

Both Hibs and Killie are experiencing a bit of an upturn in their fortunes. Hibs particularly because of McNulty scoring form although whether he can keep it up remains to be seen. Its going to be a very interesting remaining seven games.

Five points ahead of Killie with a significantly better goal difference; they play Hibs this weekend (should we hope for a draw and two players sent off a piece? ). The fact that we play Killie, at their place immediately before the split, could be really telling.

Don't put the blood pressure tablets away yet Orco.

I hope Bartley recovers quickly. I love watching him boss the midfield. Once he has the ball he is never bullied off it. Difficult to comprehend why Hibs didn't value him more. Like Dykes and Guthrie great signing.

St Johnstone might be in it too, their game in hand is against Sevco but they could take something from it and then they'd be right in there. Don't think there is much in it with games still to play before the break, we've all to play one another, and have Hearts, Aberdeen, Celtic too, only real difference is both Killie & Hibs also have Accies, but they always pull off the odd surprise result, so no certainty there either for them.
Doidge is also on fire for Hibs just now, he's scored a goal more than Dykes in the Premiership, no doubting their attacking threat, but they're still weak in defence, so we can take something from them, prob a draw, given our away form it is unlikely we'd get the win, same goes for Killie away.

The highlights are up on our twitter feed, looks like McMillan is standing looking on and doesn't react till Brown is in a race with Obika, also think McMillan could've moved up and played him offside, but is sitting too deep letting him have the opportunity to run in behind Brown, beating him for pace. Doesn't look like McCrorie is at fault, Obika just puts it away well.

That sort of thing happens too often in away games (Hibs & County off the top of my head), we really need to work on it, either stand how Guthrie is marking his man, a yard behind him where you can bump him/put him off his stride, or just block him so he can't get a run on you, or organise our back line better so we're playing them offside, we're doing neither there, and getting caught flat for pace.

Brown got caught on the wrong side of his man again later on and beaten for pace, but we got away with it that time, cause St Mirren lacked the quality to do us twice. Keags was caught on the wrong side of a player a few times as well, anticipating the ball breaking forward but caught out when the St Mirren player turned and went towards our goal, a better team would've ripped us apart the amount of times that happened in the 2nd half, thankfully St Mirren aren't good enough. Was a puzzle how Brown got MotM though, didn't think he had a good 2nd half.

To be honest we had our chances as well; actually plenty of them. Personally I'd like to see us being a lot more ruthless in front of goal.

With regard to Brown I was mystified why he didn't do more throw ins in the first half. On several occasions it was left to Dykes and Brown took a position in the offensive side. For me Brown's throw is far more effective and,likewise, Dykes causes more problems in the penalty area.

Would love Killie and us to make the top six; can you imagine the moaning from slippy Gerard about the "dangerous" plastic pitches?

Incidentally whilst on the subject of Slippy Gerard; you obviously cant have missed all the allegations or racism against Morelos. Well it was interesting to read a piece from Odsonne Edouard on the Beeb that he's never experienced any racism in Scotland:

Beeb wrote:After Rangers striker Alfredo Morelos suggested he has been subjected to racist abuse during his time in Scotland, Celtic counterpart Odsonne Edouard has revealed he has not received any during his two-and-a-half years with the Scottish champions and is loving life in Glasgow

It does my nut in that Dykes takes throw ins when we have Brown doing such a good job with them. Dykes should be in the box on the end of them. Also, Brown hasn't scored yet for us anyway so why have him in the box at the expense of a proven goal scorer.

Only reason I can think of, is we're leaving Brown to take them later, to catch the opposition out, thinking the ball will go a bit shorter, where Dykes throws it. Personally I agree with both of you, that we'd be better sticking to Brown taking them.

Morelos is far more likely to get abuse than Edouard, he brings it on himself with the way he acts on the pitch, whether that has racism in it is another story. But if racism is so bad in Scotland then I doubt he'd be the only black player subjected to it, there are a few black players in Sevco's team and I doubt any of them have had racist abuse, or surely we'd have heard about it, same in most other teams (there are always the odd idiot right enough, Marv was shocked when a Hearts fan shouted some racist shite at him when he played for Hibs, but it got dismissed in court as not having enough evidence).

I think it is made up by Sevco anyway, to deflect attention away from how Morelos carries on, kicking players, stamping on players, diving, generally being a prick, even his goal celebrations are angry, screwed up face full of anger, and he'd rather go taunt the opposition fans than run to his own fans to celebrate. That's how the two arse cheeks work, if a player is getting into bother they always chuck in some shite whataboutery instead of taking responsibility for their own player's actions. They're playing the made up persecution card to take the heat off Morelos imo.

Morelos hasn't changed at all from last season, he's just getting away with it more, because officials are scared to keep sending him off, and have Sevco throwing their toys out of the pram having a go at them.

Looks like Hamilton have lost their captain until the end of the season now.

The agony of choice; I could have gone wandering for the wife's valentine pressie; I could have gone to the staff canteen for lunch; I could have wandered out for a rare pub lunch....

No; I visited follow follow for an interesting half an hour reading the unwashed latest rants about the game last night. Sure; Gerard; the players; lack of VAR; the media, Morelos' missus and training camp in Dubai are all in line for a lashing but the overall winner is the papist referee and the fact that the SFA and pretty much everyone else is against them in the plan to ensure Celtic are not stopped in winning the title.

I appreciate their disappointed but the level of intelligence by some (most) of the posters makes me wonder how they even managed to switch the computer on?

Actually turned out to be quite a relaxing, if amusing, lunch.

Yeah religion always comes into it in Glasgow, my daughter went to a party through there, some boy asked her if she was a protestant, I didn't bring her up with any religious faith, just a good sense of morality of what's right and wrong, and she has the good sense to be able to decide for herself on anything she encounters in life. She had never been asked that question before and found it really strange.

Just read Goodwin's post match interview, always interesting reading opposition fans and managers view on the game. Funny how he thought they gave away 2 cheap goals with their defending, yet thought nobody gives them cheap goals, they have to work for them, and their goal was well worked from a good passage of play.

Personally thought all 3 goals were defended poorly, and it is to be expected the team conceding the goal(s) view it from a defensive perspective, but come on, there was little difference from the ball played through to Obika and the ball played through to Dykes, both caught out the defenders and the strikers ran onto both balls and stuck it away well. Seems to have had a bout of amnesia on us doing the exact same move putting Robinson through on goal too, and Dykes heading it off the post, plus a few more times we came close, and just lists a couple of chances they had to get something from the game, very blinkered assessment by him.

You try and balance it out when posting on open forums, and give the opposition credit where it's due, you'd think managers would do the same when doing these interviews, because it isn't just their fans going to be reading his comments.

Also noticed he said you know what you'll get from Livi, playing balls in behind them for Dykes to run onto, he never said anything about that in his pre match comments, it was along the same lines but only that we'll lump it into their box at every opportunity, like we were a one trick pony, land of the giants nonsense and only scoring from set plays and crosses into the box for our giant players.

Maybe he doesn't actually know what you get when Playing Livi?

As a Livi fan from day one I never know what you'll get when Livi play never mind opposition managers.

I thought that was a terrific effort from the lads last night in such hypothermic conditions.Both sets of fans should be commended for sitting in such horrible conditions.Felt our game went a wee bit uncomfortable when big Marv had to go off,he was having a cracker up to that point.Nevertheless the guys kept going despite a wee scare near the end and did indeed deserve to come out winners.Sportcene later will no doubt clear up the pen decision of which ive already seen on Sky earlier.Dykes who incedently had a superb game with the amount of headers he won and took his goal so well,was hauled down by the boy inside the box.A foul,a penalty nuff said.Good to get back on the rails and mathematicly we are about to reach this seasons goal though some may want to be greedy,and why not?.We are in a superb position so once again thanks to the lads for their continueing efforts and lets hope we can keep it up for the forseeable future.