Livi v Accies

That's the Internationals out of the way, so we can get back to league business.

We finished up on a high with our first win of the season, so spirits should be high going into this game, Stokes will have been doing his mini pre season boot camp the last fortnight too, so could be in our starting line up, would at least expect him to get a sub appearance. Wonder if he could even play in behind Lars as part of the attacking mid three, with big Lars as the target man playing him in on goal.

Really looking forward to this game, would be massive if we get the win, would put us on the same points after 7 games as last season, and prob lift us up 2 or 3 places to 7th place too. So a big game for us, but against a side that are well capable of sneaking a frustrating winner on the 89th minute, so hopefully we'll grab ourselves a 2 goal lead and make it a comfortable afternoon's watch for us armchair fans.

Speaking of which, i see Accies are selling this game at £15 a head in their function room, wonder if Livi could be doing the same for away games. https://www.hamiltonacciesfc.co.uk/livingston-v-hamilton-watch-live-accies-functions/

It would have to be well “policed” for social distancing etc but it was something I thought might be on offer once “hospitality” establishments reopened.

As to the game, Accies have to be grudgingly admired for sneaking surprise results; IMO we have a much better team than they do but they cause us problems every time we play them. A win in this one is almost a must with a visit to Celtic following on from it. It would allow us breathing space going into that one, which may help us to play to our strengths & frustrate them.

We certainly have nothing to fear from Accies - aside from their habit of sneaking unexpected results.

Looking at the conditions of these fans' test games, i don't think i'd enjoy going back into the stadium to watch the game, the no shouting rule would be tough to follow, think i'd rather stick to watching it in my house. I can at least shout at the telly.

Presumably by “allocated seat” they mean the seat the tell you to sit in rather than your normal ST seat? And if people are sufficiently distanced surely a shout wouldn’t be a problem.

I’m sure the test game at Brighton included cheering

It seems to me that attending a game but not being allowed to cheer a goal renders the attendance somewhat redundant.

I suppose the attendees could do rhythmic clapping as in

Clap clap
Clap clap clap
Clap clap clap clap
Clap clap (instead of chanting Livi at this point)

Can you guess what this one is?
Clap clap clap clap clap
Clap clap clap clap
Clap clap clap clap clap
Clap clap clap clap
Clap clap clap clap clap
Clap clap
Clap clap clap clap clap clap

Penicillin will clear that up for you Bertie.

Surely you can shout with a mask on without passing it on. Good luck with policing that one. It's second nature to shout at the fitba'

Sanitized football, where fans just sit silent all game, with the occasional polite applause (whilst remaining seated) when a goal is scored, the SFA's wet dream.

On the actual game, wouldn't mind seeing us go with a 4-4-2 formation, or if we're sticking with 4-2-3-1, having Stokes in the attacking mid three behind Lars. Would also go wild and drop either Sibbs or Pitts and have Souda and Forrest on the wings, supported by Devlin &  Serrano doing overlaps.

Something like this:

.......                  McCrorie

Devlin       Ambrose     Guthrie    Serrano

Souda      Bartley   Pittman     Forrest

               Stokes      Lars



or

                     

 ..... ....               McCrorie

Devlin       Ambrose     Guthrie    Serrano

              Bartley       Sibbald

     Souda         Stokes          Forrest

                      Lars

Would be a real departure for us to go with 2 up top... I think I might get a nosebleed if we do that.
I have never been a fan of the lone frontman even though we have done fairly well with it. The thing is when it worked really well for us our attacking midfielders were swarming all over the front line winning the ball high up the pitch & getting beyond the forward.

I’m pretty sure we haven’t had two up top since Hardie & Lee Miller played together in the second
tier & that didn’t last long.

Yeah i'd be very surprised if we did either of those line ups, expect it'll be the usual picks, with either Lars or Stokes up front, Robbo, Pitts & Forrest in the AM 3. Would be good if we tried something different though, just to shake things up in attack. Accies have one of their first choice defenders self isolating, so a good opportunity to really have a go at them.

According to this article with Holt, Stokes is needing a couple of weeks conditioning training yet to get him fully fit. He played in a bounce game and has a niggling injury. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/livingston-boss-gary-holt-gives-22665619

May get a late sub appearance tomorrow but isn't going to be starting, so prob be 4-2-3-1 with Lars up front............................... or is Holt bluffing Rice with mind games and we'll see him in the starting line up.

Yeh could be mind games from the gaffer.Would be surprised to see Stokes even in a cameo roll.Big Lars will hopefully be that wee bit sharper and put the alliance to the sword. Wont be easy but due to the importance of the game,ie to possibly move up the table before the Hoops game,i reckon any kind of win will do here.We cant afford to drop points especially at home against inferior opponents. Hopefully the guys are really up for this and champing at the bit.Give us 3 points Livi.

Meant to add,imo dont think wel be back in the stadium before the end of the year.And i agree it would not be a pleasant experiance under the current terms,as much as i want to be there..I await further developements.

No mind games then, Stokes isn't even on the bench, since his announced signing it's been very frustrating having to wait for over a month now, to see him actually play, like getting told what your xmas present is at the start of November and having to wait 6 or 7 weeks before you can play with it. Just hope he's worth the wait.


McCrorie, Devlin, Ambrose, Guthrie, Serrano, Bartley, Holt, Pittman, Forrest, Robinson & Lokotsch.

Subs - Stryjek, Taylor-Sinclair, Lawson, Sibbald, Crawford, Kouider-Aïssa, Tiffoney, McMillan & Poplatnik. #LFCLive

Completely forgot about Holt during this international break, surprised to see Sibbs dropped though, curse of being voted PoTM.


Good to see Lawson back from his injury and on the bench, Keegs is doing some running so can't be far away from proper training and making the bench too. We should be up to full strength squad wise by the time Stokes is match fit with injuries clearing up too.

I like to see the odd 25 yarder flying into the net, but looking at that line up i think Serrano is the only one capable of scoring from outside the box, or likely to even take a pop at goal from range. Pitts used to score the odd one from range too right enough, but hasn't been like his old self this season. Goan Pitts, let one rip right into the top corner to go top goal scorer ahead of Raffa.

Perfect start going ahead in 30 seconds & looking dangerous when Forrest has possession but Accies have steadied themselves & are giving us a game

Odofin doing well for them.

Why is the person in control of which camera is “live” so fixated on looking at Rice? Watch the game ya numpty.

Fantastic start for us, need a 2nd goal to kill the game off though, Accies have looked decent passing the ball about and are always a threat to score a late goal to get something.

As things stand we'd move up to 6th place, with results all going well in other games.

Terrible defending for the equaliser.

We have had enough chances to win comfortably but I am fearing them nicking it with the chances we are squandering

Garbage; utter garbage

Credit to Accies it was a good free kick & a good header but it was rank awful defending & we have wasted so many chances.

Wow, team creating lots of chances with no end product, losing 1-2 and you still don’t bring on your best finisher who is now fully fit.
I second your thoughts Bertie, utter garbage.

Aufull,just awfull. The limited chances had they took and we didnt.Big Marv puts that free header first half different story.Might put to bed all this talk of Top 6 to bed unfortunatly. Even this early give me 10th and id bite your hand off.Trying so hard not to panic,but the danger signs are there.Credit to Accies though.At least we know what we have to do.So uneasy in my lazyboy at the moment.

What is extremely frustrating is that is was actually not too bad a game to watch because our early goal meant Accies didn’t sit in. But we are pathetic in the final third, either no one in position for a good cross or the cross is poor & when we do get the ball in we miss the chance (Marv header, Pitts off the bar with the goal gaping).

Had we won we’d have been 5th; as it is we now go to Parkhead staring at being bottom after 8 games.

Had it been 2 1 to Livi we wouldnt be having this conversation. But it wasnt.Our frailties up front and defencive lapse for the winner cost us dearly. We had enough chances to win that game but unfortunatly werent taken.The struggle goes on.

Strange how we're so bad at defending and attacking set pieces this season, we've built a reputation of being so good at them these last 3 seasons. Accies basically did a Livi on us, scoring from 2 set pieces.

Wasn't a bad game, we scored early and had chances to go 2 up, sitting comfortable going in 1-0 at HT. Always felt we needed an early 2nd half goal to kill them off though, and when they equalised they prob deserved it. After that we seemed to come to life and were winning all the 50/50 tackles, and looked the likely team to go on and win the game. Pitts hitting the underside of the bar and coming back out felt ominous though, and then Holt blasting another good chance over the bar, still didn't think we'd come away losing that game, a right scunner getting no points after the great start we had.

Really need to get our defence sorted at set pieces, and also getting in attacking them when we've got them. Think we created more chances that game than all the other games put together this season, not sure why Poplatnik isn't getting a chance, he looked lively when he came on against Hibs, for me i just don't rate Tiffoney to get us goals.

That score was a bit of a scunner. We deserved a draw at least. I agree that Accies looked more like the Livi of the last two seasons than we did. They broke up play and defended doggedly. They also had a tendency to go down easy though and got all the free kicks including the one that led to the winner. Guthrie got the ball and the Accies player took a wee tumble. I think it was given because Guthrie had given away a free kick moments earlier. It was a beautifully headed goal by the Accies youngster.

I felt that we sparked up a bit once Tiffoney and Sibbald came on. It was a game that could have gone either way but unfortunately all our near misses remained that while their efforts crossed the line.

Is Stokes going to be a pig in a poke? Three weeks and he's not even fit for the bench. Talk of wee niggles. Strange. What's happened to Souda? Fitzwater still injured? Is Rafa still here? Has Lithgow had his operation yet? Is Keaghan near a return? Brown?
So many questions.
Hope nane of ours get that Covid.

Celtic away next week.

That was disappointing - we looked good at times - no consistency - our defending/man marking was again at fault.
Still early days , but it looks likely to be hard season.

I would rather of seen Hammy staying and Tiff going on loan(or at least more game time) - still can't get over his miss at Easter Road.
Sibbs should have started - if its an injury or fitness issue , he shouldn't be on the bench.

Lots of work ahead. 'tic next week lets hope their mid week game tires them out.