Livi v Motherwell

I see Carson is injured, and wont be playing in goals, which is good news for us, as he's an excellent keeper. Now can we just keep Stryjek in goals to keep that advantage over Motherwell.

Both teams are much improved from the 2-2 draw against them earlier, so will be a tough one to call, head says another draw, and heart, well you can prob guess what my heart says.

As mentioned in the Sevco thread, couple of decisions for Holt in his team selection here, hopefully keeping Stryjek in goals, and Brown also keeping his starting place. Wonder even if trying Ambrose and Brown together in a back 4 would be good, apart from the mistake against Sevco, i  think Efe has been better than Guthrie this season, and Brown was the best CB on Sunday, maybe dropping BBJ would make him hungrier to get back in and sharpen his focus too. I like the way Efe brings the ball out of defence, just not against Sevco.

Startiing XI would be.


.......................Stryjek


Devlin          Efe           Brown      Serrano  


............     .Marv        Holt  


.....   Mullin    Pittman     Forrest


...........              JET  



Even though i was disappointed with JET against Sevco, i think he'll improve with game time, and wont be up against a defence anywhere as good as Sevco, who have barely conceded a goal this season. Motherwell's defence hasn't been as bad as ours, but then they're had a really good keeper in goals, and he's out injured, so i think big JET would get a lot of chances against them. Fancy Mullin will score a few goals for us this season too.

Motherwell’s improvement is more recent than ours. Best we will get is a draw because we are far too inconsistent this season.

I have no doubt that McCrorie will be back in goals, he shouldn’t be but he will be.

Bertie Bassett wrote:Motherwell’s improvement is more recent than ours. Best we will get is a draw because we are far too inconsistent this season.

I have no doubt that McCrorie will be back in goals, he shouldn’t be but he will be.

What one game more recent, where they played County and we had Sevco at Ibrox, aye ok Bertie.

They hadn't played their prev 2 games with covid call offs by St Mirren and Killie, and their game prev to that was a 5-1 humping off Sevco at home. We're on the same points but played 2 games more, and in the last 5 games they're only a win better off than us, and that was because we played Sevco. Nothing much between us really.

The Killie defeat was a bad one, but mainly down to the useless ref, don't think we can take anything from the Sevco defeat, other than us not collapsing after going 2-0 down in 16 mins, but quite positive after that not to concede any more goals and almost get one back, think we're def capable of getting a result here.

Thanks for proving my point LF.  
1 game more recent is more recent, the Huns gubbed them & they gubbed Ross. We only lost by 2 to the former but could only sneak a win against Ross we can both make those stats fit our narrative.... you would say we each got 3 points, I would say the fact they banged in a few goals gave them momentum & confidence & the fact our game was essentially over after the first 16 minutes shows we have neither.

Momentum & confidence is so important to form... we haven’t got any momentum & I don’t see where we could have gained confidence. So hopefully, this is where we put together an unexpectedly good performance & get a result... but I’ve seen nothing to make me think it will happen.

! game more recent against complete dross like County compared to us playing a team that is sitting top and only having conceded about 3 goals in the Premiership is you clutching at defeatist straws Bertie. If i had to come out with that one in a reversed situation, saying we had 1 win more recent than Motherwell you'd be equally saying i was full of positivity straw grasping.

Wonder if Robinson will continue with a front 3, went 4-3-3 in his last game and scored for fun against a County heading on the way down to the bottom 3, really hope he does, we'll overrun them in midfield and exploit their dodgy defence and substitute keeper. I suspect he wont though as opposition managers tend to shore up their midfield against us, knowing how tough a battle they're in from playing us.

And yet we struggled to beat Dross County 1-0.... so just how bad are we? As I said, we can make any stat fit our narrative if we choose to do so.

We have also managed to throw away games at home this season against Hamilton Cackies & Kilmarmite - neither of whom are up to much.

I see no basis for your optimism. Can we beat Motherwell? Of course we can. Will we? Not so sure.

Motherwell are playing well at the moment.But we are at home on our pitch. Which leaves me thinking we are at least worth a point here. 3 would be great of course but im not so sure.Hopefully the fitness of some is up to speed as i think we will have to be on our game to match Well.Were only 4 points from the bottom, so would be good to give us that wee bit breathing space from the rest.Hopefully no problems with the officials,we could do without that.Anyway good luck to the lads,looking forward to this

Bertie Bassett wrote:And yet we struggled to beat Dross County 1-0.... so just how bad are we? As I said, we can make any stat fit our narrative if we choose to do so.

We have also managed to throw away games at home this season against Hamilton Cackies & Kilmarmite - neither of whom are up to much.

I see no basis for your optimism. Can we beat Motherwell? Of course we can. Will we? Not so sure.

When we played County they were winning games, they were on 8 points to our 2 they're now on a downward spiral, they've only won 4 points since playing us. Our poor start to the season was hugely down to Holt messing about with a back 3 and sticking CB's in midfield and as FB's, since we stopped doing that, and reverted to a back 4 we've been much better and won games. Our most recent game was against the best team in the Country away from home and we stood up strong against them, a lot better than most teams have (certainly wasn't the lambs to the slaughter you predicted), and esp at Ibrox. We had a very decent 2nd half performance too, creating a couple of chances after Mullin came on. That's where my optimism comes from.

Form wise we're much the same as Motherwell, only thing separating us was our 2-0 loss away to Sevco and them winning at home to County. But i don't expect anything other than pessimism from you Bertie, if you won the Lotto you'd find a down side.

Fun fact, the only team to have beaten us at home this season that plays on grass was Hibs, when we were experimenting with a back 3, and not even Sevco have managed it.

Bring on the grass pitch playing Well.  

Robinson getting his players psyched up to go in hard against us again. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/local-sport/stephen-robinson-says-motherwell-need-22931543

He seems to not understand that it isn't so much that we're physical, it's the effort and workrate we put in to close players down and press them, and usually see Motherwell come out looking for a kicking match. Same with his perception of us just lumping balls into the box, really don't know where he gets this stuff from.

16 minutes in it looked very much like lambs to the slaughter... I didn’t see the game so I have no idea how it went thereafter but I have heard a variety of comments from your view to those who think that they coasted - most likely having won the game they were saving themselves for last night.

When we start scoring regularly, that is when I will see reason for optimism - a home record of
P W D L F A Pts
6  2 1 3 6 9  7        does not give cause for optimism

Howling wind and rain forecast for 3pm.Guess it could come down to who adapts to the conditions better. Possibly best that im sitting in front of the tele with a beer in hand.Cheers,Mon the Lions.

Bertie Bassett wrote:16 minutes in it looked very much like lambs to the slaughter... I didn’t see the game so I have no idea how it went thereafter but I have heard a variety of comments from your view to those who think that they coasted - most likely having won the game they were saving themselves for last night.

When we start scoring regularly, that is when I will see reason for optimism - a home record of
P W D L F A Pts
6  2 1 3 6 9  7        does not give cause for optimism

So you really can't say how it looked in the first 16 mins then.

Nah wasn't even lambs to the slaughter, never has been against them since we've come back up, yeah they won it comfortably enough in the end but we weren't overrun, or backs to the wall. And really should've got a goal back with JET missing a great chance from about 3 yards out into an open goal when the ball came back off the post but he just couldn't direct it on target. Pitts also had a decent chance with a header that just flashed past the post, so by no means were we clinging on for dear life and being slaughtered.

Anyway, team sheet is released, and good news, Stryjek is keeping his place, and Mullin starting too.


Livingston FC

@LiviFCOfficial
·

Max Stryjek
Jullien Serrano
Ciaron Brown
Jon Guthrie
Nicky Devlin
Marvin Bartley
Jason Holt
Scott Pittman
Josh Mullin
Craig Sibbald
Jay Emmanuel-Thomas

Only change from that starting line up i'd have liked to see was Forrest also starting, but pretty good looking starting XI.

Get this in just before kick off.Just noticed John Beaton todays Ref.God help us.Up against 12 men.

Beaton's been ok, Guthrie's been shite, suggested dropping him and playing Efe & Brown, now it's more than a suggestion. Sticks his hand up claiming offside when we weren't getting it instead of getting his head down and sprinting back, then sticks a leg out in a weak as water challenge, bang a goal. Gives away the foul in injury time and we're 2-0 down. Fucking hell.

Wind is behind us now so we have the advantage 2nd half, but expecting a lot now to comeback and win, 1-0 would've been very doable.

I'd also take Sibbs off and get Forrest on, and JET would only be getting 10 mins to do something 2nd ghalf before i'd put Tiffs on, big man hasn't been good at all again, but might improve with the wind behind us getting us more chances to get at their goal.

I’ve been calling for Stryjek to get a chance but on today’s evidence we need a new keeper. He should have been brave to get into Lang’s feet, instead he didn’t even keep his legs closed. He reacted well to stop the free kick but didn’t push it to safety leaving an easy tap in.

Guthrie needs to hand back his awards from last season & start earning the reputation that won them.

Conditions are horrible but we are garbage so far.

Poor Poor Poor - repeat until you have it 11 times - no pass marks for anyone today.

At least it didn’t get any worse in the second half... but like I said before - I see no grounds for any optimism with our team, we can’t defend, we can’t create, we never get on a loose ball & we can barely string a couple of passes together. It’s going to be a battle to stay up this season & the worrying aspect is we have taken no points from the teams currently below us.

No complaints about the result whatsoever. Criminal defending and a stupid foul to give away at a crucial time in the game. Slightly better second half but the damage had already been done.We made it easy for Motherwell.Frustratingly nothing up front to damage them.Yeh the conditions didnt help us,but was the same for both teams.Seriously think we can kiss goodbye to top six asperations. We were at home and unfortunatly that form has let us down significantly. Dissapointed and frustrated.

Conditions were bad but easily the worst performance of the season, Serrano is usually class down the wing but practically every ball went sailing over the bar.

Waste of time having both Holt and Marv playing, i'd rather stick Sibbs in with Marv, drop Holt, get Forrest and Mullin in a mid 3, and on evidence from JET so far have Tiffoney up front. And have Efe and Brown starting in our next game.

Harsh blaming Stryjek for not turning the free kick away, was hit hard at him and he saved it, doubt anyone could've done better, the wall and defenders at fault for not blocking the shot, and reacting quickly enough to kicking it clear.

Certainly needing a big shake up for our next game, too many didn't turn up today. Next 4 games are ones we should/need to be winning, County are dross, so are St Mirren, already comfortably beat Utd and it's at home this time, and St Johnstone is another we've beaten, should be looking at a minimum of 7 points from those 4 games, and aiming for 12.

Just checking the table,the teams below us have games in hand which makes Friday massive for us. Doesnt detract from an abbysmel performance from us today.We cant blame the officials for this one.And its not early in the season as some would suggest.Were well into it and will need to get our arses into gear or we are in real danger.Fact.

Did you not see Stryjek’s face after the second goal? He knew he hadn’t dealt with it properly... but yes I agree the defence didn’t react quickly enough & the wall didn’t do its job either, shot went straight through

Watched the main points on Sportscene's highlights, just for clarity on how shite our defence was, both Brown and Guthrie not covering themselves in glory for both goals, Guthrie should've went right through the ball when he made a half hearted effort putting his foot in before they scored, Stryjek not shutting his legs allows it to go through him from an angle too.

And Guthrie sticking his foot in making it easy for the Well player to go down for the foul, not sure if he got the ball but it was the last seconds and he should've been careful. Brown and Serrano leaving the gap in the wall, mainly Brown, turning away from the shot and stepping out leaving a big gap. I said when they got the free kick, it was right on the edge, too close to go over the wall, so all the wall needs to do is stand solid and it can't get past it, it didn't.

Not sure which one of our CB's to drop now, said before the game i think Efe has been our best and most consistent in a back 4, but who to partner him, maybe ATS and Ambrose would do well, couldn't do much worse.

County are on an even worse run than us, absolutely a must win game against them this week, lose and then i agree with Troy, we're in big trouble, win though and everything looks a lot brighter. Would still need to get points in the 3 games after that though, this is a good run of games to pick up points, don't even want to think about where we'll be if we don't do so.

It wasn't one of our best performances but I really think that the conditions didn't allow decent football. Yes Motherwell had to deal with it too but they won the toss and had the wind in the first half. While we struggled to get the ball up the park and control crosses they got their two goal lead meanng when the wind was against them they just had to sit tight and keep the ball out.
I've watched the highlights and both goals had me shouting at the telly. In the build up to the first Marv was clearly shoved so the ball would have been nowhere near the goal if a free kick had been given. Looking at the second goal the Killie player knew Guthrie was close and just went down. It was less of a free kick than the one Marv didn't get but we all know that John Beaton has a different set of rules for Livi.

I'm not going to be too critical of the team because of the circumstances of the game. I was more annoyed at how we did in the likes of the St Mirren and Hibs games.

Jury is still out on Jet. I've really not been excited by anything he has done yet. He surely must be showing something in training to get a start so let's hope the best is still to come. I'd have liked him to be swapped for Tiffoney in the second half to compare what they'd do.

Stryjek did what he had to do. He was let down by the defence in both goals. The wall didn't do its job for the second and our players were too slow to react to the loose ball. So I hope he keeps his place.

I was at the last night game up at Ross County in February. It was a performance to forget. Here's hoping we get the rub of the green on Friday and a decent effort from the lads.

Yeah the conditions made it impossible for a few of our new boys, Serrano just couldn't handle the wind and all his crosses went sailing over the bar, JET looked lost too, was too easy getting the ball off him when he tried to shield it. Actually did better when other Livi players started running onto the ball as he was jostling with a couple of Well defenders, before they could get round him to the ball. Looked like our players started to grasp the best way to use JET, letting him tussle with defenders and running in to take the ball from him themselves, before he lost it.

Some of our fans losing their heads on FB and P&B, calling for Holt to be sacked, Marv getting it in the neck too, also Devlin, which i find strange as he was better than Serrano yesterday, and has been one of our better players from the last 2 games. Also still think Marv does a decent job for us, but seems to be a target.

Was the same last season when we were in a sticky patch, wanting Holt punted, and we ended up finishing 5th, our 2nd ever highest finish in the top flight. Fans are fickle aunts.

I’ve not been impressed by Marv so far this season (not been impressed by much TBH) but we know what he is capable of (& what most of the others are capable of). Just wondering if his punditry & coaching is putting too much on his shoulders.

Tactically we were a wee bit naive yesterday, punting high balls into the wind was never going to work - much better getting it down & giving the guys who can dribble & pass to run the game - & once you go behind & are chasing the game there is always a tendency to overhit the ball when the wind is behind you. What boils my blood is when we never utilise the wind by taking shots & following in on any rebounds.