Livi v Ayr Betfred Knock Out

Okay, so with last weekend’s debacle behind us we move on to the knock out stages of the Betfred Cup & a home tie against Ayr United... they will be a step up from the sides we have played so far... we only had Alloa from the second tier in the group stages & despite giving us a good & hard game in the group which we just edged 2-1 they prop up the second tier with just 1 point... Ayr are mid-table with 8 points so on the face of it they are our toughest opponents in that competition so far. Add to that the fact they usually give us a tough game anyway & at the moment our home form is patchy at best (good in the cup & woeful in the league)... even the 4-1 win over Airdrie required us to go behind before waking up. So a potential banana skin then.

That said, we should be more than capable of progressing & I think the longer we stay in the competition the more likely it is that Holt will stay & potentially/hopefully sort out the league form. The league is still tight enough that a single win puts a new complexion on things... but for now it’s the cup.

Arguably we have acquired Ayr’s best player from last season, maybe we should be looking at picking up someone else from them like Moffat? He regularly seems to be on the scoresheet & presumably worked well with Forrest in the past.
Obviously it wouldn’t be before January but it’s a thought.

I think we can win this but we will need to step up a gear or two from Saturday’s efforts.

Think Dunferline are the team to look at for nicking players, esp strikers, Kevin O'Hara looks like being their next promising striker, might be worth a punt in the Jan transfer window.

Anyway, on this cup game, do we stick with JET, hoping another game will be enough to get him sharper and fitter for the league games, or go back to a more mobile Tiffoney up front. Tiffs would at least turn defenders and have them on the back foot. Think we should be working the flanks instead of constantly knocking the ball up the centre of the pitch too (unless it's over the top for Tiffs to run onto), esp if we stick with JET up front, he isn't a great hold up player, defenders just stick their legs from around the back of him and kick the ball away. Mullin and Forrest are good at cutting inside with the ball and having shots at goal too, and with Serrano and Devlin we've good pacey FB's to work overlaps with the wingers as well. Mullin and Serrano having good deliveries from the wings, so between the 4 of them we've got options for crosses or cutting inside with the ball.

Think we're far enough into the season to stop chopping and changing in cup game, we should be using this game in preparation for our next 2 league games, picking our strongest starting XI and forgetting about giving fringe players game time.

I think you might be surprised on Saturday with regards to who starts up front.

Fitzwater?

That would certainly surprise me.

Obv option outside JET and Tiffoney would be Poplatnik, or going with Tiffs and Poplatnik in a 4-4-2, i'm intrigued as to seeing if this surprise is going to come on Saturday now, and if you're just guessing with a hunch or if you're Davy Martindale/Gary Holt in real life.

You could be right about O’Hara but with the way they have started he might be more inclined to stick with them & try getting promotion, than to jump ship & try to stave off relegation, albeit in a higher division. Ayr players on the other hand might see the opportunity to emulate Forrest.

As for surprise selections on Saturday... we’ll just have to wait & see but unless we have a secret weapon in the form of an unattached goal machine that has somehow escaped everyone’s attention - I can’t see it being anything to get too excited about.

Could always give O'Hara the same terms we gave Dykes, signing a PCA with us in Jan and finishing the season with Dunfermline, would also give him the opportunity to see where we'll be playing next season if he wants to change his mind.

After today's events, GH resigning, it becomes a bit more likely we'll see a change to our attack, maybe even our formation. Martindale will be in charge of team selection and formation, which is going to be interesting. A few things weren't quite right in the system/tactics/formation we were using, the fans could see it, wonder if Martindale could too, looking forward to Saturday's team selection with added interest now.

O'Hara was available last season. Dunfermline just did what they did with Nisbet and jumped in quick when it was obvious he was scoring for Alloa. We need to keep tabs on the lower leagues during the season and target players who can do it for us.
I noticed Nisbet when he was with Raith and was disappointed when he signed for the Pars. I have nice dreams of just what we could have done with him and Dykes in the same Livi team.
We need to learn from this.

Ive got an uneasy feeling that this has banana slip written all over it. Ayr Utd fans will be rubbing their hands at the uncertainty at the club at the moment.Yes they are a league below us but the gap between us and them is certainly not huge.Will we see a response from the team after this weeks revelations? God knows but they definatly owe us one and hopefully they will go out stamp our authority over a decent Ayr team who will no doubt fancy their chances.I seriously cant call this and wouldnt be surprised if it goes to ET or pens to get us through. Still insist that the League is our priority but maybe the players can give us a much needed lift amid the doom and gloom at the moment.Cmon Livi,you can do this.Il be watching

orco wrote:O'Hara was available last season. Dunfermline just did what they did with Nisbet and jumped in quick when it was obvious he was scoring for Alloa. We need to keep tabs on the lower leagues during the season and target players who can do it for us.
I noticed Nisbet when he was with Raith and was disappointed when he signed for the Pars. I have nice dreams of just what we could have done with him and Dykes in the same Livi team.
We need to learn from this.

Yes, Nisbet was very much on the radar at Raith & looked exactly what we needed & would normally go for but we went for Dykes even though he wasn’t scoring as regularly but was clearly aiding & abetting Dobbie. So I think we were keeping tabs on the lower divisions but were leaning towards a lone striker once Holt took over, if you remember under Miller it was usually two up top (Miller & Hamilton or Miller & A.N.Other) albeit that Miller hardly ever stayed up front.

The chances that we would have played with both Nisbet & Dykes up top were slim to nil based on Holt’s preferred formation of lone striker supported by runners from midfield. Sadly this wasn’t working this season & he couldn’t bring himself to change it.

I prefer two up top but can’t complain at the success we had with the lone striker. I think that really only came about when our twin strike force was decimated towards the end of our playoff winning season. Hardie was never as effective on his own as when he had someone else creating space for him whereas Lee Miller could work as Hardie’s partner or on his own, which of course in the end he had to that season. When Holt replaced Kenny Miller we quickly went with a lone striker, then we got Dykes signed up in the Jan window to start with us last season.

So it will be interesting to see how Martindale & Caig set up the team tomorrow but however they do it, let’s hope we get a positive response from the lads because Ayr will most likely capitalise on it if they don’t.

On a side note.I hope the stream is better tommorrow. Last week was poor.Fuzzy and occationall buffering. Hope its better tommorrow and an improved show from the players despite our problems.

Stream was good for me last week. The last home cup stream was excellent too, best one i've seen so far (although that wouldn't have been difficult).

Ayr are the best team we've faced in the cup, but with Mullin and Forrest we've got more than enough goal threats to see them off, actually more upbeat about this at seeing a change in our attacking formation with Martindale in charge.

Yeh,apart from last week my streams have been good. Hopefully back to normal tommorrow

The best stream I have seen was from the opening game at St Midden.

Our streams have not been consistent & often affected by lagging/buffering... coupled with a commentator that sounds as though football is not a familiar sport to him (“the ball goes behind for a throw-in” - “that’s great hold up play” as the ball trickles to an opposition player) & a cameraman with a fixation for watching the dug out while the ball is in play.

Now it could be that perhaps I have a dodgy hub/router but that wouldn’t explain why the St Mirren feed was fine, so I don’t think it’s that.

Could play a drinking game with the commentary, having a drink every time one of them says "touched on it earlier", that seems to be a favourite buzz word just now.

Apart from the Hibs game i've not had a problem with our home league streams, our cup stream v Alloa was the worst i've seen, but the last one against Airdrie was good. It's just the other things you've mentioned that gets on my wick, esp the zooming onto the managers when play has resumed and you end up only knowing what is going on by the commentary. Same goes for the showing the replays when we've got a corner and missing seeing us taking it but hearing that we have.

Our commentary at away games is always ahead of play, so i end up listening to the away commentary or just muting it, cause it really takes away the enjoyment of seeing a goal when they tell you a few seconds before we've even had the shot on goal (or being told the ball has been cleared before we've even put a cross in).

On the game, i notice from our previous meeting when we won 2-1, we had Stewart in goals, with Pepe and Lamie in defence, come on, if we can beat them with those 3 playing we should be able to do it again.

We also had Dykes, Souda and Lawless in attack right enough.

Strange to see Proplatnik up front on his own.Livi obviously showing respect to todays opponents. Plenty striking options from the bench which i reckon at some point will be needed.Gonna be a long afternoon.

Having said that their dangerman striker Cammy Smith is out apparently. Big boost for us.

Have some faith Troy

Not easy mate at the moment.But il always stick by them.Always have always will.

Take my word for it mate

Will now.Surprised by Ayr.Offered nothing.Pleasing.

We got at them right from the start... for some reason our streaming guys have got the opening goal as  happening in the 4th minute even though it was clearly the 1st minute.

The way we started was the way we should always start games, going straight at them. We have been getting some fortuitous bounces but we have been pressing hard & forcing the issue to ensure we are on the front foot when the ball breaks. It’s been good to see.

Can’t say I was surprised to see Pops start though, IMO he was the obvious choice & I think I said as much either earlier in this thread or on another one that he ought to be given a chance. IMO he has justified his selection even though he hasn’t scored in the first half.

Biggest compliment I can make is that 4-0 doesn’t flatter us, we deserve it.

Ayr have disappointed me too Troy but they probably had any wind taken away by our whirlwind start.

Probably best 45 minutes I have seen us play in a long long time. Ayr very poor but that is due to our excellent pressing. Impressed by Poplatnik leading the line and his work load.

Get this in early.Game was over first half.The objective was to get into the Quarters which weve done.Surprised how easy it was against a decent Ayr team.Their goalkeeper despite the scoreline kept the scoreline down.Good to see Mcmillan getting a run out.Think in certain games weve missed him.Understandable more subdued second half. Next week wont be as comfortable as today,but well done to the lads today in what many would have thought a potential banana skin.Including myself.

I say same starting 11 next week