Utd v Livi

We're going for 10IAR here for away games without a defeat, going back to Sevco in October for the last time we lost away from home. The pundits can stick that away stat in their pipes and smoke it.

With St Mirren losing their best player and looking knackered against Celtic last night, and them having the sheep away from home on Sat, a good chance for us to put another 3 points of distance between them, Utd and us if we win this game, hoping they'll draw though and we move 2 points closer to Aberdeen too.

Fitzwater was a possible start last night, so the extra few days without a game should have him as a def one, hopefully Guthrie also makes it, and we're back to full strength with Mullin available too. Should also have Robbo able to start now, with a full week between games, great strategy yet again by DM not to get the game on last night.

Rested up and raring to go, full throttle from the start and stick a couple of goals away first half, lets do this Livi.

United have been poor for a while but Shankland notched recently which could mean an upturn in their fortunes. Nothing to fear as such but a potential banana skin nonetheless. They might feel they are due a result against us up there after our success in the playoffs & in the earlier game this season.

While the enforced rest may be good, our guys tend to thrive on workload & we also have a second MotM curse to negotiate (having done so first time round).

Apparently the noises eminating from Tayside tonight sound promising concerning wether this game will be on or not. Would be good to get back on the rails after last week. Once again will be interesting to see the line.Personaly,i hope big John is back along with Serrano and Josh.Good idea how United will line up with their strikeforce coming at us.Hope our defence will be on their collective toes and keep them quiet. The wee break will no doubt have stood us in good stead and like Bertie i feel weve nothing to fear albeit a tough place to go to,playoffs exceppted.Hopefully its on and back to winning ways.Good luck Livi.. .

Only game on in the Championship today is Alloa, with their plastic pitch.
Ross County game off with frozen GRASS pitch, shocking.

Looks like the game is def on for us anyway, excited just to see the team news at 1.45, seeing if BBJ and Mullin are playing.

Thats more like it Livi.Big guns back.Please no fech ups in the warm up..Cmon the Lions.

Wish this game had been called off.

Bad enough conceding early thanks to a goalie error but to concede a second so quickly after United were reduced to 10-men?

Sounds like we have squandered a few chances & had 1 disallowed for a foul before it went in.

Can’t see us winning the cup now... form has gone at exactly the wrong time.

Horrendous defending has cost us again.Our momentum we had has disapeared. Even against 10 men weve nothing up front since Robbo went off.Not looking good here.

Why is Poplatnik still on the bench?? He loves playing against UTD and has caused so many problem for their defence in previous games.
Bring him on!!!

Bertie Bassett wrote:United have been poor for a while but Shankland notched recently which could mean an upturn in their fortunes. Nothing to fear as such but a potential banana skin nonetheless.They might feel they are due a result against us up there after our success in the playoffs & in the earlier game this season.

While the enforced rest may be good, our guys tend to thrive on workload & we also have a second MotM curse to negotiate (having done so first time round).

I hate getting it right at times like these.

Massive let down today.Not blaming the pitch,was the same for both.Robbo going of so early made it a tough going for us.Credit to United tbh.They took full advantage of a horrendous display from our defence and punished us.Weve got to get back to our old selves and quick,otherwise this season could end up like a damp squid. Sorry for the negativity but thats a fact.Of course im not forgetting the bigger picture, weve all but secured our place in the League for next season.Will be frustrating if we let what weve done recently pale into insignifigance.Deppressed Livi fan here..

Troy wrote:Massive let down today.Not blaming the pitch,was the same for both.Robbo going of so early made it a tough going for us.Credit to United tbh.They took full advantage of a horrendous display from our defence and punished us.Weve got to get back to our old selves and quick,otherwise this season could end up like a damp squid. Sorry for the negativity but thats a fact.Of course im not forgetting the bigger picture, weve all but secured our place in the League for next season.Will be frustrating if we let what weve done recently pale into insignifigance.Deppressed Livi fan here..

So normal then?

Yeh,unfortunatly Bertie. Someone mentioned early season form coming back to us.Also been mentioned that the cup final is on our minds. Im not taking that.Its gonna have to change dramaticly for us to have a genuine chance of making history. Today was worrying to say in the least.Last time we defied the odds.At the moment turn the clock back 3 weeks, we were favourites going into this.No more,on todays display ww are underdogs. But League survival all but secured.So regardless of the cup outcome job done.But lets defy the odds again.

Just to edit on original post.United deserved that win today.Absolute criminal defending on our part having watched it again.Wont slate Martindale, but the players looked like they had something else on their minds.Hopefully Robbos ok , changed the game imo.Mommentum wise,next week massive.

Just to edit on original post.United deserved that win today.Absolute criminal defending on our part having watched it again.Wont slate Martindale, but the players looked like they had something else on their minds.Hopefully Robbos ok , changed the game imo.Mommentum wise,next week massive.

Just to edit on original post.United deserved that win today.Absolute criminal defending on our part having watched it again.Wont slate Martindale, but the players looked like they had something else on their minds.Hopefully Robbos ok , changed the game imo.Mommentum wise,next week massive.

Livi2020 wrote:Why is Poplatnik still on the bench?? He loves playing against UTD and has caused so many problem for their defence in previous games.
Bring him on!!!

Couldn't understand that either, bringing JET on when Robbo got injured when Poplatnik would've been a like for like replacement. Strange decisions from Martindale all game, Fitzwater was terrible but got left on till the ref red carded him, was at fault in both of their goals before his red card, kept giving away the ball and was being torn apart by balls over the top. Would've subbed him for Efe first half let alone keeping him on after HT.

JET was the wrong sub to bring on too, thought we'd worked out he's been better on the wing as a late sub, and just doesn't work as our lone striker.

Also would've taken off one of our holding mids when Utd went down to 10 men, didn't need both Marv and Holt, and got either Forrest or Kabia on.

Sometimes DM has made strange substitutions and they've worked out, but today they were just wrong and it didn't work for us at all. The forced ones after the red card were better, getting Poplatnik and Kabia on, and although we actually played better going down to 10 men it was too late.

Bad day for us and some very poor performances, but we had decent spells where we looked the better team, without really troubling their keeper though, and we had spells where we were in the doldrums, and just not at it. Credit also has to go to Utd, they were up for it and punished us with some clinical finishes, quick and direct on the counter with balls over the top. They did a number on us and we've done that to so many and got the old, we were having our worst performance of the season excuse, so maybe part of how poor we were was down to them.

Really have to get our act together against St Mirren, they drew with Aberdeen so not too much damage done, a win against them and everything will be rosy again, and then the cup final. Lose though and we'll be in a fight to stay top 6, with them and Utd right on our tails. Huge couple of games coming up now. Hopefully Robbo isn't seriously injured too, would be gutting for him and us to miss out in the final.

Yeh,decent summurising of the game L/F.Was baffeling if Proplatnik being fit should have come on.Jet offered his usual hold up play,but inevitabley had no one ahead to take advantage. Ive said before defencivly we should be alarmed. Its a massive kick up the arse for us.Two back to back defeats doesnt bode well for the cup final. Fechs sake Livi, back to basics,or nobody will remember yous..

Hibs win was with Guthrie & Ambrose as our CB pairing, same against County, and Celtic away.

Brought in Fitzwater in the home game to rest up players for the semi final.

Back to Guthrie and Ambrose for the cup win over St Mirren, then Fitz and Guthrie against Killie.

Guthrie and Ambrose again for the home draw with Aberdeen and then an enforced change bringing in ATS partnering Ambrose for the away win at Aberdeen.

So mostly Ambrose and Guthrie have been our best combo, but the other defensive player in all of that has been Brown, he's really good in the air and could be a big reason for our defence looking vulnerable again.

Would start Guthrie and Ambrose next weekend anyway, although Fitzwater being red carded prob ensures that happens, and hopefully it shows they're our best partnership before the final the following week.

Managed to force myself to watch the "highlights" to see the goals again, fecking hell Fitzwater was worse than i thought, for all 3 of them.

Stuck a leg out for the first.

Jogged along watching the ball go past him for their 2nd, all he needed to do was slide in and cut out their cross.

Got mugged by Shankland for the 3rd, fair enough Mullin was at fault heading it back towards him bit he's a 6ft plus CB and got outjumped and out muscled by Shankland, then worse still, stood still watching Mullin bursting a gut running back to cover for his (Mullin's) mistake, and only moves when Shankland turns Mullin inside out, instead he should've been in there covering Mullin and jumping in to clear the ball.

Really looked like he just went through the motions and couldn't be arsed.

Devlin wasn't much better, ran away from the pass leaving it to Holt to try and get it instead for their 2nd, and was as much use as Fitzwater defending, think he did clear one off the line right enough so not quite as bad as Fitzwater.

Liviforever wrote:Managed to force myself to watch the "highlights" to see the goals again, fecking hell Fitzwater was worse than i thought, for all 3 of them.

Stuck a leg out for the first.

Jogged along watching the ball go past him for their 2nd, all he needed to do was slide in and cut out their cross.

Got mugged by Shankland for the 3rd, fair enough Mullin was at fault heading it back towards him bit he's a 6ft plus CB and got outjumped and out muscled by Shankland, then worse still, stood still watching Mullin bursting a gut running back to cover for his (Mullin's) mistake, and only moves when Shankland turns Mullin inside out, instead he should've been in there covering Mullin and jumping in to clear the ball.

Really looked like he just went through the motions and couldn't be arsed.

Devlin wasn't much better, ran away from the pass leaving it to Holt to try and get it instead for their 2nd, and was as much use as Fitzwater defending, think he did clear one off the line right enough so not quite as bad as Fitzwater.

Sorry bit I think you need to watch the highlights again.

How are you saying Fitzwater was at fault for the third? He wasn't even on the pitch!

Im done with the United game.Cant bare to watch it back.Need to look forward..

Durnford wrote:

Liviforever wrote:Managed to force myself to watch the "highlights" to see the goals again, fecking hell Fitzwater was worse than i thought, for all 3 of them.

Stuck a leg out for the first.

Jogged along watching the ball go past him for their 2nd, all he needed to do was slide in and cut out their cross.

Got mugged by Shankland for the 3rd, fair enough Mullin was at fault heading it back towards him bit he's a 6ft plus CB and got outjumped and out muscled by Shankland, then worse still, stood still watching Mullin bursting a gut running back to cover for his (Mullin's) mistake, and only moves when Shankland turns Mullin inside out, instead he should've been in there covering Mullin and jumping in to clear the ball.

Really looked like he just went through the motions and couldn't be arsed.

Devlin wasn't much better, ran away from the pass leaving it to Holt to try and get it instead for their 2nd, and was as much use as Fitzwater defending, think he did clear one off the line right enough so not quite as bad as Fitzwater.

Sorry bit I think you need to watch the highlights again.

How are you saying Fitzwater was at fault for the third? He wasn't even on the pitch!

Oops, yeah so he was, it was Devlin, another who had a bad game.

Devlin was very poor by his standards. We kept getting torn a new one down the right with him being uncharacteristically slow to react. He's normally so much better when Mullin plays as he has more time but not on Saturday.

I wonder how much of our poor performance was down to the team barely being able to train midweek.

Durnford wrote:Devlin was very poor by his standards. We kept getting torn a new one down the right with him being uncharacteristically slow to react. He's normally so much better when Mullin plays as he has more time but not on Saturday.

I wonder how much of our poor performance was down to the team barely being able to train midweek.

Fitzwater, Devlin and Mullin had shockers, all 3 were defensively poor. Tbf to Mullin he's never been that great defending, and his defensive frailties were shown up when we played him as a WB the last time he was here. Devlin and Fitzwater should be better, both have been outstanding in games, but there have also been times when they looked awful. When all 3 chose the same game to have a stinker it really showed, and Shankland had a field day with them.

Hopefully a bad day at the office and we put things right against St Mirren, and in the cup final. Top 5, European place, and another League cup final win in the record books would be our best season ever. Who even thought we'd be talking about this back before Martindale took charge.