Motherwell v Livi

Last game of December with the early Winter Break because of Omicron, hopefully it'll reduce the infection rate and fans get back to games in January.

Always a place we struggle to get points, and Tony Watt always seems to have a blinding game against us too, so not overly confident of us getting anything. Nope, can't get my hopes up here at all, i've got a touch of the Grinch for this game.

Welcome to the dark side LF - mwa ha ha ha ha ha

I agree

I'm the same. I've written this one off.

Yeah checked our past results since coming up and we have 1 draw and 3 defeats at Firpark, so not very good. Another way to spin it is we're long overdue a win there, but i'm no holding my breath.

I'm hoping all this negativity will pay off with Livi surprising us all and getting a win here.

Another game where we barely tested their keeper, Motherwell have a good defence but we made it easy for them, too many intricate passes, threading the ball through a needle, instead of just getting it into the box, or having a shot.

Can't wait for Nouble to join us, looks like a player that will take defenders on and have them on the back foot, opening up spaces. We also need Anderson to start, him and Panayiotou did more than Shinnie, Forrest and Sibbs did all game as an attacking threat to their goal. Penrice is a good player too, and we need to use him more, and play balls for him to run onto, instead of at him, or behind.

Didn't think we'd get anything, but still disappointing when you see Motherwell wasn't any better than us, in fact but for their free kick, i thought we edged the first half. Problem is we're toothless up front, and can't turn all that possession in their final third into goals.

Sometimes I think DM thinks his initials are PG, flooding the squad with midfielders, playing out from the back, trying to pass teams to death & playing with a “false 9” and a refusal to change… and he has also been guilty of changing our normal game plan to counter the opposition only for it to fail… which is something Guardiola has also been guilty of.

Must be because they have the same hairdo

We are capable of matching most teams in this division when we play to our strengths, and while it’s good to develop and adapt to become less predictable, there is no point repeatedly doing things that aren’t working.

Ive no problem with us playing it out from the back, we're actually good at it, and playing it through midfield too, but up front in the final third we have 3 and 4 players knocking it about over on the wing outside the 18 yard box, and nae aunt making any runs into their box. We're trying to pass it into the net and it isn't working.

Motherwell in contrast booted it up to VV, and got it into our box at every opportunity. A lot like we used to do, even taking the long throw ins into our box, though they're not very good at them, maybe worked for them when Dec played in their team.

Interesting that our best front 3 was Montano-Anderson-Bailey, with Forrest coming on as sub 2nd half for Montano & Anderson in those 2 games, where we scored 6 goals. Since then we haven't scored more than 1 goal in any of our next 10 games, where Shinnie has largely been picked over Anderson.

Yes, we can play out from the back quite well but it does two things… it invites the opposition to press & if they win the ball they are in a good position to hurt us (just like we used to do); it also means we don’t get up the park particularly quickly allowing them to defend in depth (rather than press) causing us to lack penetration in the final third.

Shinnie has had 1 good game up front resulting in an excellent goal & win over Celtic but apart from winning a pen at Tannadice when he came on as a sub he hasn’t been all that effective & is much better suited to midfield.

Anderson was automatic first choice until that Celtic game & his selection seems to also have been affected by his diabetic situation, almost like DM doesn’t trust him fully.

Forrest can be exciting but can also be very predictable & his shot isn’t as good as he thinks it is.
Bailey has been effective but is a bit lightweight. Montano is a bit like Ted McMinn but doesn’t have as good an end product. I think Bailey & Montano starting means Forrest can come on against tiring defenders & possibly have more impact than when he starts.

Inviting them onto us/drawing them out, is also a good way to open up space in their half, but as you say, we have to move the ball up quickly and not dither about with it.

Penrice makes great runs up the left wing, but largely gets ignored, then we slowly shift the ball across the middle of the pitch to him and pass it straight to him, or behind him, which gives him nowhere to go with it but pass it back again. We're needing to hit long balls across to him, switching wings, and getting the ball up the channel ahead for him to run onto.

Yeah Montano is a bit like Dolly Menga controlling the ball and having headers/shots at goal, but he's a good target man for high balls, for Bailey and Anderson to play off, and also causes havoc inside the opposition box with his unpredictability, and physical presence. Looked like he did his hamstring in against Utd though. Nouble will hopefully come in and do the same sort of job, only a bit better, as he looks a real baller for a big guy.

Agreed- we’ve been saying it all season; we miss the channel balls that Dec used to play but it doesn’t have to be that pass, just something for Penrice or Longridge to run onto because when they do get it they often work well with Forrest or whoever is on the left wing to get into the box.

It’s the dithering that is doing my head in, especially when we are behind.

I also feel like Devlin is more restrained in his forward forays this season.