Livi v Stranraer Semi Final Sunday 12th October

Hippolyte and Glen are a class above anything in this team.

Keaghan was ok but nearly cost us the game.
The worst thing of all was that they looked fitter than us at the end

DJ the penalty save king!

Rank rotten performance but we are in the final and that is all that matters

Well done to Livi on another dog shite performance. Changes need to be made, or else we'll be relegated. That was a load of absolute fuck.

Tactics were to blame for the piss poor first half, we continually hit long balls up from defence towards their keeper, total waste of time as it just gave them possession.

2nd half Rutherford was sacrificed to put Kyle and Talbot as wingbacks and Sives and Dycey back as 2 CB's, then we actually passed it up the pitch and made inroads on their goal.

Whoever thought watering the pitch was a good idea needs their arse kicked, lost count of how many of our players slipped and it nearly cost us the game but for DJ blocking their shot. Talbot injured himself just before HT too when he slipped, after receiving treatment when everyone else was inside he managed to walk off the pitch and was fine to continue.

Keaghan should've won it just before FT when it was set up on a plate, also thought they should've had a penalty first half when it hit one of our players on the hand.

Not the greatest performance but at least we got back in it 2nd half when we changed our formation, don't ever want to see McGlynn set us out like that first half again, was terrible to watch and just doesn't suit us at all.

Glen was my MoTM, apart from his pen miss he was outstanding.

Oh and a good atmosphere throughout thanks to the noisy lads at the end, never stopped singing all game, wee pitch invasion at the end too, thought they were going to injure DJ as they piled on top of him. Lol.

Liviforever wrote:Tactics were to blame for the piss poor first half, we continually hit long balls up from defence towards their keeper, total waste of time as it just gave them possession.

2nd half Rutherford was sacrificed to put Kyle and Talbot as wingbacks and Sives and Dycey back as 2 CB's, then we actually passed it up the pitch and made inroads on their goal.

Whoever thought watering the pitch was a good idea needs their arse kicked, lost count of how many of our players slipped and it nearly cost us the game but for DJ blocking their shot. Talbot injured himself just before HT too when he slipped, after receiving treatment when everyone else was inside he managed to walk off the pitch and was fine to continue.

Keaghan should've won it just before FT when it was set up on a plate, also thought they should've had a penalty first half when it hit one of our players on the hand.

Not the greatest performance but at least we got back in it 2nd half when we changed our formation, don't ever want to see McGlynn set us out like that first half again, was terrible to watch and just doesn't suit us at all.

Glen was my MoTM, apart from his pen miss he was outstanding.

Oh and a good atmosphere throughout thanks to the noisy lads at the end, never stopped singing all game, wee pitch invasion at the end too, thought they were going to injure DJ as they piled on top of him. Lol.

Aye, agreed. Him and Hippolyte completely changed the game 2nd half, and were miles ahead of anyone else in the team. First half was an absolute disgrace, and whilst the 2nd half was better, it was still really poor from us. No chance Keags was anywhere near MOTM, but White was especially bad. Didn't run with the ball, or force any kind of attack. There were a couple of occasions were he could have got up and won the ball in the air, but just dangled about and completely missed it. There was absolutely no tempo or pace at all, and once again there was no cutting edge between midfield and the attack. Finishing from everyone bar Hippolyte and Glen (for his goal) was absolutely diabolical. Corners, free-kicks, any kind of set pieces were extremely poor. Our wingers keep delivering the ball into the box far too early, and doesn't remotely pose any kind of threat. Could barely string 3 passes together, yet Stranraer built their way up the park much more than us. As someone has already said they looked fitter and stronger and had much more of a cutting edge. Longworth was in yards of space in and around the box for a finish on multiple occasions, due to our players not tracking back and giving them far too much space.

Similar performance to the one against Hearts, albeit against a much poorer side.

Like I said 2nd half we changed formation, as well as introducing Hippolyte, then Glen. Tactics were better too and we tried to play it through midfield and not just hit every single ball up from our half into their final third. White just isn't a target man and needs it to his feet in and around the box. Glen coming on made a big difference when we hit the odd long ball up as he can bring it into himself and hold off a player to bring our players in on attack.

I'm really pissed off with this long ball shite McGlynn keeps doing though, we pass it about along the backline, move it up to about 8 yards from the half way line then just hit it long to their keeper expecting White to do something, or worse still Mullen to out jump a big centre back, he's only a wee guy ffs.
Our goal came from turning with the ball and running up the park driving at their defence, really opened them up, we didn't do that at all until the 2nd half. Hippo opened them up for a decent chance too but uncharacteristically hit it wildly over. Hit a good shot to sting their goalies gloves later though, would have both him and Glen on from the start against Hibs. Glen gives us link up play in attack from midfield, nobody else seems to be doing that as well as him. Dunno what happened to Keaghan's shooting, he had 4 good chances in and around the box and didn't hit any of them well, notice he stayed away from taking a penalty too.

Oh and needing to cut out the fancy flicks, Rutherford and Mullen were esp guilty of making them and our attacks broke down because they flicked it to the Stranraer players. Best move of the first half (and there weren't many) was when we actually strung some passes together through midfield, got into their half and had them in trouble, then Mullen stick out his heel for a fecking flick on instead of keeping it simple and passing it on.

The Hippo did one too but it came off, he gets away with them as it's in his game but unless we're 3 or 4 goals up I'd rather we cut out the fancy shit and just kept it simple.

Noticed a big improvement on the Hippo's tackling, tracked back and nicked the ball back a few times too.

I'd take issue with them looking fitter than us. Before the 90 minutes were up they were blowing out their arse - where they did look better is that they had a wonderful out ball in Marenghi who has pace to burn and is very clever. Longworth (head and shoulders above the rest today) as well took up fantastic positions all over the pitch. That's clever play, not fit play.

I thought Keaghan was probably the best for us, his break away for Glens goal especially. On the whole though we looked really flat and devoid of ideas. O'Brien has a terrific range of passing but when there's no movement ahead, he's fighting a losing battle.

Glad to be in the final, and it's something to look forward to, but the next few weeks are going to be tough.

mozam76 wrote:I'd take issue with them looking fitter than us. Before the 90 minutes were up they were blowing out their arse - where they did look better is that they had a wonderful out ball in Marenghi who has pace to burn and is very clever. Longworth (head and shoulders above the rest today) as well took up fantastic positions all over the pitch. That's clever play, not fit play.

I thought Keaghan was probably the best for us, his break away for Glens goal especially. On the whole though we looked really flat and devoid of ideas. O'Brien has a terrific range of passing but when there's no movement ahead, he's fighting a losing battle.

Glad to be in the final, and it's something to look forward to, but the next few weeks are going to be tough.

Possibly that, aye. Also worth considering that players like White and O'Brien weren't running out of steam, and instead were just lazy bastards with no sense of direction. Agree about the boy Marenghi though, took us to pieces out wide on numerous occasions and our wide men couldn't handle him. Him and Longworth gave us so many problems, and we gave them so much space in dangerous positions all afternoon. Unacceptable.

Still beat them though, Falkirk didn't.

Good point on the clever play Mozam but they looked fresher towards the end of ET than we did.
ET was better entertainment value for a neutral than the original 90; the 5 mins injury time at the end of the 90 being the only real period of end to end stuff.

Always fancied our chances on the Pens with DJ in goal but he didn't get anywhere close to the first 4 (just as well the 1st one was so bad) nearly got to the 5th & saved the 6th; our pens were all good except Glen's although he hit it well but although didn't go over by much it went over & was a poor pen because of that, he played well when he came on though.

Just watching it on Alba now. About to take the pens, their 2nd (I think) hit the bar and went in, lucky bassa.

I don't think it's right to heavily criticise any individuals but Dycey, O'Brien, White and Mullen all had below par performances today however McKenna was the worst player on the park should of been hooked before he was.

It wasn't a great performance all round and watering the pitch too much hampered our play, our defense is still a bombscare but we dug deep and shown apart from Glen we are decent at penalties! Well done to Gaz thou in scoring his first goal today, great build up by Keaghan and finished with aplomb. Keaghan should of won it in normal time with a fine passing move starting with White and then putting it on a plate for Keaghan who I think tried to be too cute with the finish watching it back and should of scored. DJ saved us in the end he stood up well to Longworth at the death and then a great penalty save to put us into a potentially very profitable final against Sevco.

Credit to Stranraer they played well and look a decent outfit, it's harsh on anybody going out on penalties in a Semi Final but that's just the way the cookie crumbles.

More is needed from the team but into a final before Christmas is a great achievement so well done to all the management, players and staff!!!

Delighted to be in the final but we were certainly on the back foot for more than a few spells in the game yesterday. Stranraer (who were a typical diddy seaside team) had a game plan to get their goal, put ten behind the ball and counter-attack when we're chasing the game and they stuck with this from start to finish. Although they had their chances to win the game in ET, we looked the more likely to win on the basis that we actually wanted to win the game in 90 mins at 1-1 rather than holding out for ET.

If the opposition had any more quality than that of Stranraer's then we'd have lost the semi-final. Passing was slack, no mobility or urgency and the tactics throughout reminded me of the worst of times under Bollan: hoof the ball to Deuchar White and hope that we can scrap something from it. Jamieson (once again) kept us in the game but other than him, I can only give credit to Glen because he scored our equaliser. Not a single outfield player was head and shoulders above the rest. Even though some are crediting him and Hippolyte for other attributes from yesterday, we just didn't look like a team who were willing to roll up their sleeves and show fighting spirit AS A TEAM from the first minute. It was only when Stranraer were holding out for a 1-0 win and we threw the kitchen sink at them as we were panicking. Yes the pitch was over watered but how many Stranraer players slipped up? Obviously I'm not the kit man but it looked as though we had plastic mouldies on and they had metal studs.

I'll be more confident in the final depending on the opposition and the prospect of having Mensing and Gallagher as our CB pairing. For now though, I can't see us getting a result against Hibs even if they're more inconsistent than us this season.

That's a good point LC, it was our pitch and we decided to water it so why were we sliding about on it more than the Stranraer players.
If it was because of the type of studs used then it is pretty amateurish that we didn't know this and gave the other team an advantage in our own ground. Apart from anything else we were lucky none of our players seriously injured themselves on the wet surface.

Also the tactics we employed in the first half, hitting long balls into the final third, didn't make any sense when the pitch was being watered as it helped the ball skite out of play or up to their keeper. It wasn't going to hold the ball up for our players to get to it.

Livingston Football Club are in our first final for ten years,just thought I would point this out to everyone. Well done to all the management and players for getting us there. Some lack of appreciation shown by some on here. Well done to Keaghan last night more forward passes in one game than the whole season so praise when praise is due because I had criticised him for not doing so. Great forward ball to Glen for the goal. It was a shame he missed an opportunity to score when he received a great ball from White. We have a great work ethic in the team and I think the main culprit for so many passes going astray on Sunday was the over watering of the pitch. Well done to every player and John Mcglynn for getting us to our first final in ten years Looking forward to April already.

Smithy wrote:Livingston Football Club are in our first final for ten years,just thought I would point this out to everyone.  Well done to all the management and players for getting us there. Some lack of appreciation shown by some on here. Well done to Keaghan last night more forward passes in one game than the whole season so praise when praise is due because I had criticised him for not doing so. Great forward ball to Glen for the goal. It was a shame he missed an opportunity to score when he received a great ball from White.  We have a great work ethic in the team and I think the main culprit for so many passes going astray on Sunday was the over watering of the pitch. Well done to every player and John Mcglynn for getting us to our first final in ten years   Looking forward to April already.

Indeed, we like a fecking moan though don't we.

It's the most obvious cliche but it's all about the results, particularly in the cups. I didn't see all the game but it was incredibly tense and hence made for a good spectacle.

Delighted we are through and can't wait to enjoy our day out in April.

EdinburghLivi wrote:It's the most obvious cliche but it's all about the results, particularly in the cups. I didn't see all the game but it was incredibly tense and hence made for a good spectacle.

Delighted we are through and can't wait to enjoy our day out in April.

Spot on EL. Looking forward to the final too.

With DJ in goals I'm quite happy to go to penalties, have to say the players are pretty good at scoring them too, that's 2 pen shoot outs we've won and you have to score them as well as DJ saving some.