St Mirren v Livi

4th v 5th, after us getting back to back wins over Hearts and Killie, and them beating Celtic, tough game for both teams.

Would be massive for us if we can get a win here, to keep our run going and rack up the points so early in the season, really looking forward to going through to it too, used to be a happy hunting ground for us, hopefully Guthrie is fit to start and scores a goal or two, and we see Anderson coming on for 20 mins or so too. Mon the Lions, lets get those 3 pts.

Yeah, they will be up for it after beating Celtic, hopefully they get cocky and underestimate us.

Yeah their chairman is raving about what a great start they've had, and winning 4 of their last 5 games, which shows how good we're doing too, as we're on the same points as them. Actually if the ref had given Ayo's perfectly good goal against Sevco, and not awarded Motherwell a penalty for the ball being put out for a corner off Montano's chest/stomach, we'd be 2nd equal with Sevco on 14 pts.

The Aberdeen game has been our only blip, after going down to 10 men and conceding 5 goals, apart from that we've been pretty solid, although could also be doing with scoring more than a goal a game. Hopefully with Guthrie getting a run, and Anderson coming back into the team, the goals will start coming for us, so we don't have to rely so much on Montano for 1-0 wins.

They'll be cocka hoop,pardon the pun after their result against them last time out..Both teams on decent form makes this tough to call.Il sit on the fence here and take a point coward that I am.However depending on our lineup,that may change.Would be brilliant to get 3.Horrible day for it tomorrow apparently, wrap up well.Mon the Lions..

Just for Orco.  


REF WATCH

Craig Napier in charge for this game, sent off Nouble with a 2nd yellow card against St Johnstone  for a perceived elbow on the play acting St Johnstone player dropping to the ground till the card came out. Hasn't given any red cards for 9 games though, hopefully he doesn't end that run with us tomorrow.

Officiated in our 2-1 win over Hibs, only flashing 3 yellow cards, one to us for Montano.

He fell for the Hibs diving the whole game and he booked Montano when in fact the Hibs player pushed him. They are aw agin us!

How the fech did we lose that.Reasonably dominant for 3 quarters of that game.Heard someone say on another forum 2 sucker punches cost us.Tend to agree unfortunately. 2 great chances to put us ahead in that first half.First Bahamboula close,then Pitts one on one should have buried that.Second half go behind against the run of play. Then that stonewall pen.WTF Kelly.Striker what striker should have taken that.Then Bruce,need him back fully fit scores a well taken goal.Im thinking take the point and get out of there.But as usual at Paisley we shoot ourselves in the foot.Points definitely dropped here.Add your comments guys and fill your boots.Got the PPV,and thats how I saw it.

Yep total scunner leaving with nothing. Too many missed chances and waiting far too late to bring on Anderson too. Said to my mate we'll go a goal down before Anderson gets on, then will be chasing the game, i was watching the bench for about 10 mins hoping Anderson would be getting ready, then saw Martindale signaling to him, just a few seconds before they scored.

He came on and immediately makes an impact getting the shot on goal for the hand ball saving it from going in, then Kelly blasts it over the bar. He then scored the equaliser, and we're playing against ten men, but still manage to lose the fecking game.

Guthrie just wasn't doing it in this game with balls up to him, didn't have any movement to get in behind them, which Anderson does, why we waited so long to make a change i just don't understand. Obileye missed a glaring chance heading the ball wide at the back post from about 4 feet out, Guthrie missed one earlier but not as open a goal chance as Obileye's, and as Troy mentioned the 2 in the first half too.

They had a couple too where Shamal punched out to the edge of our box, volleying in a shot, but both shots were blocked, first was weak but the 2nd needed a good block. On the whole we should've won that game, but lack of cutting edge up front done us, esp the pen miss.

Just hope to feck Anderson gets a run of games now, we desperately need him to stay fit for a spell to give us some goals. We've got a decent looking team which will be so much better with Anderson leading the attack as our main striker.

Shamal made a cracking save from their free kick just before they got a couple of corners and scored. Our defending from set pieces needs to improve though, noticed Fitzwater wasn't even on the bench, neither was our back to back PoTM winner Montano, hope both aren't seriously injured, and will be back for the County game.

3 things i noticed that weren't great.

Shamal's punching at balls into his box.

Obliye's heading.

Guthrie being played as a target man, he's no Dykes, just isn't good at it.

I went along today using public transport, a train and two buses there and two buses back. Home at 8.30pm. I thought myself that for all that effort the fates might smile kindly on us. Fat chance! See when it's no yer day, it's no yer day.

We looked the better team for most of the game and went close a few times but Saints stole the points without having to do much to get them. Our defence was in generous mood.

I thought Nouble was not his scintillating best. Bahamboula stole his thunder a bit.The less said about the penalty the better. Awful! Ironic that the guy who scored their first should have been off. The ref was about to give him a second yellow then quickly change his mind probably because he knew he'd have to send him off. In saying that Napier wasn't as bad as the last couple of times he's reffed our games. I thought Omeonga fought doggedly all game.

I think Saints will know they were lucky to get all three points. I'm looking forward to our turn for a break or two.

At the end of the day in alternate football logic though we showed we were better than Celtic since we only got beat 2-1"to their 2-0. Searching furiously for positives.

Need to get back to winning was against Ross County next week.

orco wrote:I went along today using public transport, a train and two buses there and two buses back. Home at 8.30pm. I thought myself that for all that effort the fates might smile kindly on us. Fat chance! See when it's no yer day, it's no yer day.

We looked the better team for most of the game and went close a few times but Saints stole the points without having to do much to get them. Our defence was in generous mood.

I thought Nouble was not his scintillating best. Bahamboula stole his thunder a bit.The less said about the penalty the better. Awful! Ironic that the guy who scored their first should have been off. The ref was about to give him a second yellow then quickly change his mind probably because he knew he'd have to send him off. In saying that Napier wasn't as bad as the last couple of times he's reffed our games. I thought Omeonga fought doggedly all game.

I think Saints will know they were lucky to get all three points. I'm looking forward to our turn for a break or two.

At the end of the day in alternate football logic though we showed we were better than Celtic since we only got beat 2-1"to their 2-0.  Searching furiously for positives.

Need to get back to winning was against Ross County next week.

Then you get pillocks on P&B slating Livi's away support for not being enough. Well done Orco.

Liviforever wrote:Shamal made a cracking save from their free kick just before they got a couple of corners and scored. Our defending from set pieces needs to improve though, noticed Fitzwater wasn't even on the bench, neither was our back to back PoTM winner Montano, hope both aren't seriously injured, and will be back for the County game.

3 things i noticed that weren't great.

Shamal's punching at balls into his box.

Obliye's heading.

Guthrie being played as a target man, he's no Dykes, just isn't good at it.

I’ve not seen anything of the game but the 3 things you noticed…. Surely you have seen evidence of these before?

Shamal, for all his height does not look bulky enough to punch far and worries me with his lack of presence for crosses.

Obileye’s heading is a random direction & distance selection device… which points to poor timing on his part.

One look at Guthrie’s video reel and you can see he is not a target man but that is how DM plays the game.

I noticed in another post you mentioned our lack of cutting edge in the final third… hate to say I told you so but Nouble’s 2 goals in 3 is now 2 in 8. Your previous assessment of his emergence as a goal threat was somewhat premature as I said at the time.

I do agree that we look like a decent side but until we can produce more end product we will struggle over a season. Luckily we have a wee bit of a gap to the bottom 3 in terms of points gained but it is still very early in the season and it only takes 2 or 3 results going the wrong way to pull us back into the mix and it is usually the teams who don’t score many that end up struggling.

For all our decent start the warning signs are there… I’m not saying “wur doomed” but we need to be more clinical and DM needs to play to the strengths of the players at his disposal instead of sticking rigidly to a lone target man tactic.

Nouble isn't being played in the same position as he was when i said that though Bertie, he's now been moved back to his more familiar role out wide, where he didn't score a single goal for us last season, so i don't see how you can say i told you so on that one. He'd have to had stayed up front where Guthrie is playing, in fact i'd say Nouble was better in that position than Guthrie, he can at least hold off his marker and keep the ball till support arrives, Guthrie got mugged almost everytime we hit a long ball up to him, or we hit it too long and it went straight out for a goal kick.

Anderson though is far more mobile and can spin his man, then get past him, Guthrie can't, so if we're playing this style Anderson is def best at it. I'd like to see Guthrie played either side of Anderson, with either Nouble or Bahamboula, don't think we can fit all 3 in the team though, if we want Anderson playing centre.

Nouble can basically play in all 3 positions, but is far more effective either side, but wont score goals there, or at least is far less likely too, he set Anderson up with his goal though, so we don't need him to get goals, Anderson will score plenty with Nouble assisting him.


I think their 2nd goal was mainly down to us taking off Omeonga for Stephen Kelly, we couldn't get the ball up to Anderson from their free kick and 3 corners, and their pressure paid off getting the winner, Omeonga is one of our best players for turning over possession in midfield. Liam Kelly was taken off too right enough and would've been handy defending set pieces into our box, but we cleared two and couldn't get possession back to get it up the pitch, Omeonga would've helped us do that.

As i said, we left it too late getting Anderson on, his presence made a big difference, at 0-0 it would've been all we needed to win the game, we go a goal up and i doubt St Mirren even get near our goal, we'd be the one seeing out the game time wasting and breaking up play etc.

Yeah Obileye's defensive heading is more up in the air than distance clearing, it was him missing a sitter inside the 6 yard box at the back post that really had me pulling my hair out though, all he had to do was head it downwards to the ground and it was in, but he headed it high over the bar, that shouldn't be something he even has to practice doing, it's purely down to decision making.

Just watched Martindale's post match interview, pretty fair, recognized us being light in defensive midfield leading up to their winning goal, which Omeonga would've provided, but i can see why he put on an attacking mid along with the striker when we were a goal behind, it's not getting Anderson on quickly enough that led to us having to make a more drastic change in formation than we needed to had it been 0-0 though.

I still get a vibe he's reluctant to play Anderson, not sounding like he'll start him against County. With the injuries he's had last season and this i think he's wrapping him in cotton wool a bit trying to bring him along slowly into the team. Get the feeling if we're a goal up he'll leave it to the last 10 mins just to give him a wee run out, and it'll only be if we're struggling he'll come on earlier.

I accept Noobs is playing more in a creative role however he has had numerous chances to score in that role and failed to do so… so I don’t accept that his change of role should eliminate his goal threat; he is one of my favourite players so I’d love him to become a regular scorer, I think he’s the best close control dribbler we’ve had since Fernandez.

DM needs to stop overthinking things and go with his gut. He wanted to change our line up for one game earlier in the season but decided to be loyal to the players who’d been playing… it backfired. We don’t know if going with his gut on that occasion would have won the game but fortune favours the brave as they say.

Auld Nick wrote:I accept Noobs is playing more in a creative role however he has had numerous chances to score in that role and failed to do so… so I don’t accept that his change of role should eliminate his goal threat; he is one of my favourite players so I’d love him to become a regular scorer, I think he’s the best close control dribbler we’ve had since Fernandez.

DM needs to stop overthinking things and go with his gut. He wanted to change our line up for one game earlier in the season but decided to be loyal to the players who’d been playing… it backfired. We don’t know if going with his gut on that occasion would have won the game but fortune favours the brave as they say.

Aye but it does, last season is evidence of that, don't know why he can't score playing wide but hasn't managed it so far.

We could also do with someone making runs to the back post when either Nouble or Bahamboula is coming in from the wings, the amount of balls that went flashing past that back post and no one was there, was criminal. Though the one time someone was there, Obileye, he missed an absolute sitter heading it high.

Sooner Anderson is back playing the better, thought Guthrie was going to be the real deal, but playing him as a target man isn't going to work. We thought the same with Nouble last season right enough then he goes and puts in 2 wonderful performances playing there against Sevco and Hibs. So maybe just needs more work in the training ground. He's got to be more physical and bully defenders though, not just stand there getting mugged. Really ironic we keep getting this big physical team thrown at us, and the 2 most physical players we have is Holt and Omeonga, two short arses.

Guthrie hasn't twigged yet that Livi don't get fouls when their big men are held. He keeps standing there raising his hands in disbelief that the opposition defenders get away with it. Maybe he should do what players in nearly every other team do and go down. Sad to say but maybe if you can't beat them you need to join them. ?

We were getting a fair amount of fouls, wee Omeonga got most of them, biggest gripe was the ref taking so long before he started booking them for it.

Liviforever wrote:We were getting a fair amount of fouls, wee Omeonga got most of them, biggest gripe was the ref taking so long before he started booking them for it.

Yeh I noticed we were getting more free kicks than usual and agree he should have had the book out much earlier. Bahamboula's booking was ridiculous. He had the ball and the St Mirren player went in to tackle him with two feet, injuring himself in the process.

Our big guys rarely get the free kicks, though Nouble got a fair few in the Rangers game. Amazing how the referees concentrate their minds when the game is live on the tele.

Liviforever wrote:

Auld Nick wrote:I accept Noobs is playing more in a creative role however he has had numerous chances to score in that role and failed to do so… so I don’t accept that his change of role should eliminate his goal threat; he is one of my favourite players so I’d love him to become a regular scorer, I think he’s the best close control dribbler we’ve had since Fernandez.

DM needs to stop overthinking things and go with his gut. He wanted to change our line up for one game earlier in the season but decided to be loyal to the players who’d been playing… it backfired. We don’t know if going with his gut on that occasion would have won the game but fortune favours the brave as they say.

Aye but it does, last season is evidence of that, don't know why he can't score playing wide but hasn't managed it so far.

We could also do with someone making runs to the back post when either Nouble or Bahamboula is coming in from the wings, the amount of balls that went flashing past that back post and no one was there, was criminal. Though the one time someone was there, Obileye, he missed an absolute sitter heading it high.

Sooner Anderson is back playing the better, thought Guthrie was going to be the real deal, but playing him as a target man isn't going to work. We thought the same with Nouble last season right enough then he goes and puts in 2 wonderful performances playing there against Sevco and Hibs. So maybe just needs more work in the training ground. He's got to be more physical and bully defenders though, not just stand there getting mugged. Really ironic we keep getting this big physical team thrown at us, and the 2 most physical players we have is Holt and Omeonga, two short arses.

Or… he isn’t really a goal threat at all just managed to score a couple early on to get our hopes up…

orco wrote:

Liviforever wrote:We were getting a fair amount of fouls, wee Omeonga got most of them, biggest gripe was the ref taking so long before he started booking them for it.

Yeh I noticed we were getting more free kicks than usual and agree he should have had the book out much earlier. Bahamboula's booking was ridiculous. He had the ball and the St Mirren player went in to tackle him with two feet, injuring himself in the process.

Our big guys rarely get the free kicks, though Nouble got a fair few in the Rangers game. Amazing how the referees concentrate their minds when the game is live on the tele.

Oh aye, forgot about that one, said at the time, how the feck can we be getting a foul against us when we had the ball and it was their player that tackled Bahamboula.

Auld Nick wrote:

Liviforever wrote:

Auld Nick wrote:I accept Noobs is playing more in a creative role however he has had numerous chances to score in that role and failed to do so… so I don’t accept that his change of role should eliminate his goal threat; he is one of my favourite players so I’d love him to become a regular scorer, I think he’s the best close control dribbler we’ve had since Fernandez.

DM needs to stop overthinking things and go with his gut. He wanted to change our line up for one game earlier in the season but decided to be loyal to the players who’d been playing… it backfired. We don’t know if going with his gut on that occasion would have won the game but fortune favours the brave as they say.

Aye but it does, last season is evidence of that, don't know why he can't score playing wide but hasn't managed it so far.

We could also do with someone making runs to the back post when either Nouble or Bahamboula is coming in from the wings, the amount of balls that went flashing past that back post and no one was there, was criminal. Though the one time someone was there, Obileye, he missed an absolute sitter heading it high.

Sooner Anderson is back playing the better, thought Guthrie was going to be the real deal, but playing him as a target man isn't going to work. We thought the same with Nouble last season right enough then he goes and puts in 2 wonderful performances playing there against Sevco and Hibs. So maybe just needs more work in the training ground. He's got to be more physical and bully defenders though, not just stand there getting mugged. Really ironic we keep getting this big physical team thrown at us, and the 2 most physical players we have is Holt and Omeonga, two short arses.

Or… he isn’t really a goal threat at all just managed to score a couple early on to get our hopes up…

Pic in a DR article after Anderson's goal, the person in the background looks a familiar face.



Anderson hoping he'll be on penalty duty after Kelly's miss. https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/livis-bruce-anderson-bags-first-28140520

Which one? There are 3 albeit 2 in profile

Aye, the happy face didn't last long.