Livingston V St.Johstone - Wednesday 22nd January


SaintJet
 Share

Recommended Posts

Decided to sleep on it before commenting. Why the feck does Tommy not realise he is costing us time and again by playing a sole striker. Fair enough if May could win a ball in the air, but it is just cannon fodder for each teams defenders. When he eventually decided to make changes it took about 10 mins of indecision before he decided to leave Kennedy on the bench and made sure his subs had all cooled down. 
As for the ref, must be the most inept display yet this season with at least 7 or 8 blatant handballs being ignored, including Dykes hugging the ball while lying on the ground. MOH got wiped out in the penalty box and he never even checked on him at any point, yet Livi players kept tripping over their own feet and play was immediately stopped for them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Performance wasnt that bad, I thought.

When you remember only Rangers and Aberdeen have scored and taken points at that ground, and theyve now played every club at home, then it hopefully puts some perspective to things.

Livingston took the best chance of the match, while we got denied a stonewall penalty and MOH missed what was virtually an open goal. A different day we draw that, or win it, and everyone in here is raving about how great a result it is.

May was fine as a lone striker, he set up a MOH chance and generally held the ball up well. Issue was the midfield, only O'Halloran seemed to get near him when he did have the ball, but again, we did have chances in this set up so if we win theres almost no complaints.

Even game, settled by them taking their chance while we missed ours. Just one of those games.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The positive thing about this place is you are very close to the action and can see very clearly who is playing well and who is hiding.

Like Random I thought there was little between the teams and on another night we could have won this - this Livi team are brutally physical and have some tidy players playing to their strengths - what Hibs were smoking when they realeased Marvin Bartley is anyone's guess - he was excellent. Here's my thoughts;

1. Zander is seriously back to his best - even looked good coming out for difficult crosses.

2. Defense looked pretty solid with Liam Gordon again a standout - everyone needs to understand how important he is - constantlly talking and geeing up or berating his players - Captain material. Ralston was a bit in and out but put in some nice crosses - still a bit fragile for my liking. 

3. Midfield was a battle and Ally and Liam Craig were kind of lost in the fog of battle - Dre Wright looks still a bit short of thrust to where he was last year but he's got lots to offer this team. Starting to see the best of MOH now, on another surface he would have had a great game - he has to be given a run in the team.

4. Steve May was fine and as usual drove himself in to the ground with his running the channels- he still has all the touches and we'll get goals from him I'm sure - playing this Livi team would make most strikers take up bowls  - they play that tight.

5. Losing the goal just after half time was a killer - we maybe left it a touch too late bringing on the subs but Kane and Hendry looked really purposeful and caused the Livi defense a real challenge - hindsight etc. but I wonder if we strated with them if it would have been a different outcome. 

6. Summing up I've felt a whole lot worse leaving a game after a defeat - there are positive things from this team but we must beat Killie on Saturday.

Edited by SaintJet
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We all have different views on layers performances, but I wonder if u was at a direct game last night. The only time Stevie was effective was when a chance ball went wide and he was able to get in it, other than that he just had high balls hit at him which only meant Livi immediately were on the offensive again. It’s all very well him running the channels, but he is being played as our 1 forward with wingers to run the channels and provide crosses for him. Didn’t realise Drey Wright was on the park until we switched at HT and he was suddenly standing in front of us. Ally battled away in mid-field and broke up attack after attack and actually passed to ball to his own players most of the time. We were also commenting on the difference between the 2 keepers, with 1 commanding his box and 1 routed to his line, as per his manager’s instructions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 minutes ago, Tranmere Saintee said:

We all have different views on layers performances, but I wonder if u was at a direct game last night. The only time Stevie was effective was when a chance ball went wide and he was able to get in it, other than that he just had high balls hit at him which only meant Livi immediately were on the offensive again. It’s all very well him running the channels, but he is being played as our 1 forward with wingers to run the channels and provide crosses for him. Didn’t realise Drey Wright was on the park until we switched at HT and he was suddenly standing in front of us. Ally battled away in mid-field and broke up attack after attack and actually passed to ball to his own players most of the time. We were also commenting on the difference between the 2 keepers, with 1 commanding his box and 1 routed to his line, as per his manager’s instructions.

You were at a different game clearly. 

If you want the find the negative in everything you'll find it. I try to see some positivity.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What a sh@te place to go to.  Just feels like the whole set-up their results in anti-football...plastic pitch, keepers being able to kick practically the length of pitch.  Livi using the long throw like a corner and then the inevitable waste time at every opportunity after they got their goal.  Depressing stuff!  Didn’t actually think we played that bad but we’re just seemed a bit out muscled over the pitch.  Referee didn’t help either don’t know if it’s me but we seem to have had our fair share of nuggets so far this season!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, slambrother said:

What a sh@te place to go to.  Just feels like the whole set-up their results in anti-football...plastic pitch, keepers being able to kick practically the length of pitch.  Livi using the long throw like a corner and then the inevitable waste time at every opportunity after they got their goal.  Depressing stuff!  Didn’t actually think we played that bad but we’re just seemed a bit out muscled over the pitch.  Referee didn’t help either don’t know if it’s me but we seem to have had our fair share of nuggets so far this season!

This reads a lot like the sort of stuff opposition fans used to say about Saints just a few years ago when we were doing well.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Tranmere Saintee said:

We all have different views on layers performances, but I wonder if u was at a direct game last night. The only time Stevie was effective was when a chance ball went wide and he was able to get in it, other than that he just had high balls hit at him which only meant Livi immediately were on the offensive again. It’s all very well him running the channels, but he is being played as our 1 forward with wingers to run the channels and provide crosses for him. Didn’t realise Drey Wright was on the park until we switched at HT and he was suddenly standing in front of us. Ally battled away in mid-field and broke up attack after attack and actually passed to ball to his own players most of the time. We were also commenting on the difference between the 2 keepers, with 1 commanding his box and 1 routed to his line, as per his manager’s instructions.

Have to agree with your assessment, not much between the teams, but livi looked more fluid, with Murray out it's a worry we are relying on Liam Craig, hes too slow and just chips aimless high balls up top and the less said about the corners, also the distance between may and the midfield was huge the guy had no chance. The ref was awful and if we got the penalty might have been different.Still think we are in for struggle and in real relegation dog fight as this seasons team just hasn't got the same balance of what previous teams had, before I'd be looking who were going to catch going to the top six, this year it's looking over our shoulder.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, RandomGuy said:

Performance wasnt that bad, I thought.

When you remember only Rangers and Aberdeen have scored and taken points at that ground, and theyve now played every club at home, then it hopefully puts some perspective to things.

Livingston took the best chance of the match, while we got denied a stonewall penalty and MOH missed what was virtually an open goal. A different day we draw that, or win it, and everyone in here is raving about how great a result it is.

May was fine as a lone striker, he set up a MOH chance and generally held the ball up well. Issue was the midfield, only O'Halloran seemed to get near him when he did have the ball, but again, we did have chances in this set up so if we win theres almost no complaints.

Even game, settled by them taking their chance while we missed ours. Just one of those games.

The big miss was Murray Davidson full stop

Link to comment
Share on other sites

12 hours ago, SaintJet said:

- what Hibs were smoking when they realeased Marvin Bartley is anyone's guess - he was excellent. Here's my thoughts;

I think it's more that Holt manages to get the best out of his players, by playing to their strengths. Livingstone are well drilled, well organised, with a clear plan for every game.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share