Pars v Livi

[smpar]

I’m also a huge fan of Higgy running off as if he’d scored a peach at the first.

[D.A.F.C]

2 hours ago, Stellaboz said:

Smith and McManus worth going with? They're both quicker than Clark at least.

I thought on Saturday the game was crying out for McManus to be brought on and hassle their back line.

In terms of workrate McManus and Smith would be my preferred starters but Clark does score more goals over a season. I would also consider Splaine after yesterday. Again his workrate is higher.

[DA Baracus]

We started the season with Smith and McManus as the front pairing and they did pretty well

[smpar]

Smith and McManus for a Premiership defence - albeit an Ian Cathro side - apart.

[Black and White Tragic]

I’m also a huge fan of Higgy running off as if he’d scored a peach at the first.

It was a peach to be fair.

[dafcburty]

A deserved win, IMO. 

The early goal seemed to open the game up and that suited us with the pace of Aird causing Livi issues. 

Aird's goal was fantastic and then to get a third before half time seemed to really kill off the visitors. 

The second half was a less enthralling affair IMO with Livingston trying hard but lacking quality in the final third. We had 2 or 3 really good chances to increase our lead before Livingston grabbed their consolation. 

A big 3 points to set us up nicely for two very difficult away matches. 

For more of my thoughts on the match, you can find them here:

https://jordanburtfootball.com/2017/10/22/lions-tamed-as-pars-move-up-to-second/

[LIVIFOREVER]

1 hour ago, dafcburty said:

A deserved win, IMO. 

The early goal seemed to open the game up and that suited us with the pace of Aird causing Livi issues. 

Aird's goal was fantastic and then to get a third before half time seemed to really kill off the visitors. 

The second half was a less enthralling affair IMO with Livingston trying hard but lacking quality in the final third. We had 2 or 3 really good chances to increase our lead before Livingston grabbed their consolation. 

A big 3 points to set us up nicely for two very difficult away matches. 

For more of my thoughts on the match, you can find them here:

https://jordanburtfootball.com/2017/10/22/lions-tamed-as-pars-move-up-to-second/

Good piece but wouldn't say the HT substitutions were damage limitation (although obv it was to try and stop us conceding more goals), Aird had ripped Mullin down our right hand side for the 2nd and 3rd goals and Toddy was caught out for both of those goals too leaving Higginbotham too much room for his shot and not getting in front to block Aird's shot either. Plus Toddy was needed up front to give us a bit of height and muscle. Gallagher really should've been on from the start and McMillan was a lot better defensively than Mullin, so the subs were to sort out a weakness on our right hand side.

Apart from that I agreed with you.

[Cptn Hooch]

We've been riding high with some fantastic results and we all knew it wouldn't last forever. Dunfermline seem to be title challengers so can't be overly upset with the result. Hoppy will have learned from his mistakes so hopefully we'll see an improved performance in the next game.

 

Bad day at the office, onwards and upwards, (insert generic cliché here), better luck next time...

 

Target is still 8th minimum so we're still overachieving

 

[Poet of the Macabre]

Would agree about Clark. He looked good for a short spell in the second but otherwise was rather ineffective. Definitely think McManus and Smith should be up top at Inverness.

Re: highlights - sort of ridiculous the package doesn't include the defensive cock-up with Ashcroft or the penalty-offside incident which got Hopkin so raging. Guess the footage showed it wasn't offside...

[Shandon Par]

Did Clark ever contribute much except goals? It was a huge contribution last season having someone who could actually stick the ball in the net. He maybe looks more pedestrian compared to the hyperactive guys like Higgy, Cardle, McManus, Smith. AJ trusts him as the guy most likely to grab a goal and probably sees him as needing game time to make up for missing a big chunk of the start of the season. 

Higgy's goal was a Petrie-at-Tannadice-esque omen. Expensive United in turmoil and Pars quietly plugging away with a manager hooked on crow-barring as many wingers and strikers into his team as possible. 

[Poet of the Macabre]

2 minutes ago, Shandon Par said:

Did Clark ever contribute much except goals?

Not really. When he doesn't score though, it does leave us almost a man down at times.

I like him but he's not in form at the moment.

[LIVIFOREVER]

1 hour ago, Poet of the Macabre said:

Would agree about Clark. He looked good for a short spell in the second but otherwise was rather ineffective. Definitely think McManus and Smith should be up top at Inverness.

Re: highlights - sort of ridiculous the package doesn't include the defensive cock-up with Ashcroft or the penalty-offside incident which got Hopkin so raging. Guess the footage showed it wasn't offside...

Even if it was offside surely that was still a booking for dangerous play, you would still get booked for booting someone in the face after the whistle, that was a bad tackle on Penrice.  That Lino looked like he was just sticking his flag up cause he couldn't keep up with play, yet when a ball went out right beside where he was for a throw in he kept it down till he saw which way the ref was awarding it. The pen would've certainly made it interesting though, we had our tails up but it was too little too late.

[Poet of the Macabre]

2 minutes ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Even if it was offside surely that was still a booking for dangerous play, you would still get booked for booting someone in the face after the whistle, that was a bad tackle on Penrice.  That Lino looked like he was just sticking his flag up cause he couldn't keep up with play, yet when a ball went out right beside where he was for a throw in he kept it down till he saw which way the ref was awarding it. The pen would've certainly made it interesting though, we had our tails up but it was too little too late.

I was at the other end of the ground so have no idea if it was offside or if the foul merited a yellow or red.

I was hoping the highlights would shed some light but I guess Ryan Williamson dribbling the ball out of defence was more important to the finished package.

[Shandon Par]

2 minutes ago, Poet of the Macabre said:

Not really. When he doesn't score though, it does leave us almost a man down at times.

I like him but he's not in form at the moment.

I don't think there was much wrong with Smith and McManus up front as we had early in the season. AJ is loyal to Clark though and he probably only has to point to the league table to shut up any critics of his team selection. He knows the players' mentality better too - you get the sense that if McManus or Smith are stuck on the bench they'll come back even more determined. He might just think that if he keeps playing Clark the goals will come - he said as much last season about that being the reason for never subbing Clark (and the flukey goal down at Queens at the end of the season that sealed 5th place is  a perfect example of his logic). 

Used to say the same things about guys like Henrik Larsson or Marco Negri. You'd leave a game thinking "they did f**k all today" (except score 2/3/4 goals against us). 

[Stellaboz]

There's also an argument that McManus,Smith or Ryan look a better bench option than Clark if it's not going well.

[Shandon Par]

11 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

There's also an argument that McManus,Smith or Ryan look a better bench option than Clark if it's not going well.

Also, a little bit of Hawk dies inside when he sees Clark starting. 

[dafcburty]

11 hours ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Good piece but wouldn't say the HT substitutions were damage limitation (although obv it was to try and stop us conceding more goals), Aird had ripped Mullin down our right hand side for the 2nd and 3rd goals and Toddy was caught out for both of those goals too leaving Higginbotham too much room for his shot and not getting in front to block Aird's shot either. Plus Toddy was needed up front to give us a bit of height and muscle. Gallagher really should've been on from the start and McMillan was a lot better defensively than Mullin, so the subs were to sort out a weakness on our right hand side.

Apart from that I agreed with you.

Tbf, I was surprised Gallagher didn't start tbh although I am aware Todorov has played there recently. I felt Mullen up front was always a threat and Pittman put himself about in the middle too without really creating much. 

Don't know if you have read or listened to your managers post-match thoughts yet (I haven't read the full thread) but the comments from David Hopkin can be found on my website, here:

https://jordanburtfootball.com/2017/10/23/the-first-goal-is-schoolboy-stuff-says-livi-boss-hopkin/

[Black and White Tragic]

I was at the other end of the ground so have no idea if it was offside or if the foul merited a yellow or red.
I was hoping the highlights would shed some light but I guess Ryan Williamson dribbling the ball out of defence was more important to the finished package.

Maybe the Livi highlights package will include it? When do they normally have theirs edited and released by?

[LIVIFOREVER]

7 minutes ago, Black and White Tragic said:

Maybe the Livi highlights package will include it? When do they normally have theirs edited and released by?

Afraid not, LIVItv doesn't do highlights anymore, and the guy that has been putting up a video this season (RogerThatProductions) usually just sticks up the goals.

[LIVIFOREVER]

1 hour ago, dafcburty said:

eTbf, I was surprised Gallagher didn't start tbh although I am aware Todorov has played there recently. I felt Mullen up front was always a threat and Pittman put himself about in the middle too without really creating much. 

Don't know if you have read or listened to your managers post-match thoughts yet (I haven't read the full thread) but the comments from David Hopkin can be found on my website, here:

https://jordanburtfootball.com/2017/10/23/the-first-goal-is-schoolboy-stuff-says-livi-boss-hopkin/

Cheers.

 

Agree with Hoppy that it should've been a booking for that tackle on Penrice but you can't give a penalty too, not when it was given offside, Hoppy's getting carried away there lol.

 

He really should have made a change in the first half to try and get to HT 2-0 down and regroup, it was patently obvious Mullin was being skinned by Aird, think I saw him coming inside at least 4 times, just before he scored he'd had a pop that went over the bar after coming right through us, and even the first goal started when Aird came past Byrne and Mullin to cut inside. McMillan might have stopped the 3rd goal from happening had he been brought on for Josh Mullin after we conceded the 2nd goal,  i'd have brought on Gallagher too instead of waiting till HT, not just saying that in hindsight either, I could see we were being ripped apart right from the first goal when Aird had already ripped Mullin twice.

 

Done and dusted now anyway and still think Hoppy is doing a great job, we did well in the prev two games with that starting line up with Toddy in defence (Gallagher being suspended for 2 game) but it didn't work against Dunfermline.