Livingston - all the threads merged

[Cptn Hooch]

Energy, pressing, intensity. A Livi performance.
Efe had a great game. I really liked how took responsibility and tried to make things happen whether it be carrying the ball out or pinging a pass. 
We made some good chances again and Lars nearly grabbed a debut goal (hitting the bar). If we were a bit more clinical it could’ve be comfortable and that I suppose was the issue last week. I do think Forrest is looking lively. 
Can’t see Souda getting in the team any time soon. Feel a bit sorry for McMillan being dropped.

That's looked our strongest lineup yet...Robbo and Forrest did a power of work on the wings and cutting in....great depth too with Holt coming off the bench

[EdinburghLivi]

Souda has more to offer than a lot of the players on the bench, based on what I've seen. Would be a shame if he is out the picture. 

Edited August 30, 2020 by EdinburghLivi

[LIVIFOREVER]

17 minutes ago, EdinburghLivi said:

Souda has a lot more to offer than a lot of the players on the bench, based on what I've seen. Would be a shame if he is out the picture. 

Wouldn't mind seeing Souda and Forrest playing either side of Pittman in the attacking mid 3 against Accies, both have bags of skill and play on the front foot to run at defenders.

[thruthenight]

Souda has a lot more to offer than a lot of the players on the bench, based on what I've seen. Would be a shame if he is out the picture. 

I agree, I really like Souda. I’d have him ahead of Robinson tbf. I’d like to see Robinson try the Pittman role at some point

[EdinburghLivi]

Jack Hamilton out on loan to East Fife. 

[LIVIFOREVER]

50 minutes ago, EdinburghLivi said:

Jack Hamilton out on loan to East Fife. 

Expected him to be going out on loan after us signing Lars and Stokes, but a step back for him to a L1 team when he was playing on loan in the Championship last season, wonder if he'll ever make the grade playing with our first team in the Premiership. 

[Guest]

Souda absent from the last three match squads now. Does anyone have knowledge on that? Forrest and Robinson are Thomas Muller-style wide attackers.  Not really dribblers but instead keep their touches fewer and more simple. Their strength is their incisive runs into threatening areas. They arrive in the box to finish a move or assist a chance. Souda is a wide attacker much more like Lawless. He drops a bit deeper and infield, is happy to get on the ball and playmake, aiding earlier in the attacking build up. So given this alternative option Souda can offer, I hope it's that he's injured rather than has left the club. Also regarding the wide attack, I'm surprised Gary Holt doesn't use Sibbald on the left when he wants a central trio of Bartley, Jason Holt and Pittman. Sibbald is best playing central but has also done well on the left in the last two seasons. 

[LogieLivi]

Souda absent from the last three match squads now. Does anyone have knowledge on that? Forrest and Robinson are Thomas Muller-style wide attackers.  Not really dribblers but instead keep their touches fewer and more simple. Their strength is their incisive runs into threatening areas. They arrive in the box to finish a move or assist a chance. Souda is a wide attacker much more like Lawless. He drops a bit deeper and infield, is happy to get on the ball and playmake, aiding earlier in the attacking build up. So given this alternative option Souda can offer, I hope it's that he's injured rather than has left the club. Also regarding the wide attack, I'm surprised Gary Holt doesn't use Sibbald on the left when he wants a central trio of Bartley, Jason Holt and Pittman. Sibbald is best playing central but has also done well on the left in the last two seasons. 

His attitude certainly doesn't seem that good. If he was seriously impressing in training then he would be in the squad.
I wouldnt be surprised to see him leave.

[LIVIFOREVER]

Having been able to force myself to watch the goals against us in more detail, i'm wondering what McCrorie actually has to do to get dropped, he is well positioned for their 2nd goal, but just stands there with his arms down and watches the ball go past him.  Wasn't exactly great for their first goal either, didn't make an attempt to save either goal, and was as well not being there for all the good he did.

I know he gets a lot of criticism, and maybe some of it was ott, even gets people defending him by saying he can't be blamed for any of the goals, with the line of not much he could do, it's getting to the stage where i'm thinking, well what exactly is he doing, if all the blame is on the defenders and McCrorie is absolved because of that, then surely anyone could be in goals and do the exact same job, not saving shots/headers. I want our keeper to save the odd worldie even, the kind to win us some points, apart from the Aberdeen game i haven't seen any sign of that from him. The goals yesterday were poor defending, but McCrorie just stands there for both goals without even making any attempt to get near them.

From the one game Stryjek was played, he looked far better presence and made a save that i have no confidence of McCrorie making, the amount of goals we've conceded has to reflect on the keeper too, it's about time Stryjek got his chance to see if he's any better than McCrorie surely.

 

Devlin was also at fault allowing Odoffin a free header for the first, which came off the bar, then barely made any attempt to block Templeton's shot, he's good going forward and getting in crosses, but his defending is very suspect.  He was part of the team that got a clean sheet against Sevco though, so possibly wont be trying to get forward and will stay more defensively in his own half, i'd still rather see McMillan getting put in at RB against Celtic.

[ATLIS]

IMO changes are needed now or Holt might start sweating about his job. If there's even a chance we go down, he needs replaced so that we have a fighting chance. Still have faith that he's the guy to do it btw but need to be on our toes.

Robinson, Bartley and McCrorie need dropped asap. Captain or not Bartley's performance levels have dropped hugely since taking up official captaincy - I'd rather we dropped Holt deeper, played with Sibbald and Pitts in the middle. Get Souda back in the team and on the wing because Robbo is only really useful in big games, games that we soak up the pressure.

I've no idea what any of those 3 need to do to get dropped but Holt needs to grow a pair and drop them

[Cptn Hooch]

IMO changes are needed now or Holt might start sweating about his job. If there's even a chance we go down, he needs replaced so that we have a fighting chance. Still have faith that he's the guy to do it btw but need to be on our toes.

Robinson, Bartley and McCrorie need dropped asap. Captain or not Bartley's performance levels have dropped hugely since taking up official captaincy - I'd rather we dropped Holt deeper, played with Sibbald and Pitts in the middle. Get Souda back in the team and on the wing because Robbo is only really useful in big games, games that we soak up the pressure.

I've no idea what any of those 3 need to do to get dropped but Holt needs to grow a pair and drop them

In my opinion Marv has been slightly off it in one game so far...yesterday he did his job well again. Agreed about McCrorie

[ATLIS]

1 minute ago, Cptn Hooch said:

3 minutes ago, ATLIS said:

IMO changes are needed now or Holt might start sweating about his job. If there's even a chance we go down, he needs replaced so that we have a fighting chance. Still have faith that he's the guy to do it btw but need to be on our toes.

Robinson, Bartley and McCrorie need dropped asap. Captain or not Bartley's performance levels have dropped hugely since taking up official captaincy - I'd rather we dropped Holt deeper, played with Sibbald and Pitts in the middle. Get Souda back in the team and on the wing because Robbo is only really useful in big games, games that we soak up the pressure.

I've no idea what any of those 3 need to do to get dropped but Holt needs to grow a pair and drop them

In my opinion Marv has been slightly off it in one game so far...yesterday he did his job well again. Agreed about McCrorie

For me it's the opposite, I think he's only had one or two okay-good games this season and has spent the rest of it standing still pointing at folk as passes slide past him.

No idea why we look like such a different team now but it's horrific. Part of me is wondering if the intensity and bond that Hopkin instilled has been slowly draining bit by bit every season and the fast paced, hard working team we had was the players from the side leaving and others not quite buying into it as much. 

We were doing double/triple sessions then, I wonder if that's still the case and if the emphasis on intensity has lessened since then. That was a pretty core identity of our side which seems lacking lately

[Scrutinizer]

Just watched the highlights 
Terrible defending for Accies first goal,When the corner comes over, 3 Livi defenders at the near post defending against 1 Accies player, also Devlin and Barclay left to defend  against 2 Accies players seems OK, then 1 Accies player makes a move,Barclay follows his man,then Devlin decides to follow the same player leaving Odoffin a free header,at the same time Ambrose is standing in the middle marking nobody,Guthrie is away out at the corner of the 18 yard box marking nobody watching it all unfold.

Guthrie and Ambrose need to wake-up quick ...

The second Goal, lovely cross,Robinson sleeping gives the guy a free run,while McCrorie
doesn't even move.

Forrest and Robinson for all the running with the ball yesterday,their touch lacked any composure

Devlin can't defend,OK going forward ,his crossing is a bit hit and miss

Holt can't defend, can't make runs forward,  easily knocked of the ball. What is he good at???

Get the feeling McCrorie lacks confidence at set pieces

I like Sibbald,did nothing yesterday,very sluggish looking
 

[Guest]

16 hours ago, ATLIS said:

Part of me is wondering if the intensity and bond that Hopkin instilled has been slowly draining bit by bit every season and the fast paced, hard working team we had was the players from the side leaving and others not quite buying into it as much. 

This is how it is for Livi. Us and Hamilton are in a unique position in this league where if any of our players have a good season, they're gone that summer. We rarely can afford to offer the more standard 3 or 4 year contracts to players, meaning they often become available as an end of contract, free signing for other clubs. Then when it comes to finding replacements, financial restrictions compared to the other 8 non-Old Firm clubs makes it especially challenging. That's why you see us and Hamilton signing players from such obscure backgrounds sometimes.

[19QOS19]

Expected him to be going out on loan after us signing Lars and Stokes, but a step back for him to a L1 team when he was playing on loan in the Championship last season, wonder if he'll ever make the grade playing with our first team in the Premiership. 

Go out on a limb here and say that he won't.

[LIVIFOREVER]

3 hours ago, 19QOS19 said:

On 09/09/2020 at 14:15, LIVIFOREVER said:

Expected him to be going out on loan after us signing Lars and Stokes, but a step back for him to a L1 team when he was playing on loan in the Championship last season, wonder if he'll ever make the grade playing with our first team in the Premiership. 

Go out on a limb here and say that he won't.

Yeah doesn't look like he will, had high hopes of him being a good striker when he first went out on loan, ripping it up in the juniors and L2 the same season, and had a style similar to Ryan Hardie, but he hasn't carried that form into the higher divisions, so isn't looking good for him being able to step up to the top flight, or even 2nd tier. Suppose he's still young enough to have a development spurt but with him being at QotS he couldn't have had a better striker to play alongside and learn from than Dobbie.

Edited September 14, 2020 by LIVIFOREVER

[LIVIFOREVER]

On 13/09/2020 at 10:18, FreedomFarter said:

Souda absent from the last three match squads now. Does anyone have knowledge on that? Forrest and Robinson are Thomas Muller-style wide attackers.  Not really dribblers but instead keep their touches fewer and more simple. Their strength is their incisive runs into threatening areas. They arrive in the box to finish a move or assist a chance. Souda is a wide attacker much more like Lawless. He drops a bit deeper and infield, is happy to get on the ball and playmake, aiding earlier in the attacking build up. So given this alternative option Souda can offer, I hope it's that he's injured rather than has left the club. Also regarding the wide attack, I'm surprised Gary Holt doesn't use Sibbald on the left when he wants a central trio of Bartley, Jason Holt and Pittman. Sibbald is best playing central but has also done well on the left in the last two seasons. 

Missing Souda's deliveries from set pieces too, the amount of corners we had against Accies and they all came to nothing, not heard anything about him being injured so doesn't look good for his future at Livi.

 

Would expect Robbo to start against Celtic though, seems to love scoring goals against them, would even be worth sticking a few quid on him to bag a goal. 

[ATLIS]

8 hours ago, FreedomFarter said:

This is how it is for Livi. Us and Hamilton are in a unique position in this league where if any of our players have a good season, they're gone that summer. We rarely can afford to offer the more standard 3 or 4 year contracts to players, meaning they often become available as an end of contract, free signing for other clubs. Then when it comes to finding replacements, financial restrictions compared to the other 8 non-Old Firm clubs makes it especially challenging. That's why you see us and Hamilton signing players from such obscure backgrounds sometimes.

Pretty sure the fair majority of our new signings are all 3 year deals or 2 with the option of a 3rd so this argument doesn't hold up at all

[Loemba90]

Rumour that Stokes has been punted by Livi.  

[ATLIS]

30 minutes ago, Loemba90 said:

Rumour that Stokes has been punted by Livi.  

From who? You? Seems like a load of shite