Guest Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 2 hours ago, TxRover said: aiding the team with connections, passes, holding the ball and distributing. We've seen him late most games recently, after a few tries with him as the primary CF, using his ability to harry the opposition, help control the ball and assist with breakouts. This is exactly what I saw from him at Livi, aye. That's his function. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxRover Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 3 hours ago, ATLIS said: Yeah he'll be away in the summer. Zero chance we recall him I imagine - last I'd checked Raith fans were asking if they could send him back Aye, but two goals in 10 minutes to beat Killie will change minds a bit! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIVIFOREVER Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Would rather have Poplatnik back than Reilly anyway, just haven't seen anything from him at Livi. Still reckon Poplatnik could do a job for us, looks similar to Robinson, harries players well, good eye for a pass in and around the box, and scores the odd goal, won a good number of headers for a guy his size too. Really wouldn't have put him out on loan, but if it got him sharp and doing well at Raith i think we should bring him back in Jan along with Nouble. Not as if we're doing that well with the players we have, that we couldn't do with trying out some on form loan players to see if they could help us out a hole. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widge Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Why did you guys let Efe Ambrose leave again? He's played 4 games for us and arguably been the best defender on the park on each occasion. Absolute Rolls-Royce of a player. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cptn Hooch Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Why did you guys let Efe Ambrose leave again? He's played 4 games for us and arguably been the best defender on the park on each occasion. Absolute Rolls-Royce of a player.I have genuinely no idea...I'd have him in the Livi starting 11. Would allow Ayo to play in midfield where he is best. Aye, Efe can be a bit bombs are at times but he's undoubtedly quality 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdinburghLivi Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 (edited) Had some good games with us but some stinkers as well. Was happy to see us get rid provided we got a good replacement but instead we signed Sean Kelly. Would have been fine as a backup, in hindsight. Edited October 4, 2021 by EdinburghLivi 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLIS Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 Looks like Barden is away back to Norwich for a bit for personal reasons. Leaves us with Stryjek (who needs a game or two out) and Maley 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIVIFOREVER Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, Widge said: Why did you guys let Efe Ambrose leave again? He's played 4 games for us and arguably been the best defender on the park on each occasion. Absolute Rolls-Royce of a player. No idea, i can only remember him having one bombscare moment that cost us a goal, in a game against Sevco. Certainly was better than any of our current defenders, who have all had bombscares this season, and Stryjek has had his fair share too, Efe would prob be the least likely to give the ball away in our current back line. Read folk saying he was too old and past it, but that seems to be a load of shite if he's playing for St Johnstone and doing well. Obileye is our best CB the now, but he's meant to be a lot better in midfield, and AFAIK that's where he was meant to be playing when we signed him, replacing Marvin Bartley. All seem to have gone tits up in defence this season, with Kelly even being played there and being horrendous, Parkes meant to be replacing Guthrie and has spent the majority of the season out injured, and Fitzwater having up and down form. Edited October 4, 2021 by LIVIFOREVER 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIVIFOREVER Posted October 4, 2021 Share Posted October 4, 2021 37 minutes ago, ATLIS said: Looks like Barden is away back to Norwich for a bit for personal reasons. Leaves us with Stryjek (who needs a game or two out) and Maley That's just peachy. Yeah Stryjek really could be doing with a spell out to try and get him focused better, no chance being dropped now if Maley is the back up. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 15 hours ago, Widge said: Why did you guys let Efe Ambrose leave again? He's played 4 games for us and arguably been the best defender on the park on each occasion. Absolute Rolls-Royce of a player. It's because we have a player, Fitzwater, who is a right-sided centre back in a 4 or a conservative right back in a 4. Then his ideal position is probably right in a back 3. Well that's exactly true of Ambrose too. Not only is there that positional similarity but the two also play the same style. Both defend more by covering rather than playing as aggressive stoppers and both are somewhat "ball-playing" in that they take the responsibility for initiating attacks more often than their centre back partners do. Martindale obviously saw them as too similar as he only rarely played both together at centre back. Then he chose Fitzwater as his first choice between them probably due to Fitzwater's younger age and the potential that brings for either a longer term solution or a future sale. Ambrose was on a regular starter wage so re-signing him on that when his squad role was actually going to be back up this season wasn't a good use of budget. Jason Kerr is similar in position and style to how I described Fitzwater and Ambrose so with Kerr leaving, Ambrose made perfect sense for St Johnstone. Ambrose has always split opinion since he's played in Scotland but I rate him highly and I'm unsurprised how well he's doing for you. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cptn Hooch Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 It's because we have a player, Fitzwater, who is a right-sided centre back in a 4 or a conservative right back in a 4. Then his ideal position is probably right in a back 3. Except he's played more in the left CB spot this season 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 21 minutes ago, Cptn Hooch said: Except he's played more in the left CB spot this season And Ambrose has played in the centre of the back 3 in every game for us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 20 minutes ago, Cptn Hooch said: Except he's played more in the left CB spot this season Probably because Obileye is weak on his left foot. They were switched for the last match despite this though, to try and utilise Fitzwater's better long passing out of defence. That was curtailed when Fitzwater was playing left side as centre backs playing on the side of their weaker foot get their angles closed down much more. At the season start, which is when he was making his decision on Ambrose, I think Martindale saw Parkes as left centre back and Fitzwater as right centre back in his preferred team. He had the stopper-covering styles both present with those two. Obileye likely only came in initially due to Parkes' injuries. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cptn Hooch Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 Probably because Obileye is weak on his left foot. They were switched for the last match despite this though, to try and utilise Fitzwater's better long passing out of defence. That was curtailed when Fitzwater was playing left side as centre backs playing on the side of their weaker foot get their angles closed down much more. At the season start, which is when he was making his decision on Ambrose, I think Martindale saw Parkes as left centre back and Fitzwater as right centre back in his preferred team. He had the stopper-covering styles both present with those two. Obileye likely only came in initially due to Parkes' injuries.I agree mate, my point was that as a CB there's a bit of leaway to which side they play. Alan Lithgow was the left side of our magic 3 for long enough despite being right footed. Parkes was injured before Efe signed for St Johnstone and while he was still training at Livi. It's the decision to bring in Kelly over Ambrose that gets me 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 13 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said: And Ambrose has played in the centre of the back 3 in every game for us. Aye, I have followed him at St Johnstone. Ambrose is best-suited to the right in a back three but he can excel in the centre too, especially if it's more robust marker types either side of him. When Liam Gordon returns from injury, it's possible Ambrose may move to the right though and Gordon will play centre as he was before injury. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 2 minutes ago, Cptn Hooch said: 11 minutes ago, FreedomFarter said: Probably because Obileye is weak on his left foot. They were switched for the last match despite this though, to try and utilise Fitzwater's better long passing out of defence. That was curtailed when Fitzwater was playing left side as centre backs playing on the side of their weaker foot get their angles closed down much more. At the season start, which is when he was making his decision on Ambrose, I think Martindale saw Parkes as left centre back and Fitzwater as right centre back in his preferred team. He had the stopper-covering styles both present with those two. Obileye likely only came in initially due to Parkes' injuries. I agree mate, my point was that as a CB there's a bit of leaway to which side they play. Alan Lithgow was the left side of our magic 3 for long enough despite being right footed. Parkes was injured before Efe signed for St Johnstone and while he was still training at Livi. It's the decision to bring in Kelly over Ambrose that gets me Sure, fully agree. My comments are me speculating on what I think might have been Martindale's thinking in all this. The key word being "speculating" as obviously I've no more insight on his decisions than anyone. As for Lithgow, what a miss he is. He brought such a calm to our back line. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cptn Hooch Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 Sure, fully agree. My comments are me speculating on what I think might have been Martindale's thinking in all this. The key word being "speculating" as obviously I've no more insight on his decisions than anyone. As for Lithgow, what a miss he is. He brought such a calm to our back line.I certainly thought it was Lithgow's time to go as he didn't look capable of premiership levels anymore...the injury has certainly taken a lot out of him. However, he'd be a much better backup than Kelly seems to be 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 Aye, I was meaning prime Lithgow from the 18/19 season. How we could do with that player. I know he's no longer that level now, though. It's possible he didn't want a back up role so chose to leave in the summer and be a starter elsewhere. With Sean Kelly, it's Liam's brother so Martindale probably knew him personally and signed him as a bit of a last resort. I hate slagging players and I'd love nothing more than Kelly to prove me wrong but he's not up to standard. If a left centre back is needed in future, I'd rather Longridge be moved there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdinburghLivi Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 1 hour ago, FreedomFarter said: If a left centre back is needed in future, I'd rather Longridge be moved there. Just going to green dot all your posts today. 100% agree with this. Longridge looked capable in a back 3 towards the end of last season. Would have to be very last resort but I'd feel a lot more comfortable with him in a back 4 at LCB than Kelly. Problem is that Penrice doesn't look great at left back, so you would need better cover there as well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cptn Hooch Posted October 5, 2021 Share Posted October 5, 2021 Just going to green dot all your posts today. 100% agree with this. Longridge looked capable in a back 3 towards the end of last season. Would have to be very last resort but I'd feel a lot more comfortable with him in a back 4 at LCB than Kelly. Problem is that Penrice doesn't look great at left back, so you would need better cover there as well. Even Jack McMillan in a back 3 is an option. He's played CB a few times out on loan. His experience at left back for us would stand him in good stead to play left side of a 3 too 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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