Guest Posted April 24, 2022 Share Posted April 24, 2022 A wee ponderance on the Obileye and Fitzwater pairing: I personally view the best centre back pairings as being balanced between two roles. One of them is more about ball-winning, going to ground in tackles more often, stepping out from the defensive line to press. I'll call them the presser (p). The other is more about positioning, holding the defensive line more and making fewer tackles. I'll call them the coverer (c). Examples are; Ramos (p) and Varane (c), Puyol (p) and Pique (c), or in the Liviverse - Andrews (p) and Rubio (c). In recent seasons we had Halkett and Ciaron Brown who both did the all-action presser style for us then Lithgow and Guthrie were great as the coverer role. Obileye and Fitzwater haven't quite had that balance for me this season. Fitzwater's natural tendency is definitely to do the coverer role then Obileye playing defensive midfield last season at QotS made him seem a fit for the presser role. Obileye has struggled with that, though. Hedges opener away to Aberdeen and Crawford's late winner at home for St Johnstone were both times where Obileye left the defensive line to press and made a mess of it. However, his headed clearing and his interceptions of through balls and crosses, done when he remains in the defensive line, have been excellent all season. Fitzwater in recent times has been showing more willingness to be the one who steps into a defensive midfield position at times to put the brakes on opposition attacks. Parkes and Boyes seem capable alternatives too. If we start next season with those same 4 centre back options I'll be well satisfied. I only see a centre back being signed if its a no-brainer opportunity like the Omeonga signing was. Or if bids come in for Fitzwater. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLIS Posted April 24, 2022 Share Posted April 24, 2022 5 hours ago, FreedomFarter said: A wee ponderance on the Obileye and Fitzwater pairing: I personally view the best centre back pairings as being balanced between two roles. One of them is more about ball-winning, going to ground in tackles more often, stepping out from the defensive line to press. I'll call them the presser (p). The other is more about positioning, holding the defensive line more and making fewer tackles. I'll call them the coverer (c). Examples are; Ramos (p) and Varane (c), Puyol (p) and Pique (c), or in the Liviverse - Andrews (p) and Rubio (c). In recent seasons we had Halkett and Ciaron Brown who both did the all-action presser style for us then Lithgow and Guthrie were great as the coverer role. Obileye and Fitzwater haven't quite had that balance for me this season. Fitzwater's natural tendency is definitely to do the coverer role then Obileye playing defensive midfield last season at QotS made him seem a fit for the presser role. Obileye has struggled with that, though. Hedges opener away to Aberdeen and Crawford's late winner at home for St Johnstone were both times where Obileye left the defensive line to press and made a mess of it. However, his headed clearing and his interceptions of through balls and crosses, done when he remains in the defensive line, have been excellent all season. Fitzwater in recent times has been showing more willingness to be the one who steps into a defensive midfield position at times to put the brakes on opposition attacks. Parkes and Boyes seem capable alternatives too. If we start next season with those same 4 centre back options I'll be well satisfied. I only see a centre back being signed if its a no-brainer opportunity like the Omeonga signing was. Or if bids come in for Fitzwater. I'm not entirely sure that's his role though. He's (I think) top in the league for interceptions and frequently steps forward to interrupt the play, this has been something he's done from the start of the season. Guthrie was similar, especially in terms of stats. He's basically replaced Guthrie for us. Obileye for me is too mistake prone and clumsy to ever be that reassuring at the back. Someone like Boyes or Parkes are likely a bit more steady - or at least warrant a chance to show they're not by now. Although news on that front, we've got a foreign CB tied up on a precontract already. Apparently the deal is waiting on international clearance along with 1 or 2 other foreign PCA deals. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozam76 Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 Heavy rumours going around that Gallagher is one of many that Goodwin wants shot of. Who'd be happy to see him back (Mozam waves arms frantically...)? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ol1vercloff Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 How lovely to have a controversial decision go in our favour for once. Although I think if we're able to confirm safety with a couple of games to go, the big Russian goalie will get his chance. Not sure if Max the silly sausage is starting to crack under the pressure, but you can't go around punching people 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIVIFOREVER Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 2 minutes ago, ol1vercloff said: How lovely to have a controversial decision go in our favour for once. Although I think if we're able to confirm safety with a couple of games to go, the big Russian goalie will get his chance. Not sure if Max the silly sausage is starting to crack under the pressure, but you can't go around punching people Montano prob bought Max a pint for that one after the game. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jnels Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 2 new players signed on pre contract deals. By Davies comments i assume there going to be psychical players as he talks about the lack of it in are team this season Livingston boss David Martindale content with next season's squad as he lays out summer recruitment plans - Daily Record 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLIS Posted April 25, 2022 Share Posted April 25, 2022 49 minutes ago, Jnels said: 2 new players signed on pre contract deals. By Davies comments i assume there going to be psychical players as he talks about the lack of it in are team this season Livingston boss David Martindale content with next season's squad as he lays out summer recruitment plans - Daily Record One of them is a CB, I know that for sure. The other though I'm imagining is either a LW/ST or CDM 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavideFernandezLoveChild Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 Not all that surprising! Good opportunity to see what the Russian is made of. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ol1vercloff Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 It's interesting that retrospective action isn't used to reverse more referee blunders. It would be a regular thing if they did it for every wrong decision, but it could mean less needless suspensions. However in this case, it's the right decision. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozam76 Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 I thought retrospective action couldn't be taken if the ref had already given a booking? Stryjek is an excellent keeper and has all the tools going to go far in the game, but he's got to eradicate the errors and the madness which can creep into his performances sometimes. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EdinburghLivi Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 4 minutes ago, mozam76 said: I thought retrospective action couldn't be taken if the ref had already given a booking? Not sure if he got it getting involved afterwards? He seemed to stay out of it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIVIFOREVER Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 1 hour ago, mozam76 said: I thought retrospective action couldn't be taken if the ref had already given a booking? Stryjek is an excellent keeper and has all the tools going to go far in the game, but he's got to eradicate the errors and the madness which can creep into his performances sometimes. We've had a few players given retrospective bans when a card has been given, Talbot being one that sticks in the memory, for his high boot to the face of the Hearts player, but Yeah, it's meant to be if the ref has missed an incident, and in this case he did see it and give a booking. Maybe didn't see it correctly, but still saw it, same as Clancy saw the dive and hand ball in the St Johnstone game, but didn't give a penalty. Reading the rules it doesn't say anything about correcting incompetency of a refereeing decision, as they're careful to protect their own, but this is exactly what they're doing. No complaints about Max being suspended though, he was lucky it didn't happen in the game, as it would've prob cost us points, going a goal down at that stage of the game, and being down to 10 men, we def got away with one there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim McLean's Ghost Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 4 hours ago, DavideFernandezLoveChild said: Not all that surprising! Good opportunity to see what the Russian is made of. Not surprising because all the compliance officer does is watch sportscene. You are at the mercy of whatever dimwit is on the show that week. Livi probably not contesting it because it costs money and you are happy enough to play your other keeper in these end of season games. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropy Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 This is the most humorous outcome for Aberdeen, no advantage in the game which they lost, then Livi weakened (?) against the other teams around the Dons. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durnford Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 20 hours ago, ATLIS said: One of them is a CB, I know that for sure. The other though I'm imagining is either a LW/ST or CDM Remember the days when we used to have a pre-season boot-camp in the sun with a few matches against local sides? People would be studying the highlights and trying to match "trialists" to available players on the international stage. Some used to get a "hit" now and again but I suspect they had insider info. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLIS Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 31 minutes ago, Durnford said: Remember the days when we used to have a pre-season boot-camp in the sun with a few matches against local sides? People would be studying the highlights and trying to match "trialists" to available players on the international stage. Some used to get a "hit" now and again but I suspect they had insider info. Pretty sure a few of us spent last summer(?) on here successfully finding a few of them out. The best way I could do it was using Transfermarkt and searching by out of contract. Usually you can narrow it down to players in our budget. Think one of the teams tried to sneak a 12th player on in one of the games too. I've not a clue who any of the precontract signings are apart from knowing they're foreign and playing abroad currently. Martindale has spoke about using the Russian market more, which could be decent this year with players trying to get away from there but can't be registered right now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIVIFOREVER Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 2 hours ago, ropy said: This is the most humorous outcome for Aberdeen, no advantage in the game which they lost, then Livi weakened (?) against the other teams around the Dons. It is funny, and makes a bit of a mockery of the retrospective ban, hopefully it doesn't weaken us though as Konovalov was signed to compete with Stryjek for the No1 spot, so should be decent enough. 2 hours ago, Jim McLean's Ghost said: Not surprising because all the compliance officer does is watch sportscene. You are at the mercy of whatever dimwit is on the show that week. Livi probably not contesting it because it costs money and you are happy enough to play your other keeper in these end of season games. Yep pretty much, great opportunity for Konovalov (our Jan signing back up keeper) to show us what he can do, and stake a claim for the shirt next season. Doubt Max will be back in after his 2 match suspension for the last 2 games if Konovalov does well. Plus Martindale was maybe planning to play him in those last couple of games anyway now we're as good as safe on 41 pts. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rossd98 Posted April 26, 2022 Share Posted April 26, 2022 (edited) Had Roddy McKenzie on the podcast this week, a top man and some brilliant stories A Chat With… Roddy McKenzie Livingston legend Roddy McKenzie discusses his time at the club, winning the CIS Cup and the 2 administrations the club went through. YouTube: Spotify: Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/a-chat-with-roddy-mckenzie/id1570371231?i=1000558751412 Cheers Ross Edited April 26, 2022 by rossd98 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIVIFOREVER Posted April 27, 2022 Share Posted April 27, 2022 Nice piece on Scott Pittman in the DR, on the brink of beating Rubio's Livi top flight appearace record, and only 11 games from Keaghan Jacobs all time Livi FC playing record. Livingston boss says midfielder Scott Pittman will set club records that 'will never be broken' as he closes in on milestones - Daily Record Quite remarkable that we almost never got the pleasure of seeing him in a Livi shirt, with him having 2 prev trials and not being signed, what a brilliant player he's been for us, you think of Keaghan Jacobs as Mr Livi FC, but Scott will surpass him for most appearances, and will beat that current record by some margin with a few seasons left in him yet. Would be great if he could mark his Livi top flight appearance record against Hibs with a goal. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Troy.1995 Posted April 27, 2022 Share Posted April 27, 2022 Been an integral part of our success since he's been with us.Has to be up there with our best signings ever,and still going strong.Well done Pitts.. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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