Livingston - all the threads merged

[LIVIFOREVER]

2 hours ago, Cptn Hooch said:

3 hours ago, ol1vercloff said:

A whiff of the Poplatniks about this signing.  Poor scoring record in obscure leagues before coming here.  Took a few (I'm assuming) lucrative moves to said obscure leagues at a young age.  Really want to be proved wrong here.

I'm not sure, seems more like the Jet signing. However, this time we have a full pre season to get him in shape. Jet was technically one of the best players we've ever had at Livi once he got fit. If Goncalves can replicate his Hearts and Saints form for us then Martindale has made another shrewd signing.

Yeah, or Dolly Menga, in that he's going to need watching off field too. Bit ahead of all 3 of them  having experienced playing in this country though, and doing well for St Mirren and Hearts, we just need to get him fit and focussed on playing football, def has the ability to score goals for us if we can do so. 

Can't be any worse than Stokes anyway.

 

[Kyle Reese]

1 hour ago, Kyle Reese said:

Seems rude not to ask you chaps what your opinions are of Alan Forrest, since we appear to be keen on him. 

 

1 hour ago, Cptn Hooch said:

1 hour ago, Kyle Reese said:

Seems rude not to ask you chaps what your opinions are of Alan Forrest, since we appear to be keen on him. 

On his day he's brilliant, however, I'd say he was a bit inconsistent. Has a tendency to try to do too much himself and ignores team mates. Can be lethal when cutting in from the left wing onto his right foot, it became his signature goal and it surprised me that teams didn't seem clued up on that. Should do well for Hearts and I would expect him to be in and around the national team if he does as well as he should

 

1 hour ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

He was unplayable against Hibs in a couple of games, ripped them to pieces and got Hanlon red carded, so should be brilliant in a derby game. Needs to show that level of performance more consistently though, no idea whether he will or not, but if he does you'll have some player, might even be better than his brother.

 

1 hour ago, thruthenight said:

^^ I agree with most of this, clearly inconsistent, great on his day (which conveniantly seems to happen a lot more often when he's looking for a contract). No danger is he getting anywhere near the national team set up however, I'd be surprised if he even becomes a consistent starter for Hearts.

 

44 minutes ago, EdinburghLivi said:

Kicked on a lot in the second half of the season. Despite typically being predictable (he loves to cut in from the left on his right foot), defenders still seemed to struggle with it. I think he can ably play anywhere across the front three if asked due to his pace and ability on the ball. 

I think he has a higher ceiling than Hearts if he continues that form.

 

9 minutes ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Yeah, or Dolly Menga, in that he's going to need watching off field too. Bit ahead of all 3 of them  having experienced playing in this country though, and doing well for St Mirren and Hearts, we just need to get him fit and focussed on playing football, def has the ability to score goals for us if we can do so. 

Can't be any worse than Stokes anyway.

 

Cheers for that, lads. I liked the look of him when we were in the championship and I saw him on Sportscene. Then I only really saw him against us or Hibs last season. You will have your own version, but myself and many other Hearts supporters always hope that we will uncover the next Hartley when we sign players that fit this sort of profile. Late bloomers who kick on and exceed expectations.

[ol1vercloff]

1 hour ago, Kyle Reese said:

 

 

 

 

 

Cheers for that, lads. I liked the look of him when we were in the championship and I saw him on Sportscene. Then I only really saw him against us or Hibs last season. You will have your own version, but myself and many other Hearts supporters always hope that we will uncover the next Hartley when we sign players that fit this sort of profile. Late bloomers who kick on and exceed expectations.

On top of this, he is extremely ball greedy.  Tries to do it all, kind of like a 5 a side footballer.  But sometimes, he does good things.  

[Kyle Reese]

2 hours ago, ol1vercloff said:

On top of this, he is extremely ball greedy.  Tries to do it all, kind of like a 5 a side footballer.  But sometimes, he does good things.  

I am okay with that. I was a big fan of Suso.

[ATLIS]

5 hours ago, Kyle Reese said:

Seems rude not to ask you chaps what your opinions are of Alan Forrest, since we appear to be keen on him. 

I might be going against the grain a bit but in the 2(?) seasons Forrest was here he only really performed well in a 3 month spell. That's the only time he looked likely to play anywhere better than here. He's very predictable, he'll just cut inside and try curl it low. He's very ball greedy too, a lot of his issues are ones I felt would stop him going to a higher level. 

I wouldn't be surprised to see him being signed as a backup/rotation player. He's done well for us but always felt like he was doing too much - that might be better if he's in a Hearts team where he's more confident in his teammates possibly but IMO it's too big a move for him

[LIVIFOREVER]

2 hours ago, ol1vercloff said:

On top of this, he is extremely ball greedy.  Tries to do it all, kind of like a 5 a side footballer.  But sometimes, he does good things.  

8 goals and 4 assists in all comps, higher assists than a lot of the top goal scorers in the Premiership.

It's funny Livi fans have this perception on Forrest being ball greedy, an old boy behind me shouts constantly for our players to shoot, except when it's Forrest on the ball, then he wants him to pass, saying he's greedy, even when he scores.

[Kyle Reese]

15 minutes ago, ATLIS said:

I might be going against the grain a bit but in the 2(?) seasons Forrest was here he only really performed well in a 3 month spell. That's the only time he looked likely to play anywhere better than here. He's very predictable, he'll just cut inside and try curl it low. He's very ball greedy too, a lot of his issues are ones I felt would stop him going to a higher level. 

I wouldn't be surprised to see him being signed as a backup/rotation player. He's done well for us but always felt like he was doing too much - that might be better if he's in a Hearts team where he's more confident in his teammates possibly but IMO it's too big a move for him

Thanks, appreciate it.

Was his one dimensional approach perhaps down to how he was told to play though? With a small squad of first team players you are going to want them all concentrating on something that works.

I do hope we try him in a few different positions before we set his role though. Could he be a decent #10?

[ATLIS]

5 minutes ago, Kyle Reese said:

Thanks, appreciate it.

Was his one dimensional approach perhaps down to how he was told to play though? With a small squad of first team players you are going to want them all concentrating on something that works.

I do hope we try him in a few different positions before we set his role though. Could he be a decent #10?

I don't think we'll ever know until he plays for Hearts, but he's a fairly one footed player so I can imagine it was through habit. If I remember, I think Ayr fans had warned us about it too.

Martindale seemed to think he could be decent central but I'm not convinced. It took him about 12 months to get up to the 'Livi work ethic'. 

His best position is LW which I think isn't too debatable from his time with us

[Kyle Reese]

4 minutes ago, ATLIS said:

I don't think we'll ever know until he plays for Hearts, but he's a fairly one footed player so I can imagine it was through habit. If I remember, I think Ayr fans had warned us about it too.

Martindale seemed to think he could be decent central but I'm not convinced. It took him about 12 months to get up to the 'Livi work ethic'. 

His best position is LW which I think isn't too debatable from his time with us

Cheers, pal.

[ol1vercloff]

5 hours ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

8 goals and 4 assists in all comps, higher assists than a lot of the top goal scorers in the Premiership.

It's funny Livi fans have this perception on Forrest being ball greedy, an old boy behind me shouts constantly for our players to shoot, except when it's Forrest on the ball, then he wants him to pass, saying he's greedy, even when he scores.

You can't tell me that you've never watched Forrest take the ball from the left wing to the right wing and you've never thought to yourself: 'pass it ffs'

[LIVIFOREVER]

11 hours ago, ol1vercloff said:

You can't tell me that you've never watched Forrest take the ball from the left wing to the right wing and you've never thought to yourself: 'pass it ffs'

Yeah but some of the criticism is ridiculous, you look at most top strikers or goal scorers, and very few will look to pass the ball when they have a shot on themselves. He creates the space to have a shot, and he makes things happen by being good  running at players taking them on, i love a player that does that. His shots also create chances for Anderson, Devlin etc, unintentionally as they may be, when they get saved and come back out to one of them to score themselves. 

On the flip side Omeonga has had chances to shoot and passes them up looking to pass to someone else, when he is in a much better position to shoot at goal himself, so has Shinnie, that annoys me far more than a player taking on the shot and not passing to someone in a better position.  Nouble too is the exact opposite of Forrest, and just can't score but creates the assists for others to have shots when you just wish he'd score some himself.

Listening to some folk that sit behind me is unreal the amount of stick they give Forrest for taking on shots, esp when he scores from them and still gets slagged for not passing.

[ol1vercloff]

1 hour ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Yeah but some of the criticism is ridiculous, you look at most top strikers or goal scorers, and very few will look to pass the ball when they have a shot on themselves. He creates the space to have a shot, and he makes things happen by being good  running at players taking them on, i love a player that does that. His shots also create chances for Anderson, Devlin etc, unintentionally as they may be, when they get saved and come back out to one of them to score themselves. 

On the flip side Omeonga has had chances to shoot and passes them up looking to pass to someone else, when he is in a much better position to shoot at goal himself, so has Shinnie, that annoys me far more than a player taking on the shot and not passing to someone in a better position.  Nouble too is the exact opposite of Forrest, and just can't score but creates the assists for others to have shots when you just wish he'd score some himself.

Listening to some folk that sit behind me is unreal the amount of stick they give Forrest for taking on shots, esp when he scores from them and still gets slagged for not passing.

For me, the frustrating thing is that he has bags of ability, but quite often doesn't like to pass to team-mates.  Maybe that's a lack of awareness or poor decision-making.  I often have to remind myself that we're a diddy team and will never have players that are the finished article, so we should come to expect and allow for mistakes like this quite often.  But sometimes he can definitely see the better option, but he wants the glory.  Typical of attacking players I suppose.  Good luck to him, but given how impatient Hearts fans are, I think they're either going to love or loathe him.

[Troy.1995]

Thing is weve become accustomed as a so called diddy team to losing players weve become attached to.Its in our DNA.Forrest Halkett Dykes Hardie Fernandez to name but a few.They won't be the last,but weve appreciated them when theve been with us.And givin us some great memories. We move on to the next chapter in our relatively short history. .

[EdinburghLivi]

Parkes eyed for Livi stay 

Tom Parkes is set to sign a new one-year contract at Livingston after undergoing a knee operation to cure the injury that wrecked his first season at the club. 

The defender was restricted to just 11 appearances by the niggle after joining from Exeter last summer and hasn’t played since December. 

But Livi boss Davie Martindale had seen enough and was keen to keep the 30-year-old. 

Parkesy was out of contract but I want him at the club and he wants to be here. 

I told him ‘We need to get you in and get a tidy up’. Hopefully we’ve got the right remedy, he will get a good pre-season under his belt and he will be ready for the new season.

[LIVIFOREVER]

8 minutes ago, EdinburghLivi said:

Parkes eyed for Livi stay 

Tom Parkes is set to sign a new one-year contract at Livingston after undergoing a knee operation to cure the injury that wrecked his first season at the club. 

The defender was restricted to just 11 appearances by the niggle after joining from Exeter last summer and hasn’t played since December. 

But Livi boss Davie Martindale had seen enough and was keen to keep the 30-year-old. 

Parkesy was out of contract but I want him at the club and he wants to be here. 

I told him ‘We need to get you in and get a tidy up’. Hopefully we’ve got the right remedy, he will get a good pre-season under his belt and he will be ready for the new season.

 

On 31/05/2022 at 11:21, LiviLion said:

What would Martindale call him in interviews?

Essy and Goncy seem like the most obvious.

[ATLIS]

Season ticket sales up 48% on this time last year. That’s promising, a really good number for us early on. Here’s hoping it’s a lot of new people rather than ones who’d normally get it late 

[thruthenight]

That's good news. Post-covid stability probably helps, I wonder how it compares to 2019 figures

[LIVIFOREVER]

Four seasons in the top flight, heading into our fifth, and 6 seasons of rising stability of the club, all we're lacking now is a decent grown in our fanbase, so hopefully this is the season we see the club/team get a deserved rise in home support.

It has been a long arduous journey back from the crooks and bampot owners clusterfuck stewardships, which had a devastating affect on our support.   After all the relegations, enforced demotions, court cases, administrations, and in fighting, it has been a remarkable job by the current board and management team building it back up to where we are now.  

[ATLIS]

I'm hoping that we're seeing a rise in season tickets thank to the free kids ticket games we had. I wonder if they went home and kept asking to come back, and with sensible pricing we're seeing families hopefully take advantage of that. 

Even to get to 1,300 ST holders would be huge this season. 2,000 surely a long term goal for the club

[Troy.1995]

Really encouraging. I've said for years it would take us a while to build our fanbase back to respectability. I'm hopefull we'll get there.Would be great to get the West stand full regularly and plenty more for others to come back to.Sure the players would be greatfull for all the support they more than deserve. Well done to all..