Livingston - all the threads merged

[LiviLion]

If we have 3 at the back on Wednesday I'm supporting someone else.

[Scrutinizer]

3 minutes ago, LiviLion said:

If we have 3 at the back on Wednesday I'm supporting someone else.

You mean 8 at the back,including the goalkeeper, LB and RB that wont go over the half way line,and 2 defensive midfielders

[LIVIFOREVER]

I'm getting as disheartened as I was two seasons ago when Miller was in charge, get this shambles in defence sorted and players playing in their proper positions or we're going to be in the relegation dog fight. We've decent players that finished top 6, need to start fucking playing them where they're best suited ffs, we're soft as shite in defence, and that is not what Livi have been like these last 4 seasons, the management team need to admit they're got it wrong and stop trying to keep players happy by playing them out of position just to keep them in the team. 

Edited August 8, 2020 by LIVIFOREVER

[Cptn Hooch]

I'm getting as disheartened as I was two seasons ago when Miller was in charge, get this shambles in defence sorted and players playing in their proper positions or we're going to be in the relegation dog fight. We've decent players that finished top 6, need to start fucking playing them where they're best suited ffs, we're soft as shite in defence, and that is not what Livi have been like these last 4 seasons, the management team need to admit they're got it wrong and stop trying to keep players happy by playing them out of position. 

The insistence of the management team on playing this formation reminds me of Kenny miller and his stubbornness

[Menga Bus]

I can’t believe the fans are not supporting a 1-9-1 formation, I’m absolutely shocked and disgusted, dykes has to do more by himself it’s completely his fault that that the defence is a mess and can’t defend a single cross

[Scrutinizer]

6 minutes ago, Menga Bus said:

I can’t believe the fans are not supporting a 1-9-1 formation, I’m absolutely shocked and disgusted, dykes has to do more by himself it’s completely his fault that that the defence is a mess and can’t defend a single cross

Dont know what the set up was supposed  to be,   in the first half it was 1-7-2-1

[ATLIS]

I honestly want us to sell Dykes and just bank the cash for a sexy football Championship title  

[hoobahabba]

Yesterday's performance was worrying. I haven't seen us lose so easily in a long time. Our physical edge seems to have gone, we aren't creating chances and the defence is leaking goals. I watched Holt's post-match interview and he was (justifiably) angry at the players. However, he needs to take some responsibility himself. Not just for the player selection but for the tactics/formation which clearly have not worked in the past two games. Trying not to be too reactionary but that was as feeble a display as I can remember. We have a brilliant squad of players but, if we don't get our intensity back soon, we could really struggle this season.

[EdinburghLivi]

Just a reminder that we have played this formation now in 5 competitive games. 0 wins, 2 draws & 3 defeats. 4 goals scored, 9 conceded.

Basically started when we tried to shoehorn Ambrose into a team that was playing well. It's been a complete disaster and tough decisions need to be made now before it's too late.

[LiviLion]

McCrorie

McMillan  -  Guthrie  -  Brown  -  Fitzwater  -  ATS

Devlin  -  Bartley  -  Robinson  -  Ambrose

 

 

Dykes

 

 

Lineup for Wednesday IMO

[EdinburghLivi]

2 hours ago, LiviLion said:

McCrorie

McMillan  -  Guthrie  -  Brown  -  Fitzwater  -  ATS

Devlin  -  Bartley  -  Robinson  -  Ambrose

 

 

Dykes

 

 

Lineup for Wednesday IMO

*Me if this happens*

[hoobahabba]

I would like to see:

McCrorie

McMillan Guthrie Brown ATS

Bartley Ambrose

Crawford Pittman Forrest

Dykes

[LIVIFOREVER]

2 hours ago, LiviLion said:

McCrorie

McMillan  -  Guthrie  -  Brown  -  Fitzwater  -  ATS

Devlin  -  Bartley  -  Robinson  -  Ambrose

 

 

Dykes

 

 

Lineup for Wednesday IMO

Sadly I wouldn't be surprised, but fearing worse still, it'll prob be Brown on the left as a LWB, and Ambrose Fitzwater-Guthrie as a back 3, with Devlin on the RWB.

19 minutes ago, hoobahabba said:

I would like to see:

McCrorie

McMillan Guthrie Brown ATS

Bartley Ambrose

Crawford Pittman Forrest

Dykes

I'd go further and just drop Efe and have Crawford besides Marv, with either Pitts-Souda-Forrest in a mid 3 behind Dykes, or Souda*-Pitts-Poplatnik .

Highly doubt Efe will be dropped, but he should, nobody should be too big a name to be dropped, if he is then it's a huge problem for us, and something we need to fix before it infects the dressing room..

*or Forrest but would like to see Souda being tried first, it was generally successful when he played in that mid three last season.

[LIVIFOREVER]

3 hours ago, EdinburghLivi said:

Just a reminder that we have played this formation now in 5 competitive games. 0 wins, 2 draws & 3 defeats. 4 goals scored, 9 conceded.

Basically started when we tried to shoehorn Ambrose into a team that was playing well. It's been a complete disaster and tough decisions need to be made now before it's too late.

Just looked back on a post I made last season on another forum, will just copy & paste it. 

Quote

Lost Halkett, Gallagher and Kelly to only leave Lithgow from last season's immense defence. Signed Jon Guthrie, moved Lamie into CB when Lithgow was out with an illness, and also filled in at LB, McMillan also played LB, and RB, Devlin was playing RB till he was injured, and we signed Aaron Taylor-Sinclair in Nov to play LB.

So a fair bit of moving around with Guthrie being the only player that has regularly played in just the one position, and we have the joint best home defensive record in the Premiership, conceding just 5 goals in 10 games, tied only with Sevco.

That's some disruption we dealt with without even affecting us, so only having lost Lamie, who was mostly used as a LB when Brown joined us, and latterly ATS and McMillan was ahead of him there too, so we have the same players we had last season with the only difference being Lamie leaving and Fitzwater coming in, there is no reason we can't get back to being a solid defensive unit, if we stick to the same formula as last season.

5 goals in 10 games, and we just conceded 4 in one game yesterday, tell me again why we aren't sticking with the defensive formation as last season* that only conceded 5 goals in 10 games!!!!

 

*that was with Lamie & Lithgow interchanging playing alongside Guthrie, and McMillan, ATS, Lawson, Lamie and Devlin all swapping about as FB's, 7 clean sheets, and 3 games where we conceded 2 Aberdeen, 2 Sevco, & 1 St Mirren at home.

[KingKachloul]

Glad that everyone on here can see the problems, hopefully the management can see them too. Revert back to what we were good at and stop trying to constantly evolve.

Past two games have been absolutely brutal. Think the Motherwell game is a big one already, certainly needs to be a better performance. 

[Scrutinizer]

Looking at this team,it's not just the formation that's a worry
it's the type of players you have,I have to agree this 5 at the back is  wrong,I think this can be put right,but as an attacking force that leaves 5 players to get things  moving, this is where the big problems start Ambrose,Bartley,Sibbald are defensive/central midfielders with no thrust or pace,Pittman is supposed  to be playing behind the front 2,but always seems to be where the ball isn't ,in otherwords his reading of the game is a problem.So until you find 3 attacking  midfielders with a good touch and pace,and a winger with confidence  to beat their man you're  going nowhere.
Sibbald,Pittman,Devlin need dropped for terrible performance. Fizzywater,Ambrose need to be left out for a formation change more attack minded players

[LogieLivi]

Stryjek
Mcmillan Guthrie Brown ATS

Crawford Ambrose

Forrest Robbo Poplatnik

Dykes

f**k playing 5 centre backs.

[ATLIS]

f**k it let's go 442. Poplatnik looked decent so just stick him up front with Sal and f**k Dykes off for the money. Who could we buy with a wee transfer kitty of 300-400k. Go out and break our transfer record on someone decent

[Cptn Hooch]

2 hours ago, Scrutinizer said:

Looking at this team,it's not just the formation that's a worry
it's the type of players you have,I have to agree this 5 at the back is  wrong,I think this can be put right,but as an attacking force that leaves 5 players to get things  moving, this is where the big problems start Ambrose,Bartley,Sibbald are defensive/central midfielders with no thrust or pace,Pittman is supposed  to be playing behind the front 2,but always seems to be where the ball isn't ,in otherwords his reading of the game is a problem.So until you find 3 attacking  midfielders with a good touch and pace,and a winger with confidence  to beat their man you're  going nowhere.
Sibbald,Pittman,Devlin need dropped for terrible performance. Fizzywater,Ambrose need to be left out for a formation change more attack minded players

Have to argue that the type of players are the issue...we had less attacking options last season and were the 3rd top scoring team in the league. We lost Lawless and replaced him with Forrest who seems to be a like for like replacement. The problem is the system. With the 5 across the back we then lack the support to Dykes...our success for the last 3/4 years has been built on winning second balls...when the entire team is so far away from Dykes then we won't be able to do that

[Guest]

Halkett, Gallagher, Lamie and then Guthrie have all given their best performances when playing alongside Lithgow. That suggests Lithgow is one of those players whose positioning has the effect of retaining team shape and balance then his immediately adjacent teammates enjoy the benefits of that. We normally say this about a defensive central midfielder (and I think that applies to Jacobs in that role for us) but it can be true of centre backs also. Lithgow is out injured long term obviously, so this is a moot point for the time being but I thought I'd mention it anyway.