Killie v Livi

[hoobahabba]

We were comprehensively outplayed tonight by a Kilmarnock team who were in full control of the game from the first kick of the ball. A very impressive performance from them.

We, on the other hand, had one of our worst performances so far. The midfield was non-existent in the first half. We sorely missed Jacobs. I don't think Lawson or Sibbald looked half as capable. Cadden was completely ineffective on the wing and Menga wasn't able to do much up front. Kilmarnock play a very expansive game and are strong up the flanks. Makes sense when the pitch at rugby park is so wide. We really struggled to cope with their style of play. Need to come up with a better strategy for next time.

I fully expect us to bounce back from this at the weekend. The team is very resilient and I was encouraged by Hardie's contribution after he was subbed on. Hopefully he'll give us some much needed precision up front.

[andylivi1]

15 minutes ago, ancientnoise said:

Disagreed before the match. Seen a fair bit of Livi this season and was concerned that we'd find it hard tonight.

Our players are all in tune now.  We knew what to do and did it. The right result.

I didn’t think we didn’t have a chance, I go into every game thinking we have a chance especially if we played as well as we had been all season, but I wasn’t expecting anything, if we did get something it would’ve been a bonus point, what we needed was a below par Killie performance and a good Livi performance but that 3rd minute goal was the perfect start for you and the worst for us and set the tone of the game. 

[paul wright scores]

Thoroughly enjoyed tonight.   The early goal again helped us and I thought we were excellent in the first half and never really let Livi get into the game.

The substitution of Broadfoot didn't help us and I felt Power was not as effective afterwards as a consequence of not having Dicker playing alongside him, however Livi never really looked like scoring.

The atmosphere towards the end of the game was brilliant - loads of people around me who don't normally sing or clap were doing so.  Even my father, who is in his 80s, was getting fairly excited at the end. 

I can't remember us ever being top of the top league in Scotland this far into a season and I have been watching  us since the late 60s.  I know we were near the top around 2000 when we went to Ibrox and lost but I don't think were top. 

Amazing times at Rugby Park. 

Onwards to Parkhead on Saturday. 

 

[deadasdillinger]

Fantastic start from us. Like Hibs, we just blew the opposition away. Straight on the front foot, Gorgeous Greg gets the first goal from another fantastic Burke delivery. Second, Alan Power does terrifically well to cut out two balls, the second a great take on his chest, then sends Stewart through for another fantastic goal - what a player.

From front to back we were brilliant first half. Bachmann commanding his box (just wish his kicks weren't so long), defence solid, full backs bombing up, Dicker and Power bossing shit in the middle, forwards linking well. Jones torturing folk for fun.

Second half I thought Holt achieved his game plan a lot better and it turned it into a game of head tennis, ball sailing about all over the park - felt we got a little too dragged in to that instead of keeping it on the deck. The injury to Broadfoot didn't help as it disrupted the make-up of the team. Thought we did well to dig in and get the win over the line comfortably, and should really have added a third. Jones tore it up down his flank. Loved seeing three players round him as he starts dancing about doing tricks. Poor Gallagher!

Unreal scenes when the guy behind me announced Motherwell had scored. Fantastic bounce about the place.

I'm working on Saturday so wasn't able to get myself to Parkhead but f**k it, I'm rearranging everything and will just start late or something, got to be there!!

[kennysmassiveego]

What a fn night although  I wasn’t at the match from my Lanzarote viewpoint drinking sangria in 20 degrees with an old firm couple I’m as exstatic as feck . The look on my friends face as the scores came through is worth every euro I’ve spent on their booze . 

Its like Christmas has come early 

im coming home early to see this team . 

[Afro]

Also nice to see Hardie back, he done more in 20 minutes than Menga done all game, another poor performance from him who only seems to show up for the “big games”

Not sure what he’s meant to when the ball is constantly being cannoned long to him. There is very little variability to our play, when we actually got it down during the second half in particular we showed we can look pretty threatening to a degree. Hardie’s complete lack of match sharpness was obviously evident, but given Killie were hardly going for the jugular in the second half it was a good game for him to come back in to. Would like to see more of a Menga-Hardie front two as I think that may do a bit of damage.

Can’t disagree about Lawson being guff, but worth pointing out that it was a totally rudderless header from Byrne which set Killie on their way for the second goal. I’d like to see it again as I thought there was a possible offside, but that doesn’t excuse how weak Lawson was to put any form of challenge in. I’d go as far to say that the front two of Brophy and Stewart would be an upgrade for any team in the league bar the ****.

Poor stuff from us but Killie are top and deservedly so. Saturday was always going to be a massive game, but it’d be encouraging to see some sort of reaction after that tonight.

Please go and win the whole thing now Killie, don’t make a c**t of it.

[C4mmy31]

Steve Clarke says Kilmarnock fans have every right to enjoy hitting top spot in the Premiership but says he and his players won't be getting carried away.

Greg Stewart's double in the 2-0 win over Livingston coupled with Rangers losing to Aberdeen and Celtic drawing with Motherwell saw Killie rise to first place in the league as we head into the second weekend in December.

Reflecting on another home win, the Killie boss said: "It’s nice for the supporters, they’ll enjoy tonight looking at the league table. For us, it is another three points.

"It probably wasn’t our best performance in the second half but three good points against a difficult opponent.

"I’ve got such an honest bunch of players that they are a little bit like me and the feeling I got in the dressing room was that they were a little bit disappointed with their second half performance tonight.

"They’ll look at the table and realise that if you work hard and you’re a good group of players then you’ll pick up points in this league and sometimes you get quite close to the summit. But like I said before nobody here is getting carried away with themselves.

"We’ve still got an awful lot of work to do here."

Summer loan signing Stewart hit his third goal in two matches and the attacker's second was particularly pleasing to Clarke.

He added: "At the first goal they will be disappointed that it came from a corner kick but it was a good delivery and good movement from Greg in the box.

"I liked the second goal, they tend to get a lot of bodies in the box from deep free kicks and we caught them on the counter attack, which is something we spoke about before the game.

“From our point of view, it’s a good goal to score against an opponent who put a lot of bodies forward into the box.”

[the west curve]

Watch the old firm media now try to unsettle our players, There will be exclusives linking our players with the Glasgow teams. They won’t unsettle Saint Steve though as he’s Killie through and through.

 

[Fide]

Never mind a form table, how about a table table??!!

#toffee

#juggernaut

#wewelcomethechase

[paul wright scores]

7 hours ago, the west curve said:

Watch the old firm media now try to unsettle our players, There will be exclusives linking our players with the Glasgow teams.

I said that to folk last night.   They'll do everything in their power to unsettle us.

In England the media embraced Leicester, but up here they will try and distract us, then jump on the bandwagon when SSC 'stops 10 in a row'.

[DanMc99]

steve clarke is the best manager in the league.

 

i'm not a killie fan or an OF fan btw.

[The_Judge]

7 hours ago, the west curve said:

Watch the old firm media now try to unsettle our players, There will be exclusives linking our players with the Glasgow teams. They won’t unsettle Saint Steve though as he’s Killie through and through.

 

That would genuinely surprise me as I can't imagine the WCM considering Kilmarnock to be a serious threat but like most Scottish football fans I'm absolutely delighted for you and long may it continue

[Durnford]

13 minutes ago, paul wright scores said:

I said that to folk last night.   They'll do everything in their power to unsettle us.

In England the media embraced Leicester, but up here they will try and distract us, then jump on the bandwagon when SSC 'stops 10 in a row'.

We all get it; well other than the ugly sisters that is.

Not so sure about the English comparison though; when Wilfred Zaha signed a new contract with Crystal Palace; a football "expert" on the BBC said it demonstrated "a lack of ambition". Total disrespect for the player and the team in my opinion.

[LIVIFOREVER]

12 hours ago, C4mmy31 said:

Steve Clarke says Kilmarnock fans have every right to enjoy hitting top spot in the Premiership but says he and his players won't be getting carried away.

Greg Stewart's double in the 2-0 win over Livingston coupled with Rangers losing to Aberdeen and Celtic drawing with Motherwell saw Killie rise to first place in the league as we head into the second weekend in December.

Reflecting on another home win, the Killie boss said: "It’s nice for the supporters, they’ll enjoy tonight looking at the league table. For us, it is another three points.

"It probably wasn’t our best performance in the second half but three good points against a difficult opponent.

"I’ve got such an honest bunch of players that they are a little bit like me and the feeling I got in the dressing room was that they were a little bit disappointed with their second half performance tonight.

"They’ll look at the table and realise that if you work hard and you’re a good group of players then you’ll pick up points in this league and sometimes you get quite close to the summit. But like I said before nobody here is getting carried away with themselves.

"We’ve still got an awful lot of work to do here."

Summer loan signing Stewart hit his third goal in two matches and the attacker's second was particularly pleasing to Clarke.

He added: "At the first goal they will be disappointed that it came from a corner kick but it was a good delivery and good movement from Greg in the box.

"I liked the second goal, they tend to get a lot of bodies in the box from deep free kicks and we caught them on the counter attack, which is something we spoke about before the game.

“From our point of view, it’s a good goal to score against an opponent who put a lot of bodies forward into the box.”

Yeah obv did his homework on us, nearly got another goal from a corner doing the exact same thing too. We conceded two breakaway goals just like your 2nd already this season, one against Celtic and another against Accies. 

As I said in an earlier post, home advantage is massive in this fixture, best I could see us getting here was a draw but Killie came out the blocks quickly and won comfortably, Annoying to lose goals like we did but a deserved win, some season Killie are having. 

[Estragon]

10 minutes ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Yeah obv did his homework on us, nearly got another goal from a corner doing the exact same thing too. We conceded two breakaway goals just like your 2nd already this season, one against Celtic and another against Accies. 

The best thing for me was how obviously prepared the defence were on that near post glancing header that you guys have been brilliant at all season.  That has caught so many unawares, but felt that the manager had sussed it and communicated to the players.

[Chuck Blazer]

3 hours ago, DanMc99 said:

steve clarke is the best manager in the world.

 

i'm not a killie fan or an OF fan btw.

FTFY. Given how shite Killie were before he came in, his reign has been nothing short of spectacular. 

[C4mmy31]

7 hours ago, DanMc99 said:

steve clarke is the best manager in the league.

 

i'm not a killie fan or an OF fan btw.

This is the part the OF don't get, just how much a difference it has made to the local & surrounding areas of East Ayrshire.

The town itself is buzzing, people walking around with huge smiles on their faces, not to mention the amount of Killie merchandise not normally woren outside of match days, Then there are the fans & towns folk, stopping to chat in the street with the only topic of conversation being Steve Clarke & the team itself.

Dare i say it but this has to be on a par with the Tommy Burns era or at least extremely close.

This is what its like to be Killie..... or your Ayr's, Livingstone's or any other small town team in times like these.

[Estragon]

2 hours ago, C4mmy31 said:

This is what its like to be Killie..... or your Ayr's, Livingstone's or any other small town team in times like these.

You've taken this too far Cammy.

[Cptn Hooch]

This is the part the OF don't get, just how much a difference it has made to the local & surrounding areas of East Ayrshire.
The town itself is buzzing, people walking around with huge smiles on their faces, not to mention the amount of Killie merchandise not normally woren outside of match days, Then there are the fans & towns folk, stopping to chat in the street with the only topic of conversation being Steve Clarke & the team itself.
Dare i say it but this has to be on a par with the Tommy Burns era or at least extremely close.
This is what its like to be Killie..... or your Ayr's, Livingstone's or any other small town team in times like these.

I like Kilmarnock and Steve Clarke has worked absolute wonders....keeping hold of him might prove a struggle down the line but hope you can. It's good to see a team with smaller resources than the usual suspects mixing it up at the top of the table. Tough team to break down and some real quality up top. Jordan Jones and Greg Stewart are up there with the best players in the league. Enjoy the feel good factor while it lasts mate, we had a similar experience the last few years...in fact I even got a free train fare for wearing my Livi hoody after the ticket boy won money on us being promoted last season. Hold Killie keep it up... except on your return to the macaroni bowl.

[crispy]

Gutted I couldn’t make the game. I had to resort to refreshing my SkySports app every couple of minutes. The stats seem to suggest a pretty even game: Possession: 55/45%; total shots 10/9, on target 4/4; blocked 1/0... but that’s not the impression I’m getting here -  stats really ARE a convenient way to conceal the truth.  I’m guessing we were looking a bit toothless, again?

Seen the two goals on BBC Scotland news and, from a Livi perspective, they look poor. Hard to complain about getting done at a set piece when we’ve being doing that to others. The challenge by Lawson for that second one was absolutely powderpuff (didn’t see any of the build-up before that). I can only assume Jacobs was benched and Lawson picked to get more legs into the team and to save Jacobs for the St. Mirren game. However, can’t help but feeling Jacobs would’ve give us the bite in midfield that it sounds like we missed.

Sounds like a night to forget about!  On to Saturday!