Livingston v St Mirren League Cup Semi 24/1/21

[LIVIFOREVER]

3 hours ago, Cptn Hooch said:

13 hours ago, andylivi1 said:

Have to say credit to the St Mirren fans, players and manager who have shown a touch of class today. 
From the St Mirren fans congratulations, the players showing great respect at the end and to Jim Goodwin wishing good luck to both ourselves and St Johnstone in his post match which I’m sure must’ve been gut wrenching,  a real touch of class and I wish you the best of luck for the rest of the season. 

I hated Goodwin as a player because I saw him as a wannabe hard man kicking folk. As a manager I actually really like him, speaks well, always realistic and complimentary even in defeat. Plus that beard is magnificent

Prob the kind of player you'd have loved playing in your team, but everyone else hates him.

Has done reasonably well in management, at Alloa, then steadying a St Mirren team that was in free fall after Ross left. He's got them set up well in defence as hard to play against and score goals, we've only managed one goal against them in three games, but they're struggling to find the balance for scoring at the other end. If he can do that and remain strong defensively then both him and St Mirren would step up a level. 

[Cptn Hooch]

Prob the kind of player you'd have loved playing in your team, but everyone else hates him.

Absolutely

[LIVIFOREVER]

55 minutes ago, Ric said:

You are coming to this from a very narrow viewpoint, presumably to make the rather irreverent point about how fickle fans are. So to start with, what I will do is agree with you, fans can be fickle, so the overall assumption is indeed correct for the main part. However in this specific instance you are, as I say, being a bit narrow.

In terms of the LC, we were dreadful in the group, won against a very poor Aberdeen side and had a great game against Rangers. We lost to a Livi side that were by no means particularly good on the day (that is not a dig or sour grapes, their fans will happily admit they've played better), but also to a Livi side we have a 100% record against in the league this season. Talking of the league, Goodwin had a good spell previously but in the last month or two it's been pretty poor fare. Cracks have been papered over by absolute gifts in both the Killie and Motherwell games, where Goodwin still doesn't seem to know his best formation, let alone the players to fill that with, and he has a habit of repeating mistakes - probably the most annoying thing, the old adage of "a sign of madness is doing the same thing and expecting a different result" springs to mind.

What might surprise you though, is that I back Goodwin, I want him to be a success and I enjoy his managerial style off the park. However, given the points I raised earlier, the pressure will definitely be on Goodwin to start getting results in the league and there simply isn't an argument to counter that, and it's not "fickle fans" somehow being fickle because they lost a single game.

I don't think you can take that 100% record into how you'd do against us in this game though, that was under Holt, who didn't start Mullin in league games and insisted on starting JET, also had Ambrose at LWB on one occasion. We were a soft touch in defence too, conceding 24 goals in 15 league games, there's a stark difference in those numbers under Martindale,  he's sorted out our starting XI and how we play, back to pressing players and defending from the front, 5 goals conceded from 8 league games, and 2 of those were against Celtic when he dropped 7 players to rest them up for this game. Also yet to concede a goal in the Betfred cup under Martindale, 3 clean sheets against Ayr, Rosss County, and St Mirren.

 

[djchapsticks]

1 hour ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Prob the kind of player you'd have loved playing in your team, but everyone else hates him.

Has done reasonably well in management, at Alloa, then steadying a St Mirren team that was in free fall after Ross left. He's got them set up well in defence as hard to play against and score goals, we've only managed one goal against them in three games, but they're struggling to find the balance for scoring at the other end. If he can do that and remain strong defensively then both him and St Mirren would step up a level. 

A good overall comment but I take a wee bit issue with the bit in bold.

Oran Kearney had absolutely steadied that ship and was well on his way to proving himself as a very capable manager before he decided he wanted back home to be with his family.

A decision that with 20/20 hindsight turned out to be a fucking good one as he'd have most certainly not been commuting over the Irish sea every weekend in current circumstances.

[djchapsticks]

His (by his own admission) shady past notwithstanding, I must admit, there's something instantly likeable about David Martindale. 

He speaks well, is as humble as can be and seems legitimately grateful to have been given the chance to work his way into the position he's found himself in when he could have just as easily - and within reason - been given up on.

[Biscuits]

Absolutely

And exactly the type of player we're missing right now

[Coventry Saint]

18 hours ago, djchapsticks said:

His (by his own admission) shady past notwithstanding, I must admit, there's something instantly likeable about David Martindale. 

He speaks well, is as humble as can be and seems legitimately grateful to have been given the chance to work his way into the position he's found himself in when he could have just as easily - and within reason - been given up on.

Yeah, I knew very little about him other than that which was publicised. He seems ok, and is obviously doing a ridiculous job at Livi right now. I know we all had our suspicions that he was pulling the strings all along: the managerial form of David Hopkin since he left Livi would certainly appear to back that up.

I understand Martindale has that 'fit and proper' hearing coming up. He absolutely must be given the chance to continue in his job. Sad indictment on our society generally if someone can't be allowed to rehabilitate after serving his punishment.