PauloPerth

I didn’t think Carey could have any complaints about being dropped for the Aberdeen game. He is our most creative player but hadn’t produced anything of note for a while, whether playing deeper or further forward. But fair play to him, he didn’t spit the dummy, just came in and made a positive impact v Livingston, which is exactly the reaction you want to see. Must be in the reckoning for a start next game, though it being away at Celtic might mean we set up a bit more cautiously.

Ok I’ve read it again and you really are seriously comparing the way Livingston played yesterday to the St Johnstone double winning team. One of the wildest statements I’ve read on this forum.

The next two weeks are crucial. Saints could find ourselves pulled right back into the brink. In a fortnight’s time we’ll only have played Celtic away, whilst County will have had two home games, against Hibs and Hearts, and Aberdeen will have played at Dundee and Motherwell. Its hard to believe Aberdeen won’t be above us, and County won’t have closed the gap a touch. I’ve always found County unpredictable. They’ll be absolutely shite and you think they’re finished, then just randomly win a game unexpectedly. No one in the bottom 4 is going to go on some miraculous winning run, so the odd win and scraping as many draws as possible should lead to safety.

Very much this. Danny Swanson came to us on loan from Coventry with a reputation as being a diving cheat whilst at Utd. He made his debut away at QOS in the Scottish and, along with our entire team, had a stinker as we got knocked out. He got a lot of stick for trying fancy back heels and giving the ball away a lot. The team got snowballs thrown at them and Swanson got booed off when subbed. In retrospect it was probably the worst reception I’ve ever witnessed for a new signing. He started to turn it round with this goal, and went on to be a star player for us:

The most bizarre thing about livi’s tactics is they actually looked more dangerous in possession when it was 0-0 and briefly towards the end. Hampered by another one of this current generation of Scottish managers who think the only way possible to win a match is go 1 up then sit in and absolutely shit fest the rest of the match. The sooner the lot of them f**k off the better, and we might actually start to see some entertainment in our domestic game again.

Forgot to mention the ref. Weak as pish in handling the Livingston antics.

An awful game. I have to say not as gutted as many might be. We were really poor in the first half and the way that second half was going, it didn’t feel like we’d get a chance never mind a goal. It was so stop start there was barely any passages of play without the whistle being blown. I wasn’t all that optimistic going into the game as Livi were never going to be as powderpuff and easy to play against as Aberdeen, and we’ve never really found a way of playing against them that works. After we were a goal down and the way Livingston kill the game and prevent you getting any momentum, on a shocking pitch, getting a point was okay. The players didn’t panic and created a good goal. Not a good watch but it never is against them. At HT with Motherwell, Aberdeen and Livi winning and County drawing, it looked as though it was going to be a bad day. But in the end, we’ve gained on Aberdeen and County and not lost ground on Livi. Third bottom is still the target for us. As for Livi, f**k them. Be delighted to see the back of them.

Motherwell and Aberdeen both winning, just need County to score against Hibs for the ultimate shite day for Saints.

Had a feeling this would be a struggle after Wednesday night. Livingston were never going to be as powderpuff and give us as much space as Aberdeen did. We’ve never figured a way of playing against them yet. It generally comes down to who scores first. We need to do better than hopeful crosses from 30 yards out; try to get a striker over to link up with the wide midfielder do we can get in behind gor a cross. The pitch is dreadful. A draw would be great for us from here.

Mind when hearts got relegated in the Covid season and most of their fans on here took the huff with the rest of the forum for laughing and not supporting their case?

Ideally the same team, but if Clark’s out I’d bring in May. Benji looks much more effective with a partner, and May looked lively and keen to make an impact on Wednesday night when he came on. It means we can keep the same shape with options to change it if it’s not working. I’d keep Carey on the bench and use as an impact sub. Matches with Livi can be attritional affairs, so it’ll probably be a dull tight battle for an hour until someone tries to open up in search of a goal.

We’ve been here before. Let’s just hope we can quietly amass points to climb the league over the next month and see where it takes us. If we do manage to go above certain teams whose fanbases have been all over us this year then the greatest gloatfest of all time can commence. But Saturday is huge. Got to show we can string together a couple of performances and results, and that last night wasn’t just a flash in the pan.

Excellent team performance by Saints. The whole team committed to putting their bodies on the line and battling for everything, simple tactics with players playing in positions they are comfortable in, and tried to be positive and hurt the opposition when we got the chance. Weathered the slight pressure after HT and kept trying to score rather than sitting in which was pleasing. DJ and Benji both having their best games for us. Nothing spectacular but absolutely delighted at the performance and result. A proper football performance by us for the first time in ages.

Yes Saints. Fucking yes. 4-4-2. Players in positions they know and understand. Nothing overly complicated Defenders defend. Midfielders tackle, run and pass. Strikers get us up the park and try to score. It’s fucking beautiful. Its far from brilliant, but it’s like watching a proper football match again. Trying to attack, 5-6 corners in the first half. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if it was two mediocre teams. Just keep doing what we’re doing. Bows not the time to try and be clever Craig.

A late equaliser for st Mirren keeps County a point behind us. Will gladly take it, but it feels we have been so lucky with results of the teams around us for months. Just hope it lasts…

Regarding the high percentage of our goals from set pieces; with us now struggling to even get in the opposition final third*, we don’t win many free kicks around the box or even corners it feels, so a main source of the few goals we did score has dried up. (* apart from the last couple of minutes of desperation when the game is done)

32 points feels a long way off just now. A complete inability to scrape draws in matches against teams above us is also killing us, especially when it looks as though playing for draws is our basic gameplan. You look at Killie, st Mirren, Dundee away and Hearts at home and feel we should be able to get battling draws in a couple of those fixtures. Thank f**k Benji produced a bit of quality up in Dingwall, otherwise we’d be looking (even more) desperate right now.

The season we did the double, (don’t know if you’ve heard about that achievement?), we scored 9 goals at home in the league. I think that might be a record in the history of Scottish football for all divisions. So yes, certainly for the last few years we’ve been a dreadful watch for those crazy types that like goals in their football matches.

The second half that night was arguably the only decent half we’ve played since the winter break. We’ve scored 3 goals in the 6 matches since.

Lowest goal scorers in uk professional football leagues. 17 in 27 matches.

I’m sure sometimes folk say that kind of thing in exaggeration, but we’ve scored 17 goals in 27 league games this season. 0.63 goals per game. THE LOWEST IN THE 4 SCOTTISH FOOTBALL LEAGUES. LOWER THAN ANYONE IN THE TOP 5 LEAGUES IN ENGLAND. Livingston have only won 3 matches this season, but have scored more. I think you’ll find we have a right to say we are unlikely to score!

The disallowed goal probably was a free kick, though could be debated either way. Thats definitely not a VAR decision though; just down to interpretation, and should have stayed with whatever the ref decided at the time. You see the likes of the second Thistle goal on Friday night that was wrongly disallowed (eventually).. that’s the type of howler that var was supposedly meant to rid the game of, not these marginal ones where they re-ref everything.

Never seen us beat Celtic at Celtic park, though did see us win a cup final there. Never seen us win at Hampden. Never seen us win at:- Caley Thistle, QOS, Kelty, Stenhousemuir, Alloa, Berwick and Falkirk.