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Livingston - all the threads merged


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2 hours ago, Cptn Hooch said:

I'm led to believe Devlin's current injury is completely unrelated to any previous injury and one that could happen to any player. It's reassuring to hear it's not a flare up of his previous issues but he's still a massive miss

 

That is good news but we still knew he was injury prone which is more what my point was. Right now we've been hit quite badly with centre back injuries so it's unfortunate timing but Devlin in my opinion is the best CB at the club and we are quite reliant on him being fit. 

1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

I take it theres a reason you play a back 3?

Feel like a midfield of Holt, Stephen Kelly +1, with Nouble and Bradley either side of Anderson, would be quite fun.

As others have said I think there's an element of Martindale trying to return to a back 3 which was solid for us when we got promoted however while we have some good CB's, at the moment they are nowhere near as good as the back 3 of Gallagher, Halket and Lithgow. 

For me I think Martindale set this 3-4-2-1 formation up with a view that Nouble wouldn't be here so it was a way to operate with out wingers. Nouble is by far at his best on the wing and at the moment he's starting a lot more central. He does drift wide but he's hot and cold and probably doesn't deserve to start every game but remains in the team for 2 reasons: the first being that on his day he's exceptional and could be the difference for us and the second being that Martindale is probably still desperate to put him in the shop window in the hope of some kind of fee come January.

The current formation is getting the best out of Pittman once again but for whatever reason Stephen Kelly hasn't featured much when he is one of our best players

Hard for me to nail down what I think our best formation is at the moment as all the different variations exclude particular players but the pass it round the back and launch it forward somewhat aimlessly needs to be reined in.

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Our full backs are all attacking, they're natural wing backs, so their tendency is to stay wide and high when defending rather than tucking in. With only two centre backs, that leaves them having to cover a large area. De Lucas can be a bit headless chicken with his positioning in that context, leaving his station to press too often. Obileye is the opposite, too rooted to the centre because he's weak at defending in wider areas. That all combines to see gaps open up.

Instead playing 3 centre backs locks De Lucas down to the right or left outside centre back role. That reduces the area he has to cover, simplifying his role positionally. Obileye playing centre of a 3 means he rarely has to cover wide areas so isn't exposed as often. It also allows him to step forward into the defensive midfield space at times, which he's good at.

Then there's that the extra centre back lifts some defensive burden from your central midfield. It's allowed us to play Shinnie as a deep playmaker alongside Holt. 

Edited by FreedomFarter
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16 hours ago, Livi La Vida Loca said:

That is good news but we still knew he was injury prone which is more what my point was. Right now we've been hit quite badly with centre back injuries so it's unfortunate timing but Devlin in my opinion is the best CB at the club and we are quite reliant on him being fit. 

 

The current formation is getting the best out of Pittman once again but for whatever reason Stephen Kelly hasn't featured much when he is one of our best players

Yeah, Calum Carson has openly said Livi's chances of surviving relegation could very much hinge on keeping Devlin fit for more games than he misses. The flip side of that being, we're never going to be able to attract a player of Devlin's quality if he's not "damaged goods"

 

On Stephen Kelly, he's undoubtedly he's one of our most talented players but he's failed to impress anytime he's had a chance this season. Seems too lightweight at times and goes missing in games. If you could roll Pittman and Kelly into one player we'd have a world beater but each is good at what the other lacks. Kelly is fantastic with the ball at his feet and time to orchestrate the play whereas Pittman is better playing at breakneck speed

Edited by Cptn Hooch
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3 hours ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Prob be a 1-1 draw then.

We usually lose away games against Motherwell but manage a draw at home.

They don't have Van McKoy playing for them so it'll all be a bit of a hustle.

Actually no sorry to see the back of Van Veen; expect Shamal isn't either.

 

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1 hour ago, Durnford said:

They don't have Van McKoy playing for them so it'll all be a bit of a hustle.

Actually no sorry to see the back of Van Veen; expect Shamal isn't either.

 

Motherwell seem to be doing fine without Van Veen though, gave both erse cheeks hard games, and unlucky not to get a draw against Celtic, so i can see Martindale coming up with some really defensive line up, and dropping Anderson for Guthrie.

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Just now, ATLIS said:

Just beat me to it. Definitely sounds positive, in addition to the screenshot talks about investing more in the women's team and academy.

Great stuff if he can afford it and it doesn't come back to bite us.

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If nothing else, he talks a very good game. Like he said, there's nothing there to strip out the club (unless he buys the stadium, kicks us out and sells the land?). I don't think you could've asked for a better statement from him though, get more investment in and get us more money coming through various avenues. 

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2 hours ago, ATLIS said:

If nothing else, he talks a very good game. Like he said, there's nothing there to strip out the club (unless he buys the stadium, kicks us out and sells the land?). I don't think you could've asked for a better statement from him though, get more investment in and get us more money coming through various avenues. 

Yeah he is obv wanting to buy the stadium, so did Flynn and Massone. We're paying out a lot of money on rent, so owning it would make financial sense, however you then have to worry if he's got ulterior motives for doing so, like the other two had. Those two talked a good game too, he'll have to prove his intentions are good before he'll win the fans over, we've heard it all before.

It is the same set up that Masson managed to asset strip, so i don't agree with him there, saying there is no assets. Running up debt and putting everything onto the club till he's milked as much as he can, then putting it in admin is how Massone did it, then selling off players on the cheap, Griffiths, Davidson, MacKay, I'm sure he could get something for the likes of Anderson and one or two more no problem and make a few bob. Players that have already been sold have add ons he can sell too, Massone sold off the sell on clause on Dorrans for 50K (i think). So Dykes sell on clause still has value to a new owner, even if he doesn't want to wait for it, he could do a deal with QPR to scrap it so they get the full fee, or just have to pay QoTS and not us. 

Anyway, here's hoping he's as good as his word, and not another carpet bagger looking for easy money.

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Realistically Livi are not a good business venture. He obviously see's the stadium as a clear and potentially easy way of making money. Can only hope that if he does drum up business it's good for the club but I will remain extremely sceptical especially when in the same interview he says there are no assets to strip then talks about buying a a big asset. 

 

3 minutes ago, LiviLion said:

Martindale update on Aphelele Teto

Looks like instead of a loan, Teto will (hopefully) get a call up to the South Africa U23 squad and Martindale is hoping that'll be enough for a work permit. I'm not convinced.

The whole Teto situation still absolutely baffles me. He's not got a work permit but is effectively 'working' by playing in bounce games. Get the vibe we may be pressuring an international call up given I can't see many young players getting called up when they've not played competitively in months. 

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