Livingston - all the threads merged

[LiviLion]

4 hours ago, shibbydoo said:

You have a cash gate I assume?

Won't be at home to have a ticket posted to me.

 

11 minutes ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Nope, never had a cash gate since we came into the Premiership. Think you can get a QR code emailed and just use your phone at the turnstyle to get it scanned.

Alternatively I'm sure there's a wee window you can buy a ticket from on the day, just means you're queuing twice so better off buying it on your phone if possible

[Scrutinizer]

When  is Martindale getting sacked ???  Last 10 games 4 points out of a possible 30 that's totally sackable. Is One man more important than Livi's   attempt  of survival under the helm of a new Manager, that doesn't keep playing the same  unworkable tactics, and the same old duds

Are the owner's just going to let them run down the season  until it's impossibly  too late  to survive

Martindale will probably be struggling to keep Livi  out of the bottom 2 of the championship next season.

 

[Livi]

40 minutes ago, Scrutinizer said:

 

Are the owner's just going to let them run down the season  until it's impossibly  too late  

 

Unfortunately until there is a proper constituted board it's only Ward and Martindale really making the decisions.

They will go down together. 

No one was expecting anything today but when you look at the last run of games then yes thats in the territory of being sacked.  

[ATLIS]

I'm interested in hearing Martindale say that he's had a few player's agents come to him and tell him it's time they moved on - the kind of guys that don't have the heart for a relegation fight. Who could that be? He said 2 or 3, and there's 4 or 5 rotation players who aren't up to the quality of a relegation fight he says, who are those?

Agents 2-3, Nouble, Shamal, Bruce/Penrice?
Rotation 4-5, Welch-Hayes, Brandon, Bradley, Lawal, Luiyi, Lloyd, Kelly?

Then there's Bahamboula and Bitsindou, Dan Mackay likely gone too. Teto can't contribute. 

I can see this being a window of 6/7 out and 5/6 in. We need to be busy

 

[Freedom Farter]

1 hour ago, ATLIS said:

I'm interested in hearing Martindale say that he's had a few player's agents come to him and tell him it's time they moved on - the kind of guys that don't have the heart for a relegation fight. Who could that be? He said 2 or 3, and there's 4 or 5 rotation players who aren't up to the quality of a relegation fight he says, who are those?

Agents 2-3, Nouble, Shamal, Bruce/Penrice?
Rotation 4-5, Welch-Hayes, Brandon, Bradley, Lawal, Luiyi, Lloyd, Kelly?

Then there's Bahamboula and Bitsindou, Dan Mackay likely gone too. Teto can't contribute. 

I can see this being a window of 6/7 out and 5/6 in. We need to be busy

 

It's very hard to accurately guess these things. The only player I've wondered about this season is Stephen Kelly. I've felt his lack of playing time could possibly be at least party due to something off-field. The rest of the squad I've seen fairly obvious tactical reasons for their amount of game time (even if it hasn't always followed my personal preference, I've recognised Martindale's thinking).

I see why you mention George given he didn't play today then Martindale has made these comments. That could easily be coincidence, though, and Hamilton was in for this match due to simple rotation planning.

Edit: Sangare has featured less recently and wasn't in the squad today. Again, could be simple non-selection from Martindale for solely on-field reasons and could also be injury.

Edited December 23, 2023 by Freedom Farter

[ATLIS]

6 minutes ago, Freedom Farter said:

It's very hard to accurately guess these things. The only player I've wondered about this season is Stephen Kelly. I've felt his lack of playing time could possibly be at least party due to something off-field. The rest of the squad I've seen fairly obvious tactical reasons for their amount of game time (even if it has hasn't always followed my personal preference, I've recognised Martindale's thinking).

I see why you mention George given he didn't play today then Martindale has made these comments. That could easily be coincidence, though, and Hamilton was in for this match due to simple rotation planning.

Shamal just fits the profile of a player that wants out to save his profile down south. He can still get a move off of being a former Liverpool youth player, highly regarded down south and then a blip here before a move.

[Freedom Farter]

7 minutes ago, ATLIS said:

Shamal just fits the profile of a player that wants out to save his profile down south. He can still get a move off of being a former Liverpool youth player, highly regarded down south and then a blip here before a move.

Aye, as a general rule "want away" players tend to be ones who've either dropped from a higher level to come to Livi and feel this isn't what they signed up for, or its that they're worried about losing career momentum.

Something since Gary Holt's time and that's continued under Martindale is that want away players see their game time drastically reduced. So it'll probably become obvious quite soon which player(s) it is.

[crispy]

3 hours ago, Scrutinizer said:

When  is Martindale getting sacked ???  Last 10 games 4 points out of a possible 30 that's totally sackable. Is One man more important than Livi's   attempt  of survival under the helm of a new Manager, that doesn't keep playing the same  unworkable tactics, and the same old duds

Are the owner's just going to let them run down the season  until it's impossibly  too late  to survive

Martindale will probably be struggling to keep Livi  out of the bottom 2 of the championship next season.

 

If Martindale were to go, do you have an idea of who’d take over? Internal or external?

Im not getting worked up over losing 2-0 away to the champions. I accept that you’ve identified the terrible form we’ve been on but this complaint should’ve been aired after the Aberdeen game or the next ‘winnable’ fixture. I don’t count Celtic/Rangers games as much more than a free hit.

i think my opinion differs from a lot on here so I’ll just state that Derek McInnes said we should’ve got something out the Hibs game and Willie Millersaid nothing in the Aberdeen game for large period. Anderson missed a pen against Killie which potentially cost us 3 points and we could’ve gone 2-0 up at Aberdeen. There’s a point where the players are responsible.

Surely there’s been enough in the Hibs, Killie and Aberdeen games to take encouragement and rally behind the team incl. management?

What’s it, 1 season out of 5 where we are not looking like we are currently going to challenge for top 6? That seems fair enough to me. We are a tiny, diddy club by comparison to the others. 
 

St Mirren got pumped 4-0 off dundee and they are a whole raft of results which suggest this league is tight this year.

call me out if you think this is bulls*it.

Edited December 23, 2023 by crispy

[Livi La Vida Loca]

1 hour ago, ATLIS said:

He said 2 or 3, and there's 4 or 5 rotation players who aren't up to the quality of a relegation fight he says,

This is the same manager who said 2 or 3 games ago that he was confident the club had the right people to get through our current predicament? 

I don't know how others feel about Martindale in the press/media but he frustrates me no end. 

I don't see the benefit of coming out saying players want away or that the rotation players aren't up to it. It comes across as an excuse when ultimately he's built this squad with the view of being in a relegation battle so if the teams not up to it the buck stops with him. 

His constant bemoaning of the budget (although not today but historically) is just annoying as well and of course his pre season press was just "somebody come buy Nouble please".

[Livi La Vida Loca]

36 minutes ago, crispy said:

Surely there’s been enough in the Hibs, Killie and Aberdeen games to take encouragement and rally behind the team incl. management?

What’s it, 1 season out of 5 where we are not looking like we are currently going to challenge for top 6? That seems fair enough to me. We are a tiny, diddy club by comparison to the others. 

While performances were better they count for nothing when you only pick up 4 points from a possible 30. 

While performances have been better our play has been good awful and Martindale refuses to mix it up and makes utterly baffling selection decisions. 

I don't expect Livi to be a footballing powerhouse but we can't continue on one way hoping it's just gonna fix itself.

I'm very much behind the team but as said before something has to give whether that be our tactics & selection or the manager. 

[Durnford]

1 hour ago, Livi La Vida Loca said:

This is the same manager who said 2 or 3 games ago that he was confident the club had the right people to get through our current predicament? 

I don't know how others feel about Martindale in the press/media but he frustrates me no end. 

I don't see the benefit of coming out saying players want away or that the rotation players aren't up to it. It comes across as an excuse when ultimately he's built this squad with the view of being in a relegation battle so if the teams not up to it the buck stops with him. 

His constant bemoaning of the budget (although not today but historically) is just annoying as well and of course his pre season press was just "somebody come buy Nouble please".

Tend to agree that Martindale's press appearances haven't help our cause at all. Not only airing the clubs dirty laundry which can hardly motivate the team but all the desperate attempts to sell player; Nouble and Fitzwater before that seems to totally phuque up the form of the player in question.

At the moment a lot more can be achieved by silent determination.

[Dav nan Gael]

13 hours ago, Livi said:

Unfortunately until there is a proper constituted board it's only Ward and Martindale really making the decisions.

They will go down together. 

No one was expecting anything today but when you look at the last run of games then yes thats in the territory of being sacked.  

100% this............

He isn't getting sacked because he won't sack himself will he ????

Clearly DM has his paws in the club and basically has a job for as long as he wants it.

The next few games will tell a tale,if they haven't panned out particularly well and he's still in his position then that indeed indicates everything I have just said is the reality around the man.

If so,when are we as supporters going to do something about what is going on ??

Everybody just seems to have this malaise about them,shrug their shoulders sort of attitude..........

If after the next few games there hasn't been a shift then enough is enough and my fellow supporters need to get a grip on what's happening  !!

Good to hear the "Livi for Life Trust" actively looking for new members and ways to gain more control of the club.

[mozam76]

10 hours ago, Livi La Vida Loca said:

This is the same manager who said 2 or 3 games ago that he was confident the club had the right people to get through our current predicament? 

I don't know how others feel about Martindale in the press/media but he frustrates me no end. 

I don't see the benefit of coming out saying players want away or that the rotation players aren't up to it. It comes across as an excuse when ultimately he's built this squad with the view of being in a relegation battle so if the teams not up to it the buck stops with him. 

His constant bemoaning of the budget (although not today but historically) is just annoying as well and of course his pre season press was just "somebody come buy Nouble please".

I’ve never minded him talking budgets. That’s at least based on fact. 

On other matters, he’s prone to talking utter bullshit. 

[Livi]

1 hour ago, Dav nan Gael said:

100% this............

He isn't getting sacked because he won't sack himself will he ????

Clearly DM has his paws in the club and basically has a job for as long as he wants it.

The next few games will tell a tale,if they haven't panned out particularly well and he's still in his position then that indeed indicates everything I have just said is the reality around the man.

If so,when are we as supporters going to do something about what is going on ??

Everybody just seems to have this malaise about them,shrug their shoulders sort of attitude..........

If after the next few games there hasn't been a shift then enough is enough and my fellow supporters need to get a grip on what's happening  !!

Good to hear the "Livi for Life Trust" actively looking for new members and ways to gain more control of the club.

Spot on @Dav nan Gaelthe next 3 games are crucial and anything other than getting maximum points is not acceptable. Let's hope we don't see a change of narrative if maximum points are not achieved.  
 

This article in the daily ranger wont be helping the players confidence if the manager is  having a go at them in the media last week it was Anderson this week its the defenders

https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/david-martindale-goes-celtic-meltdown-31741602

I worry the LFL Trust rallying call might be to little to late but lets see.

 

If we only have 16 players who are up for the relegation does that mean Martindale is admitting he has got it horribly wrong this year in terms of signings? 

 

Was hearing we are replacing the engine on the "vanity project" team bus which will cost '000's no doubt. It broke down en-route to Anerdeen the other night. If this is correct then serious questions need asked. 

[The Wrong Car]

As much as the recent comments  about the signings are damning, given Martindale signed them, I don’t think having a team bus and maintaining it is the biggest issue at the club

In terms of his media comments, it’s clearly just post-match deflection at this point. It’s not budget that’s stopping Bradley, Kelly or Anderson being used or Bahamboula being shunned

[EdinburghLivi]

23 hours ago, crispy said:

i think my opinion differs from a lot on here so I’ll just state that Derek McInnes said we should’ve got something out the Hibs game and Willie Millersaid nothing in the Aberdeen game for large period. Anderson missed a pen against Killie which potentially cost us 3 points and we could’ve gone 2-0 up at Aberdeen. There’s a point where the players are responsible.

Surely there’s been enough in the Hibs, Killie and Aberdeen games to take encouragement and rally behind the team incl. management?

That would be fine in a vacuum but this has followed months of terrible, boring games where we have put in abject performances and not deserved anything.

I have missed watching a few of the games recently but I'm struggling to think of any performances I would term good after our early ones against Hibs and Aberdeen. Motherwell was good but against 10 men so a bit of an asterisk.

I don't really care that the budget has been cut, Martindale still decided to put a squad of 27 players together rather than having a higher quality core of 19/20 and supplying that with under 18s. 

The drop-off from last season with largely the same squad is unacceptable and falls on the manager persisting with a crap system where our best players are nullified and we have no attacking threat to combat the inevitable goal we lose with George in goals. 

He needs results and much better performances before the break.

Edited December 24, 2023 by EdinburghLivi

[LIVIFOREVER]

The lack of a goal threat from set pieces is also killing us, since Brown and Guthrie left we just haven't had a CB that troubles the opposition in their box. Big Notts might come good if he stays fit and gets regular games right enough, he at least hit the bar from a ball into the box. It has been an area that helped get us wins in the past.

Anderson has started both erse cheek games, it's almost as if Martindale is trolling us, saying, 'well i tried starting him and he didn't do much, so i'll drop him again', to say to the fans, 'that's why i haven't been starting him'. But he'd better start him against St Johnstone and Motherwell, that's the games we need him starting, where he'll get service and chances to score.

Edited December 24, 2023 by LIVIFOREVER

[Durnford]

I also worry about persistently playing the back three despite it shipping more goals than any other side in the league.

Maybe it'd work with a reliable steady back three like we had with GHL but most of our defenders seem to have struggle to make five games without going out injured or being dropped. Also, despite having so many defenders on the books we seem to consistently play  other players in defensive positions where that's not really their forte.

And, before I forget, Merry Christmas to everyone 

[ATLIS]

As soon as that bid came in during the summer Martindale wanted him gone, I can almost guarantee he's holding a grudge over the fact he didn't agree terms on the move

[ATLIS]

Just now, Durnford said:

I also worry about persistently playing the back three despite it shipping more goals than any other side in the league.

Maybe it'd work with a reliable steady back three like we had with GHL but most of our defenders seem to have struggle to make five games without going out injured or being dropped. Also, despite having so many defenders on the books we seem to consistently play  other players in defensive positions where that's not really their forte.

And, before I forget, Merry Christmas to everyone 

To be fair, it's as much a back 3 as it is a back 5, seems to be fairly fluid