Livingston - all the threads merged

[crispy]

On the same page comments here, I think we saw some of the fight we need yesterday. Possibly an angry reaction to home truths from Martindale after Motherwell. That kind of move could back fire if the players don’t think the managers position is secure. However closing ranks and fighting through to the end is the only way to go for this side.

I don’t think we have the luxury of time in trying to convert players as the tactical side is catching us out. Devlin looking exposed a wee bit so need more from him. Yengi looks composed and confident with the ball and a good touch / linker of play. Holt and Penners the on form players I think. Guthrie doing a reasonable job, too.

[Durnford]

4 hours ago, Livi La Vida Loca said:

Nah Martindale has been doing it for a few years now. He loves a 'versatile' player. This season he really has been forcing square pegs into round holes though. 

And yet truly versatile players like Jack McMillan got shipped out to Partick? 

[Freedom Farter]

20 minutes ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Yep, then got injured when he fouled Forrest, he's slow enough without limping about not fully fit, should subbed him then. In fairness though, if Montano had held the line we wouldn't have conceded the first goal, Vargas would've been offside. When we haven't much pace we need to be organized so players can't get in behind us so easily. I'm not convinced Montano should be playing as a LCB in a back 3 ahead of a natural CB. Parkes looked decent though, if we can keep him fit i'd have him starting as first choice there.

Thought Guthrie was one of our better players yesterday, pressing defenders and winning balls, shame his goal didn't count, he deserved a goal for effort, and getting a few headers in the box too. With Yengi looking like a more exuberant Nouble, able to take the ball and get us up the pitch, i'm hoping Anderson can start scoring goals and work his way back into the starting line up,. but i still think Guthrie will be useful.

Aye, I actually went back and edited that comment but the edit hasn't shown in the version you've quoted. I was too pessimistic on Devlin and too optimistic on Montano (as a centre back).  I think Parkes is similar to Devlin in that both are better suited to a low defensive line. For me, Devlin's best game for us came in the defeat away to Hearts and you'll remember the tactics that night. Similarly, Parkes had a great first half away to Celtic recently (until his concussion) again when the team was using a deep defensive set up. When the team has played a higher line, both Devlin and Parkes have looked less assured. Its not just that they lack recovery pace with through balls but also that they've been hesitant to press high. Yesterday they did much better with that, both were harrying the Hearts attacker they were marking past the half way line. You can do that in a back three, its one of the advantages of the system, each centre back has more licence to leave their station and follow their direct opponent as there's an extra player to cover. Parkes came off at half time, obviously, but his first half display caused no concern.

I think Guthrie is useful too and I'm happy with having him as an option in the squad. I just don't rate him highly enough to be the starting centre forward for a team that needs to win many of its remaining home games. Non-Old Firm opposition don't attack us the same at Almondvale. Even Hearts, clear in third place, did not come yesterday and try to bowl us over. There was opportunity for us to play and that's partly why Shinnie could have such a good game. So in these home matches I want a centre forward who is better in build up than Guthrie is. Yengi could be that player, although its very early days on that.

Edited January 3 by Freedom Farter

[Durnford]

Didn't think Yengi had bags of pace when up against the Heart defence and probably needs to work on his ball control but looked pretty impressive with high balls into the penalty area. That being said I'm basing that on a relatively short appearance (not as short as Anderson's though) for someone that's just arrived.

 

[DavideFernandezLoveChild]

What is the script with Teto. Seems to still be in Scotland? 90 days is the wait period between WP applications if my FM knowledge is correct which would be early November. Yet, no announcement at all. 

[LIVIFOREVER]

3 minutes ago, DavideFernandezLoveChild said:

What is the script with Teto. Seems to still be in Scotland? 90 days is the wait period between WP applications if my FM knowledge is correct which would be early November. Yet, no announcement at all. 

I've given up any hope of ever seeing him playing for us, feels similar to the wee guy we signed some years back that spent all his time doing snapchat vids. Can't even remember his name now, was around when Hippolyte played for us.

[Livi La Vida Loca]

7 minutes ago, DavideFernandezLoveChild said:

What is the script with Teto. Seems to still be in Scotland? 90 days is the wait period between WP applications if my FM knowledge is correct which would be early November. Yet, no announcement at all. 

No point resubmitting if we know it'll get knocked back. Without an international call up we need a Governing Body Endorsement and we didn't get that first time around so can't see why we'd get it now. 

[crispy]

16 minutes ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

I've given up any hope of ever seeing him playing for us, feels similar to the wee guy we signed some years back that spent all his time doing snapchat vids. Can't even remember his name now, was around when Hippolyte played for us.

Haha, What was this? As an old goat I’m not a Snapchat user.

Teto is also old news for me, too. Seems the chance of him playing for Livi isn’t actually in Livi’s hands independent of whether he’s actually any good or not. 

[CharlieWhisky]

1 hour ago, DavideFernandezLoveChild said:

What is the script with Teto. Seems to still be in Scotland? 90 days is the wait period between WP applications if my FM knowledge is correct which would be early November. Yet, no announcement at all. 

There’s no chance he will ever play for us and I don’t believe there was ever a chance of him getting a work permit.

Martindale said he would qualify for a GBE if he plays for South Africa u23s. He’s never played for them before, they haven’t played since March (when he wasn’t even in the squad), and they don’t have any matches scheduled in the next six months.

At some point TS Galaxy will get sick of paying his wages for him to do nothing, and call it off. 

[ATLIS]

I've switched back to Martindale in, lets just knuckle down and fight. Yesterday was the turning point, there's fight in there. He's the man to guide us through this.

[Cptn Hooch]

2 hours ago, Durnford said:

And yet truly versatile players like Jack McMillan got shipped out to Partick? 

At the time Jack wanted to play regular first team football and was behind an in form Nicky Devlin, James Penrice and Cristian Montano. I liked Jack as a player and was gutted to see him leave but it was the right decision

[RandomGuy.]

52 minutes ago, CharlieWhisky said:

At some point TS Galaxy will get sick of paying his wages for him to do nothing, and call it off. 

Surely its obvious by now youre paying his wages?

WyScout etc., all say hes contracted to you and TS Galaxys website doesnt list him at all.

I suspect you've gambled, paid a fee and given him a 4yr deal, and lost. I dont think Martindale even pretended any different until your GBE application failed and he realised how bad it would look.

[JD and associates]

2 hours ago, Durnford said:

And yet truly versatile players like Jack McMillan got shipped out to Partick? 

Was a huge fan of McMillan, he came into the side for a spell around late 2021 as far as I remember (perhaps coincided with a Devlin injury?) and was fantastic - head and shoulders above anyone in that position at the time. Should've done a lot more to keep him, he proved his worth for me. Think he signed a 2 year deal at Thistle...maybe we can get him back in the summer? £££ means perhaps unlikely. 

Sibbald is another one who I think was deemed surplus to requirements but was probably more than happy to stay. Now we have a bloated squad full of shite pissing money into the wind. Really frustrating.

[LIVIFOREVER]

28 minutes ago, JD and associates said:

Was a huge fan of McMillan, he came into the side for a spell around late 2021 as far as I remember (perhaps coincided with a Devlin injury?) and was fantastic - head and shoulders above anyone in that position at the time. Should've done a lot more to keep him, he proved his worth for me. Think he signed a 2 year deal at Thistle...maybe we can get him back in the summer? £££ means perhaps unlikely. 

Sibbald is another one who I think was deemed surplus to requirements but was probably more than happy to stay. Now we have a bloated squad full of shite pissing money into the wind. Really frustrating.

Came to us long before that, we signed him from Motherwell. Never seemed to nail down a starting place playing in the one position, but was a great utility player, comfortable playing both sides of defence. Good but always 2nd choice to others, going to Partick was the right move for him, getting first choice starts there.

We've got some decent ball players, but we need to be playing them more, and letting them play it on the deck. Tete looks like he could be a good link up player in midfield to get it up to MacKay, St Kelly, or Bradley, then we would be a lot more threatening in the final 3rd.

[Menga Bus]

To get attacking players on the park we need to bin the back 5, it hasn’t even improved us defensively, instead we just concede and don’t score 

[LIVIFOREVER]

2 hours ago, crispy said:

Haha, What was this? As an old goat I’m not a Snapchat user.

Teto is also old news for me, too. Seems the chance of him playing for Livi isn’t actually in Livi’s hands independent of whether he’s actually any good or not. 

Neither am i, but i remember other posters putting stuff up about him using it to post jokey vids and shit, sure it was him and Hippo doing the one joking about on the bus to Ibrox, when Hippo was red carded the prev game, and the fans weren't happy about Hippo's attitude. Don't think he ever played a game for us, and disappeared as a forgotten signing.

[Livi La Vida Loca]

2 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

Surely its obvious by now youre paying his wages?

The local paper reporter with good knowledge said that the club inserted a clause in the deal that TS Galaxy would pay his wages if he didn't get a work permit. 

Who knows how long that agreement was for. 

Edited January 3 by Livi La Vida Loca

[Durnford]

1 hour ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Neither am i, but i remember other posters putting stuff up about him using it to post jokey vids and shit, sure it was him and Hippo doing the one joking about on the bus to Ibrox, when Hippo was red carded the prev game, and the fans weren't happy about Hippo's attitude. Don't think he ever played a game for us, and disappeared as a forgotten signing.

Actually there's been a few of them. A Brazilian player who never got clearance (at the time of Barcellos I think), a French player who joined with Andreu  (Luongo?) who was never fit enough to even make the bench plus the guy I think you're referring to who couldn't get into the country due to Covid restrictions

[mozam76]

4 hours ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

I've given up any hope of ever seeing him playing for us, feels similar to the wee guy we signed some years back that spent all his time doing snapchat vids. Can't even remember his name now, was around when Hippolyte played for us.

 

1 hour ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Neither am i, but i remember other posters putting stuff up about him using it to post jokey vids and shit, sure it was him and Hippo doing the one joking about on the bus to Ibrox, when Hippo was red carded the prev game, and the fans weren't happy about Hippo's attitude. Don't think he ever played a game for us, and disappeared as a forgotten signing.

The only player I can think of who had a “name” as such, promised loads but never actually appeared, was David Luongo. French guy we signed at the same time as Tony Andreu. This was a couple of years before Hippolyte though. 

Could you be thinking of Moses Duckrell? He was in the squad with Hippolyte, and never made an appearance. 

[thruthenight]

1 hour ago, Livi La Vida Loca said:

The local paper reporter with good knowledge said that the club inserted a clause in the deal that TS Galaxy would pay his wages if he didn't get a work permit. 

Who knows how long that agreement was for. 

I'm not a lawyer, but surely if the home office have declined a work permit, and he's training with us occasionally, then legally we can't be paying him? Otherwise we'd be paying him...to do work?