Livingston vs St Johnstone - 1 February 2022

[Guest]

Livi:

Started poorly. Knocked off stride by St Johnstone's higher than expected defensive line and the pressing of their forwards, May especially, who even caused a goal scare by blocking a Fitzwater pass. Did well to recover after the St J goal and from about 25 - 30 minutes started to play very well. Penrice was excellent during this period, often starting build ups then taking up a high left position. He helped facilitate Forrest, who became our driving attacking spark and gave a great assist for Anderson, who finished well. St Johnstone were forced much deeper and they were no longer able to press Livi, as we kept possession and kept St J pinned in.

Second half was a similar pattern for the first 20 minutes. Around 65 minutes in, game balance changed. St Johnstone started getting fruit from lofted balls into the channels for May and Hendry to chase. They won a succession of set pieces from that tactic which we defended well but it emboldened them. At this point I'd have rather seen us go 3-5-2 like second half against Hibs in the last match. Obileye is poor defending in wide areas (how we  conceded the late goal tonight) whereas Fitzwater is very good defending in wide areas. So flanking Obileye with Devlin right and Fitzwater left would've plugged the areas where St J's lofted balls forward were going. Also, 3-5-2 with Forrest at left forward would have freed him up from any defensive duties and he could've focus on trying to score on the counter. He and Anderson could've been deadly in that formation as the game got more stretched and we knocked it more direct to them. Chukwuemeka would've been ok as right wing back and Shinnie for Pittman was an ok sub too. Nouble for Anderson, less necessary but also fine. I think not switching to the 3-5-2 was the error.

[Guest]

St Johnstone:

Excellent start. Knocked Livi right off balance with the relatively high defensive line and the great pressing. Hendry took his goal brilliantly. He's exactly the penetrative poacher type who St J have been needing. The assist from McCleary was great as was his overall performance tonight, Jason Kerr-ish from him. Defensive line dropped and the pressing lost its intensity around half an hour in but that's a necessary phase plus Livi can keep possession very well through players like Omeonga, Holt and Forrest, and they clicked into gear.

Second half, Livi started with similar possession and territory control but Gordon, McCleary and Clark were excellent. St J then upped their attacking intent and forced a 10 minute spell starting around 65 mins where they forced a lot of set pieces. Final 15-20 mins were much more open. "Box to box striker" Stevie May with a great tackle on Chukwuemeka. Middleton was an excellent sub from Davidson, his wide positioning pulled Obileye out to him and Middleton will always get the better of a centre back in that scenario. Crawford offers an attacking midfield threat which has also been lacking at times for St J this season, great timing of run and finish for the winner. 

[PauloPerth]

51 minutes ago, hoobahabba said:

As much as we were shit today, Forrest had a really good game. He’ll get a move to a bigger club than Saints no bother. 

 

46 minutes ago, Cptn Hooch said:

He'll get a move to a better club than St Johnstone


How's that?

Is there a bigger or better club out there?
 

How’s fucking that?

 

[LogieLivi]

Is there a bigger or better club out there?
 
How’s fucking that?
 

Forest Green Rovers are a bigger club IMO.

[Cptn Hooch]

Is there a bigger or better club out there?
 
How’s fucking that?
 

There are currently 10 clubs better than St Johnston in the league [emoji2371]

[Meesterrodriguez]

1 minute ago, LogieLivi said:

5 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

Is there a bigger or better club out there?
 
How’s fucking that?
 

Forest Green Rovers are a bigger club IMO.

This is like midget mma. You lot are proper diddies and we aren’t exactly Barcelona  

[Meesterrodriguez]

4 minutes ago, Cptn Hooch said:

There are currently 10 clubs better than St Johnston in the league

 

[PauloPerth]

Spoiler

Spoiler

 

 

 

 

[Fife Saint]

There are currently 10 clubs better than St Johnston in the league [emoji2371]

Very few of which have the mentality or ability to pull off a double title season. Forrest disrespected the two times and will end up in purgatory on the Hibs bench.

[Hayshead2]

1 hour ago, Fife Saint said:

It was nonsense. 

Just seen it on tv. Ridiculously bad refereeing (which will go unnoticed as usual). Big Nouble hasn't got a bad bone in his body. Heads up Livingston

[Scrutinizer]

St Johnstone deserved this win,with a sturdy determined display,Livi played well in patches, good going forward but no central midfield,giving Saints control through the middle

If you're  going with Bailey on one wing and Forrest on the other and Anderson through the middle the midfield players need to be playing up at centre of the park.There was far too much hoofball, missing out the midfield trying to find the wingers

Pittman done nothing in the middle,Holt sitting too deep,Omeonga sitting to deep in the first half,good second half.Saints always looked like they had an extra man and covered the park better overall
Livi had to many large areas of the park empty which is down to bad tactics,2 wingers and 2 defensive  midfielders is unbalanced  in a 4-3-3

Stryjek  6/10
Devlin   7/10    Good second half
Fizzywater 6/10 
Obeileye   5/10   Jittery,to laid back
Penrice   5/10    Good first half, Disappeared 2nd half 
Holt      4/10   If playing with 2 wingers,needs to get into central midfield
Pittman   2/10   Done nothing
Omeonga   6/10   Good in 2nd half
Bailey    6/10   Good when on the ball
Anderson  6/10   
Forrest   9/10  

The 3 subs done nothing to alter the game 

[Sh*teAndMuck]

I really enjoyed that. Great atmosphere amongst our lot and scenes at the end, feels like so long since we had a great away day and a win!

Not many changes to the team apart from maybe the attitude and togetherness. This time we win and we have all these other options with the new players we’ve signed. Suddenly things are looking up!

Hallberg looks absolute class btw.  

[Widge]

I thought the game last night was pretty even in the end with both teams having periods of sustained pressure and being under the kosh. What I will say, is the application from the saints players last night was as good as I’ve seen it in months. Both strikers worked their ass off, prime example is May dashing 80 yards with 10 minutes to go. That’s the kind of fight and determination we need to pick up points. I think the introduction of Hallberg helped our play a lot, as he’s mobile and quick enough to fill the “McCann” role, where he presses high and starts the high pressure, you could see he was actively geeing the others along and he’ll potentially be a very classy player for us. 
 

As for the game, thought Livi looked very good at times when they got the ball to Forrest and Penrice and played through the midfield. Seems strange to me that Omeonga wasn’t given the ball a lot more, but the centrebacks just wanted to go long or pass between themselves. Suited saints when that happened to be honest. No disagreement that Forrest was the best player on the pitch, he was terrific. Red card is certainly harsh, the first booking I can see why it was given, McCart makes the most of it, but his arm does come across and it probably just about warrants it. The second yellow just isn’t, but having been booked for the exact same thing, why chance it again? In a way I’m quite pleased saints players made a meal of them, we don’t do it at all usually and frankly other reasons have done it to us for years. 
 

Still Livi aren’t in a relegation battle, they’ll be fine. Saints on the other hand still very are and need to take that energy and drive into the aunties game. A win there and we start to put pressure on them big time. One final word for the young lads, brilliant energy and support from them once again, really made the difference at times sitting in the stadium, so fair play to them for coming out on a Tuesday night. 

[ol1vercloff]

On 01/02/2022 at 07:58, ol1vercloff said:

Hope I'm wrong, but expecting us to get pumped tonight after pumping Hibs on Saturday.  It's the Livi way.

Damn you, Livi.

Did we not give St Johnstone the same amount of respect as we gave Hibs?  How do we beat a top 6 team then lose to the bottom team?  It's a tale as old as time down at the 'Vale.

Getting sick of the 'Alan Forrest show', hope he got a rocket up the hoop for his ball greediness last night.

[Radford]

Thought it was a really good game last night on, dare I say, a pitch conducive to it. Both teams tried to play good football and everyone wanted on the ball. Would pay to watch games like that every week. 

All the characteristics you want in a St Johnstone team evident. 

We made a good start, which helped build some confidence and a big part of that was down to Hallberg, who started the move for the opener with a neat one-two then switch of play. He faded but then came back into the game showing a more pragmatic and battling toolkit. 

Really liked big Mahon when he came on. Liam Gordon had spent the night battling with Anderson but first time the ball came forward after the change, Mahon just steps in front of the attacker and puts his head on it. Read a few other things well too. 

Dan Cleary will keep improving and what an irony it'll be if the best January arrival turns out to be Callum Hendry.

Livingston are a good team. 

[Sainthearted]

Ouch. It seems the biggest critic of Ali Crawford is no longer your avg. St Johnstone fan. 

Most of what I was going to say has already been said, however one question springs to mind: has last night's performance made Saints fans more inclined to lay blame at the feet of the players than CD for the recent run of poor performances? 

In other words, were some of our established players feeling indifferent or exceedingly lazy due to the lack of competition for places? 

Edited February 2, 2022 by Sainthearted

[Radford]

2 minutes ago, Sainthearted said:

Has last night's performance made Saints fans more inclined to lay blame at the feet of the players than CD for the recent run of poor performances? 

I don't think so. 

We saw last night a side that was well coached and motivated with a bit of ability but it wasn't working for three months. 

We've maybe now stumbled back into form but that doesn't mean he shouldn't have tried to reinvigorate the players he did have earlier.

Hopefully he'll learn that he can't let it drag on so long if it happens again.

[Bobby_F]

Came on here to see if that was as much of a smash and grab as the highlights made it look.

But both sets of fans seem to think it was a reasonably even game.

Thought Forrest looked very very good indeed.

[tree house tam]

39 minutes ago, Bobby_F said:

Came on here to see if that was as much of a smash and grab as the highlights made it look.

But both sets of fans seem to think it was a reasonably even game.

Thought Forrest looked very very good indeed.

No smash and grab. Saints were better for first 30 minutes, Livingston for the next 30, then it could've went either way tbh.

[crispy]

1 hour ago, Bobby_F said:

Came on here to see if that was as much of a smash and grab as the highlights made it look.

But both sets of fans seem to think it was a reasonably even game.

Thought Forrest looked very very good indeed.

Thought it odd that the highlights didn't show Devlin hitting the post from a break when we were a man and 2-1 down. Surely that's an entertaining highlight? It was the closest we came to a second.

 

Edited February 2, 2022 by crispy