Torfason Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 2 hours ago, Cptn Hooch said: ST - Anderson/Guthrie/Gonca.....nah i'm not even gonna include him What is the deal with Isma? Is he just unfit or is he completely disinterested? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayseed Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 3 hours ago, Cptn Hooch said: Anytime I've seen Bair play for you I've seen similarities with Dykes. Raw, powerful and a handful for defenders with his size and strength. He does seem to lack that killer instinct though. Bair is too Canadian to be a badass. More likely to apologies for a nudge rather than givE you a good elbow in the puss. More Frank Bruno than Mike Tyson IMO. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thruthenight Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 10 minutes ago, Torfason said: What is the deal with Isma? Is he just unfit or is he completely disinterested? Trying to be as unbiased as possible as he's definitely turned into a bit of a boo boy, I think it's both. He clearly has excellent technique, and is fitter than he was at the start of the season, but is probably still the least fit member of the squad. He looked like he would eventually fit in when he was fitter at the start of the season when we weren't always playing 4-3-3 (or 4-2-3-1, whichever way you want to look at it), but he was clearly way behind the rest of the squad in terms of energy levels. Now we're 5 months into the season, and he's not where he should be after that much time. It took 3 months to turn JET from an overweight carthorse into one of the best players in the division, so the hope was that we'd be able to do something similar with Isma, but he's just not there. It's not injuries, it's not time, it's not his lack of technical ability, it just seems to be attitude. That, and he doesn't really fit into the way we're playing this season. There's a lot of work expected from our no 9, whether it's Anderson, Nouble or Guthrie, and Isma is nowhere near as athletic as either of those 3. He's not shown enough versatility to take one of the wing places either. He does occasionally show flashes that make me think that there is a place for him in this squad if he's fit. But it's January, and tbqh he doesn't look like he wants to be. Wouldn't be surprised to see him shipped out in January, although I also wouldn't be too surprised to see him be a nailed on starter for us in April. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cptn Hooch Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 51 minutes ago, Torfason said: What is the deal with Isma? Is he just unfit or is he completely disinterested? He looked so overweight when he came in but has lost a power of that...however he still looks uninterested in moving. He'd maybe do a job in a team that could carry a passenger for most of the game before he pops up with a goal but Livi ain't that team. His cameo v Motherwell a few weeks ago summed him up for me. He beat the defender to the ball, just had to touch it past him and he had a team mate through on goal....he knocked it past the defender and just fell over in stages. The fact that Guthrie played with an injury and again after months out with that injury ahead of him speaks volumes. If a 60% (at most) fit Guthrie is ahead of you in the team, just pack it in...it's no for you 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIVIFOREVER Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 2 hours ago, Cptn Hooch said: I was just saying this myself. Our squad depth if outstanding for being on such a small budget. Just having a think about our depth and the positions our guys have played this season and it's apparent that Martindale likes flexible players who can perform in a number of positions. That's allowed us to have a strong squad with a small number of players. Martindale is genuinely working wonders. GK - Shamal/Ivan/Hamilton RB - Devlin/Brandon/Cancar CB - Fitzwater/Ayo/Boyes/Cancar/Parkes/Se Kelly LB - Montano/Penrice/Longridge/Cancar/Se Kelly CM - Holt/Pittman/Omeonga/St Kelly/Se Kelly/Shinnie/Penrice LW - Nouble/St Kelly/Shinnie/Montano/Penrice/Bahamboula RW - Bradley/Bahamboula/Nouble/Brandon ST - Anderson/Guthrie/Gonca.....nah i'm not even gonna include him   Nouble played ST too, scored in 2 games against Sevco playing up front, sure he played there against Celtic, and Hearts at Tynecastle. Shinnie has played there too, think that was last season but he's linked up with Nouble in the Sevco games.  0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIVIFOREVER Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 (edited) 1 hour ago, Torfason said: What is the deal with Isma? Is he just unfit or is he completely disinterested? Where to start with Goncalves, was overweight and unfit at the start of the season, so you gave him the benefit of the doubt there. Now though he doesn't look that much fitter, came on quite late on in a game, made a bursting run, and looked like he was blowing out his arse the next 10 mins, more knackered than players who had started the game. First touch is to give the ball away, doesn't seem able to bring the ball into himself, and to top it off missed a penalty. Admittedly there is a lot of that going around at Livi, we've missed our last 5 pens i think. Got shouted at by Martindale to track back and put in challenges too, which is a bit strange, you'd think by now he'd know how we play, and every outfield player has to pull their weight and not stand about waiting on the ball being played to them.  Apart from that he's fine.  Edited January 15, 2023 by LIVIFOREVER 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cptn Hooch Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 31 minutes ago, LIVIFOREVER said: Nouble played ST too, scored in 2 games against Sevco playing up front, sure he played there against Celtic, and Hearts at Tynecastle. Shinnie has played there too, think that was last season but he's linked up with Nouble in the Sevco games. Â I can't believe I missed that...I had it in my head about him playing ST and was debating with myself if Shinnie had done it this season....then ended up not putting either for some reason 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLIS Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 1 hour ago, Torfason said: What is the deal with Isma? Is he just unfit or is he completely disinterested? Lazy, uninterested and largely shite. He's gave up on his career and just wants to coast from payday to payday, unfortunately we're that payday right now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cptn Hooch Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 1 hour ago, Torfason said: What is the deal with Isma? Is he just unfit or is he completely disinterested? will swap for Curtis Main 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torfason Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 45 minutes ago, Cptn Hooch said: will swap for Curtis Main Last season I would have driven him over. It's crazy how certain players work differently under certain mangers. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cptn Hooch Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 1 minute ago, Torfason said: Last season I would have driven him over. It's crazy how certain players work differently under certain mangers. Aye, he's always struck me as a very Livi type of player 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torfason Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 4 minutes ago, Cptn Hooch said: Aye, he's always struck me as a very Livi type of player It's funny how we are starting to become Livi esque and I'm loving it. Like you guys we scrap for every ball and work really hard off the ball and opposition fans are seething at our "eye bleeding football" Brilliant 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durnford Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 10 minutes ago, Torfason said: "eye bleeding football" A phrase that always fascinated me; I suppose it tend to imply you don't play open expansive football allowing the opposition to walk into your penalty area at will? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLIS Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 31 minutes ago, Torfason said: It's funny how we are starting to become Livi esque and I'm loving it. Like you guys we scrap for every ball and work really hard off the ball and opposition fans are seething at our "eye bleeding football" Brilliant Was it Robinson that was on a mad Livi-spree at Motherwell? I'm sure he signed about 4 or 5 players from us. He does seem to want his teams to play in a similar way to Martindale, big physical and energetic first and foremost but with the backup that they have actual quality through the team.  It's a tried, tested and successful tactic for the Premiership. I think the Motherwell fans deemed it Thunderdome style football, we've dubbed it Brexit Ball. Here's hoping Saints fans have something as funny to come up with  As much as I've had a moan on our game threads, St Mirren are a fairly likeable club (as much as you can like a team in the same division as you), good away day, good stadium, fans have always been nice to interact with post game (most stop and have a chat after). We came up in the same season and have never really been that far off each other in the league. St Mirren fans always seem to travel in decent numbers away to us as well 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 (edited) 22 minutes ago, ATLIS said: Was it Robinson that was on a mad Livi-spree at Motherwell? I'm sure he signed about 4 or 5 players from us. He does seem to want his teams to play in a similar way to Martindale, big physical and energetic first and foremost but with the backup that they have actual quality through the team.  It's a tried, tested and successful tactic for the Premiership. I think the Motherwell fans deemed it Thunderdome style football, we've dubbed it Brexit Ball. Here's hoping Saints fans have something as funny to come up with  It was Robinson but your timeline is miles out. The successful Thunderdome era was 17/18 which was the season he took over and he was signing quick, physical players like Kipré and Dunne to drop into the team alongside Moult etc. By the time 18/19 came round other teams had worked us out and we spent 6 months launching the ball up to Conor Sammon and Curtis Main. Even Robinson admitted it was eye-bleeding and didn't work. That's when he pivoted to 433 and stuck with it for the rest of his time at the club. His Livi fixation came far later. He signed Gallagher which went well for the first season when he deservedly got our POTY then the wheels came off in the Gallagher's 2nd season which coincided with him bringing in Lamie and Crawford. So...three players directly from Livi. He signed Jordan White that season as well. He'd resigned by the time Kelly and Lawless signed but IIRC Lawless confirmed that it had been Robinson who had put that deal in place. Edited January 15, 2023 by capt_oats 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ATLIS Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 8 minutes ago, capt_oats said: It was Robinson but your timeline is miles out. The successful Thunderdome era was 17/18 which was the season he took over and he was signing quick, physical players like Kipré and Dunne to drop into the team alongside Moult etc. By the time 18/19 came round other teams had worked us out and we spent 6 months launching the ball up to Conor Sammon and Curtis Main. Even Robinson admitted it was eye-bleeding and didn't work. That's when he pivoted to 433 and stuck with it for the rest of his time at the club. His Livi fixation came far later. He signed Gallagher which went well for the first season when he deservedly got our POTY then the wheels came off in the Gallagher's 2nd season which coincided with him bringing in Lamie and Crawford. So...three players directly from Livi. He signed Jordan White that season as well. He'd resigned by the time Kelly and Lawless signed but IIRC Lawless confirmed that it had been Robinson who had put that deal in place. Honestly thought it was more to be fair, was connecting random threads I'd picked up on here and there  0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 20 minutes ago, capt_oats said: By the time 18/19 came round other teams had worked us out and we spent 6 months launching the ball up to Conor Sammon and Curtis Main. Even Robinson admitted it was eye-bleeding and didn't work. That's when he pivoted to 433 and stuck with it for the rest of his time at the club. I remember that clearly during 18/19. Early season Motherwell were still ok. Danny Johnson was a decent poacher feeding off the scraps the long ball strategy threw up. Second half of the season was like playing against a different side, though. Gorrin as deep-lying playmaker, Turnbull had been brought into the team and there were the excellent wingers Hastie and Ariyibi. It was really unusual to see such a dramatic switch in playing style happen under the same manager in the same season. Credit to Robinson for that and I'm unsurprised he's suceeding well at St Mirren now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 20 hours ago, thruthenight said: - Not sure I understand the starting lineup with both Holt & Pitts on the bench. I mean it worked in the first half, but was that us, or was that St Johnstone being really shite? I'm confident that Kelly/Kelly/Omeonga is a weaker midfield than Holt/Kelly/Pittman. Second half of the County match Martindale switched to a 4-2-3-1, pushing Shinnie into the central attacking mid position, pulling the two wingers back a bit and having Omeonga and Sean Kelly as a defensive mid duo. It worked a treat and won us that match second half. So he stuck with it again yesterday. Stephen Kelly and Bradley playing as wide mids rather than wide forwards meant they could chase back with St Johnstone's wing backs yesterday. That allowed our back 4 to play really narrow defensively, just focusing on the 2 St J forwards. St J actually began the match looking very threatening until the first Livi goal. Devlin made one crucial interception in the middle of the box from a St J cross in that time. So the narrow back 4 worked great to thwart that early St J pressure. Omeonga had a brilliant first half, acting as a clamp on Wotherspoon. Shinnie playing as a central attacking midfielder, his best position, really comes into his own. There was fluidity and cohesion between him, Stephen Kelly and Bradley in the line behind Anderson. Shinnie and Stephen Kelly would even switch over at times between left and centre. It was really the movement of those three that undid St Johnstone for the first two Livi goals. Second half was a different story as Shinnie started dropping deeper to try and get on the ball which isn't his strength. Our defensive line had crept far too far back, which meant Omeonga was too far away from MacPherson and Phillips to press them and Anderson was injured so no longer pressing the St J centre backs. Holt and Pittman then came on which saw us regain control of centre midfield and that provided the platform the fourth goal was built on. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LIVIFOREVER Posted January 15, 2023 Share Posted January 15, 2023 2 hours ago, Torfason said: It's funny how we are starting to become Livi esque and I'm loving it. Like you guys we scrap for every ball and work really hard off the ball and opposition fans are seething at our "eye bleeding football" Brilliant Just need to get yourself a plastic pitch now, for full on opposition fans' seethe. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Durnford Posted January 16, 2023 Share Posted January 16, 2023 20 hours ago, LIVIFOREVER said: Just need to get yourself a plastic pitch now, for full on opposition fans' seethe. We also used to get a lot of flack for having Declan Gallagher in the team.... Oh wait. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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