Livingston v St Johnstone 27/12/23

[shibbydoo]

I'm down in Edinburgh over the festive period and wanted to go to this game.

Please tell me there's a way I can go that doesn't involve Livingston posting a ticket to my house in the Highlands???

[tree house tam]

You 'want' to go to a Livi V St Johnstone game out of your own free will and are willing to actually pay for it?

 

You're a definite no righter.

[RandomGuy.]

32 minutes ago, shibbydoo said:

I'm down in Edinburgh over the festive period and wanted to go to this game.

Please tell me there's a way I can go that doesn't involve Livingston posting a ticket to my house in the Highlands???

Sounds like it depends on what ticket you buy. Standard adult is e-ticket though i think. 

https://www.perthstjohnstonefc.co.uk/away-fan-tickets

[templeofsaints]

1 hour ago, shibbydoo said:

I'm down in Edinburgh over the festive period and wanted to go to this game.

Please tell me there's a way I can go that doesn't involve Livingston posting a ticket to my house in the Highlands???

Livi is e-tickets.  Dundee was the physical ticket.

[shibbydoo]

4 hours ago, tree house tam said:

You 'want' to go to a Livi V St Johnstone game out of your own free will and are willing to actually pay for it?

 

You're a definite no righter.

Be my first match this season and gets me away from the bairn and Mrs for a few hours

[ATLIS]

This is a proper must win game. If we drop points here then you’d imagine Martindale’s on wobbly ground.

 

This and the Motherwell game are arguably ones we need at least 4 points from, maybe 6. 

[RandomGuy.]

2 hours ago, ATLIS said:

This is a proper must win game. If we drop points here then you’d imagine Martindale’s on wobbly ground.

 

This and the Motherwell game are arguably ones we need at least 4 points from, maybe 6. 

Aye. It sounds stupid but a draw for us will almost be as good as a win, as its one less home game for Livingston and the gap hasnt narrowed.

[DiegoDiego]

3 hours ago, ATLIS said:

This is a proper must win game. If we drop points here then you’d imagine Martindale’s on wobbly ground.

Any manager not already being on wobbly ground after one point in ten games is astonishing.

[Freedom Farter]

25 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Aye. It sounds stupid but a draw for us will almost be as good as a win, as its one less home game for Livingston and the gap hasnt narrowed.

I don't think you're in relegation danger any longer. I see our only chance coming from County turning shit (which is unlikely). Motherwell are bad too but it's Motherwell, they don't get relegated.

[Freedom Farter]

3 hours ago, ATLIS said:

This is a proper must win game. If we drop points here then you’d imagine Martindale’s on wobbly ground.

 

This and the Motherwell game are arguably ones we need at least 4 points from, maybe 6. 

He'll get the Hearts match too. I imagine the plan was always to re-assess after that point as it comes at a break in the fixture calendar.

[RandomGuy.]

1 hour ago, Freedom Farter said:

I don't think you're in relegation danger any longer. I see our only chance coming from County turning shit (which is unlikely). Motherwell are bad too but it's Motherwell, they don't get relegated.

We're definitely still the team you should be aiming for, IMO.

The flaws in our squad are costing us points most weeks at the moment and without Nicky Clark we dont score nearly enough (his goal today is our first away from home this season, bar an own goal).

This game huge, and then the January window even bigger.

[Theyellowbox]

10 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

We're definitely still the team you should be aiming for, IMO.

The flaws in our squad are costing us points most weeks at the moment and without Nicky Clark we dont score nearly enough (his goal today is our first away from home this season, bar an own goal).

This game huge, and then the January window even bigger.

For Saints, this is a must not lose game. A draw just keeps things ticking along, keeps Livi in place and from there it is a case of getting to the window and break and fix the squad.

As much as we need him, I'd be minded to rest Clark. We need him fit and the danger of rushing him back, especially on a poor pitch makes me think he'll be in the bench again.

I can see us being pretty defensive here and look to counter, so wonder if we might not see someone with real pace being put in as a lone striker and Costelloe has the most pace, unfortunately possesses none of the other ability needed! 

[RandomGuy.]

1 minute ago, Theyellowbox said:

I can see us being pretty defensive here and look to counter, so wonder if we might not see someone with real pace being put in as a lone striker and Costelloe has the most pace, unfortunately possesses none of the other ability needed! 

I really hope not. Pace is only useful if the player actually knows how to use it, and Costelloe neither has the IQ or ability. 

Id rather play May as a lone striker than Costelloe at this point.

[LIVIFOREVER]

11 hours ago, Theyellowbox said:

For Saints, this is a must not lose game. A draw just keeps things ticking along, keeps Livi in place and from there it is a case of getting to the window and break and fix the squad.

As much as we need him, I'd be minded to rest Clark. We need him fit and the danger of rushing him back, especially on a poor pitch makes me think he'll be in the bench again.

I can see us being pretty defensive here and look to counter, so wonder if we might not see someone with real pace being put in as a lone striker and Costelloe has the most pace, unfortunately possesses none of the other ability needed! 

If it was us in that position going into this game we'd lose, because Martindale would set us up to try and nullify St Johnstone for a 0-0 draw. Hoping because we are needing 3pts in this game he doesn't have that sort of mindset, and is brave enough to let us go out there for the win.

 

Defensively we can get a solid enough back 3 from Nottingham/de Lucas, Obileye & Devlin/Parkes, 2 natural WB's in Brandon & Penrice, Holt & Pittman in midfield,  then get St Kelly, Anderson & Guthrie/Nouble up front. I'd even stick Montano in there instead of Nouble or Guthrie, but i doubt he's fit enough to play more than 20 mins yet.

Might be controversial but i'd rather stick with Jack Hamilton in goals for this game too, he's looked pretty assured in the games he's played.

[LiviLion]

State of our season is that I'm actually wanting Jack Hamilton to start in goals? Maybe?

Shamal hasn't had a great season by any stretch, Hamilton has stepped in and looked alright - sure he's had his dodgy moments but they're going to noticeable when he's known for it and you're looking for them. I think he's made more good saves than George has and there hasn't really been anything that George has done this season to make him the obvious #1. Feel like it needs an explanation as it's a bit wild to actively want a guy affectionately known as 'Flapjack' to be your goalkeeper.

Hamilton

Nottingham  -  Obileye  -  Devlin

Brandon  -  Holt  -  St Kelly  -  Pittman  -  Penrice

Anderson  -  Guthrie

 

I'd probably look for that, have Anderson chasing down Guthrie's flick-ons, and Stephen Kelly generally sitting between Holt/Pittman and Anderson/Guthrie. It's not the most defensive though which is why Martindale probably won't go for it, instead I'm fully expecting Sean Kelly in there somewhere, Anderson on the bench, Stephen Kelly told to stay at home, Nouble standing on the touchline, and 90 minutes of aimless hoofing it.

We're definitely in must-win territory now and I'm just hoping that along with us being at home will see us turn recent general improvements (bit tighter in defence, few extra chances being created) into an actual win.

[Freedom Farter]

George is excellent at one on ones, when a player is clean through against him. He's not an eye-catching shot stopper. His kicking is fine and his handling from crosses is solid. On Hamilton, I don't really have an opinion yet. He had a bad debut for us last season but has been good in each appearance since. I'm comfortable with either of them starting.

[ATLIS]

42 minutes ago, Freedom Farter said:

George is excellent at one on ones, when a player is clean through against him. He's not an eye-catching shot stopper. His kicking is fine and his handling from crosses is solid. On Hamilton, I don't really have an opinion yet. He had a bad debut for us last season but has been good in each appearance since. I'm comfortable with either of them starting.

I don't think he's particularly good at anything, there's nothing in his game to me that stands out. In particular, for me, the way he deals with crosses is very poor. Rarely comes off his line to claim a cross and has dropped a few. There's nothing I can pick out that I can say is a huge strong point for him, he has made quite a few errors, his handling is suspect and shot stopping is poor. Even his kicking ends up out the park quite a bit. For a keeper we paid a sizeable fee for, you'd be expecting far far more - especially given Hamilton offers more quality and he was a free agent from Morton.  A lot of the goals he concedes, I've found myself saying that he should be doing better with them.

Although worth noting that he's going through a particularly hard time in his personal life atm too, which could possibly be playing into things.

Edited December 26, 2023 by ATLIS

[The Wrong Car]

As someone mentioned before, George is the sort of keeper that won’t make horrendous clangers but also won’t dig you out a hole in a game

In terms of his kicking, it doesn’t help he’s told to always target wider players like Nicky Devlin (last season), Montano and Nouble etc

Edited December 26, 2023 by The Wrong Car

[LIVIFOREVER]

I was always shouting for us to have a player stay up when we defended corners, this past wee while we actually started leaving someone on the halfway line, Anderson, Pitman etc, but we never fucking boot it up to them for a quick counter, think i've only seen Shamal do it once, and we almost scored from it. He just holds the ball and waits till Nouble or Guthrie gets up the pitch, but by then the opposition are all back too, bursts my heid.

The whole point of leaving a player up is to hit them on the counter, well that and it also gives us someone to challenge for a ball knocked out our box, so the opposition doesn't get a free go at putting it back in.

[Freedom Farter]

1 hour ago, ATLIS said:

I don't think he's particularly good at anything, there's nothing in his game to me that stands out. In particular, for me, the way he deals with crosses is very poor. Rarely comes off his line to claim a cross and has dropped a few. There's nothing I can pick out that I can say is a huge strong point for him, he has made quite a few errors, his handling is suspect and shot stopping is poor. Even his kicking ends up out the park quite a bit. For a keeper we paid a sizeable fee for, you'd be expecting far far more - especially given Hamilton offers more quality and he was a free agent from Morton.  A lot of the goals he concedes, I've found myself saying that he should be doing better with them.

Although worth noting that he's going through a particularly hard time in his personal life atm too, which could possibly be playing into things.

I'm comparing him with our recent keepers. If its judging him against the money spent on him, you might be right to be disappointed, I hadn't considered it from that angle before.

On crosses, Stryjek was worse for being glued to his line then McCrorie would do things like palm them down onto Greg Kiltie's foot. George is an upgrade on both of them with claiming crosses despite not being especially commanding. He has dropped some but it looked to me like "controlled drops", if thats a thing, as it was mostly done away from opposition players and at least didn't lead to any goals.

On shot stopping George is a downgrade on Stryjek.

I maintain George's strength is at one on ones, he's rarely beaten in those.

His kicking is just "fine". Not particularly effective but bar the occasional error, safe.

Hamilton might be better, I'm open to that possibility, I just haven't seen enough of him yet to give a confident opinion either way.

Edited December 26, 2023 by Freedom Farter