Yellow Submarine vs. The Doc's Dark Blues, Saturday 27th January

[Girth]

Must win here. 

[RossBFaeDundee]

Are Livi riddled with injuries too or have I made that up in my head?

And yes, it is a game which we need to be winning.

[LIVIFOREVER]

5 minutes ago, RossBFaeDundee said:

Are Livi riddled with injuries too or have I made that up in my head?

And yes, it is a game which we need to be winning.

Yes but it has forced Martindale into playing the players he should've been playing months ago. That and leaving Nouble out because he's being sold, which allows Stephen Kelly to get a start.

 

The players going off injured against Raith made him bring on Dan MacKay, who had an assist and a goal to win us the game. Who knew having injuries could be a good thing.

[Dav nan Gael]

Sweet just sweet 

[Livi La Vida Loca]

My hopes for this game will depend on our lineup. Martindale has to realise that we are simply a better team when playing the 4-2-3-1 and go with that from the off however regardless of our injuries I expect he'll see this as a must not lose and thus start with the 3-4-2-1 and change it late in the second half. 

[LIVIFOREVER]

1 hour ago, Livi La Vida Loca said:

My hopes for this game will depend on our lineup. Martindale has to realise that we are simply a better team when playing the 4-2-3-1 and go with that from the off however regardless of our injuries I expect he'll see this as a must not lose and thus start with the 3-4-2-1 and change it late in the second half. 

Aye, must not lose is all fine and well when you're hanging onto a wee lead over the teams around you, but we're sitting bottom and need to start winning games, draws against bottom 6 teams just keep us where we are, or worse, give other teams the chance to extend that gap.

 

I saw Bradley was training, from a photo of the players on twitter, so attacking wise we're looking good for players we want to see available.

 

A win against Dundee and County would change things dramatically.

Edited January 25 by LIVIFOREVER

[Freedom Farter]

The stumbling block for the 4-2-3-1 might be if Penrice has to come back into the team. If he's just put in at left mid then there's no problem. Yet that would boot Stephen Kelly out the team and given Kelly's contribution against Raith, he'll surely retain his place. I doubt we'll see Penrice put left back in a four with Brandon as that'll be two attacking full backs. Dundee could well go with two centre forwards, Main coming in to partner Bakayoko, and Martindale won't want Nottingham and Donnellan left one on one with them. So I can imagine the 3-4-2-1 with Sangare at left centre back again and Penrice coming in at left wing back. I hope not, though. If Martindale is concerned about leaving our two centre backs one on one in the 4-2-3-1 then he can just have Sangare play as a conservative left back again, like he did later in the Raith match. I'm a huge Penrice fan but if the shoe doensn't fit on this occasion, leave him out the starting team.

Also, I hope Anderson starts at centre forward. I like Guthrie when the team is having to spend much of the match on the defensive, for example away to Aberdeen in December Guthrie was very good. For a home match like this where we're looking to be on the front foot, though, I'd rather see Anderson went with.

Edited January 25 by Freedom Farter

[Freedom Farter]

1 hour ago, Livi La Vida Loca said:

we are simply a better team when playing the 4-2-3-1

Allows us to build up using shorter passes down the flanks as we get a two on one (Dundee, like Raith, will just have a single wing back on either side). So much preferable to the 3-4-2-1 where a wide centre back just lofts it into the centre forward then our attacking mids scramble for the second ball but hardly ever win it.

[Dav nan Gael]

Must win for the Lions 

[Pens_Dark]

A game of real importance for both teams. One I would say is more 'must win' for Livingston, clearly. 

Having said that, Dundee won't want to let this bad start to the year continue. A poor performance against Killie followed by a capitulation after superb first half v Hearts.

I expect us to win, we should, but we all know fitba doesn't work like that. 

This isn't a game for Cameron and please don't pair Mcghee on the right wing with Ashcroft covering him as a right centre back again, Doc.

Edited January 25 by Pens_Dark

[JD and associates]

Don't know why there's nervousness from some Dundee fans. Comfortably too strong to be anywhere near relegation this season - if I were a Dundee fan I'd be keeping my eye on top 6 rather than looking behind the shoulder.

[Pens_Dark]

3 minutes ago, JD and associates said:

Don't know why there's nervousness from some Dundee fans. Comfortably too strong to be anywhere near relegation this season - if I were a Dundee fan I'd be keeping my eye on top 6 rather than looking behind the shoulder.

I had us in for an outside shot for getting top 6 at the start of the season. It is undeniably just as possible to get dragged in to a fight for that 11th spot as well. I don’t think we will end up there but you never know. There has been a little bit of nervousness put back in to a lot of Dundee fans given the past few results but I’m not as worried. Doc has done a great job and realistically his remit at the start of the season was to build a competitive squad that finishes 10th or higher. Well on course to do that and possibly even more.

[MarbellaDEE]

3 minutes ago, JD and associates said:

Don't know why there's nervousness from some Dundee fans. Comfortably too strong to be anywhere near relegation this season - if I were a Dundee fan I'd be keeping my eye on top 6 rather than looking behind the shoulder.

So everyone keeps saying, yet here we are halfway into the season and only 4 points from the playoff spot. It is imperative that we win on Saturday IMO. With a game against a poor Aberdeen side coming right afterwards the fixtures are coming thick and fast. 
 

Can’t make the game on Saturday and can’t see any PPV options for the game, do Livi run a stream?

[Freedom Farter]

32 minutes ago, MarbellaDEE said:

So everyone keeps saying, yet here we are halfway into the season and only 4 points from the playoff spot. It is imperative that we win on Saturday IMO. With a game against a poor Aberdeen side coming right afterwards the fixtures are coming thick and fast. 
 

Can’t make the game on Saturday and can’t see any PPV options for the game, do Livi run a stream?

If you have a VPN, you can register and then watch here: https://ppv.livingstonfc.co.uk/login

[ScottyDee1893]

Like most Dees I've been disappointed in the last 2 results but we can't avoid the fact we have been without 4 defenders who made us a tough nut to crack in the first half of the season. We need at least one of the CH's returning on Saturday or if not hopefully get Astley into the line up. Allowing Dodgson to play left WB is going to help as Costelloe simply can't stop crosses arriving in the box.

[LIVIFOREVER]

1 hour ago, JD and associates said:

Don't know why there's nervousness from some Dundee fans. Comfortably too strong to be anywhere near relegation this season - if I were a Dundee fan I'd be keeping my eye on top 6 rather than looking behind the shoulder.

Hasn't been much in it in our previous encounters this season, Montano getting a red  was the difference in the 2-0, and Livi were the better looking team in our away game, but lost to a cracking free kick.

[DeeTillEhDeh]

17 hours ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Hasn't been much in it in our previous encounters this season, Montano getting a red  was the difference in the 2-0, and Livi were the better looking team in our away game, but lost to a cracking free kick.

There was also a perfectly good goal chalked off when you had 11 on the park.

The difference between the teams is that Livi haven't looked like scoring in either game - we've just needed at least one chance and it's been enough.

I'd say in both games we had that little bit of quality that Livi did not have.

That being said, it will still be close on Saturday- however, this is a must win for Livi, less so for us, so I can see us getting some chances if Livi are forced to chase the win.

Edited January 26 by DeeTillEhDeh

[Livi La Vida Loca]

15 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

The difference between the teams is that Livi haven't looked like scoring

This is the story of our season but I'd argue it's all down to Martindale and his persistence with the 3-4-2-1. As I said above if he starts with that I'm not optimistic and reckon we draw or lose. 

The hope is now with games running out he has to start going for it from the off and uses our best formation the 4-2-3-1. We were forced to use it against Raith and it won us the game. 

[LIVIFOREVER]

5 hours ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:

There was also a perfectly good goal chalked off when you had 11 on the park.

The difference between the teams is that Livi haven't looked like scoring in either game - we've just needed at least one chance and it's been enough.

I'd say in both games we had that little bit of quality that Livi did not have.

That being said, it will still be close on Saturday- however, this is a must win for Livi, less so for us, so I can see us getting some chances if Livi are forced to chase the win.

We've got some quality players that can score goals, whether we'll see them playing, and in a position that gets them chances to score is another thing. MacKay made a hell of a difference when Martindale was forced into an early substitutions when Montano got injured. Hopefully he starts on Saturday. 

Yeah i'd be confident if i was a Dundee fan, you've already beaten us twice, but as a Livi fan i don't think a win is beyond us, we've looked a lot better in our last 2 games, and even scored some goals, i'm certainly more upbeat going into this than i was seeing us play in December, i think Dundee could be fragile after losing a 2 goal lead in your last game too. I may be deluded, but i'm quite looking forward to this game, if we manage a win it would be a massive boost with the tide beginning to turn in our favour. I don't even want to think about us losing. 

[Dundee-FC92]

23 hours ago, LIVIFOREVER said:

Hasn't been much in it in our previous encounters this season, Montano getting a red  was the difference in the 2-0, and Livi were the better looking team in our away game, but lost to a cracking free kick.

Bakayoko scored a good goal which was announced as a VAR howler afterwards. That was just after half time in the first match before the sending off.

The game was technically 1 0 when the ordering off occurred. It changed nothing.

Thank you.

Edited January 26 by Dundee-FC92