Season 2020’21: Game 11: Livingston (A)

[CoF]

3 hours ago, Yorkyred said:

Horror start points wise for sure, performances though no. We missed chances but other than that we were never that bad.

You're right. My concern was that until just a few weeks ago we weren't that bad but still not winning for pretty much all of 2020. 

Fair play to the lot of them for turning it around. Even more impressive when the injury list is growing. 

[Andy_P]

The (unofficial) stream I had wasn't perfect but from what I saw I'm struggling to think of a performance at Livingston that was as accomplished as yesterday since Livingston changed to an artificial surface.

You might have hoped that with the last two or three performances as ropey as they were at whatever they call their ground this week, that surely a fourth display on the bounce couldn't be as equally bad but I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable a game it was.  We gave the impression from the off that we were a decent team who were confident in their ability who would do what required to be done.

As similarly clinical as we were against County the week before and probably as close as we've been for a while to the utopia of wanting it more than the opposition, putting bodies on the line to block shots, deny crosses and be the generally organisationally sound defensive unit that Kmcalpin seeks on a weekly basis.

That the big fella in goals remains something of an unknown quantity after something like 150 minutes, shots off target and blocked notwithstanding, says much about the defence and the longer that goes on the better. 

The goals were well taken with good composure from both Lang and Watt in putting their respective chances away.

All in all a pretty good afternoon's work I think.

 

[Stu92]

12 hours ago, Kmcalpin said:

Interesting that Falkirk is charging £14 for Division 1 games. 

Little bit off-topic here, but I've found all the PPV chat down in England quite interesting recently.  £14.95 for a game that ordinarily wouldn't be on the TV is apparently too steep for an English football fan, with Scottish football fans seemingly with a lot more disposable cash these days.

[Yodo]

12 hours ago, Yorkyred said:

The huge positive is we are now at the point we will never have another Robbo out post after a poor run of form.

It's a forum m8 everything is up for discussion 

[mfc]

I was 50/50 on us keeping watt on for this season and now he's rapidly became one of our most important players,it looked like he had put the work in over the lockdown period and it's really paying off,he looks in great shape.our club has this nack of feeling like home that's able to get the best out of players that have maybe struggle elsewhere,hopefully were starting to see that with watt.if he keeps these performances up then we should be readying a new contract by the end of the year.im glad we're back playing 433,i think there's a lot of potential in the front 3 that started yesterday and add in how well maguire has done since he came in and o'hara since dropping back,we look a lot more comfortable than earlier in the season and the fact that we aren't making so many daft mistakes at the back has obviously helped.

 

[Burn_Broomfield]

Great 3 points and a clean sheet in brutal conditions.  Here's hoping we can keep this run going.

[texanwellfan]

If Rangers can score a few more we will be in top 6 by end of today. 

[joewarkfanclub]

Wasnt the most enjoyable game to watch, but then, a game against Livvy on plastic in that wind was never going to be. We did what we needed to do. Very disciplined performance, defended well and took our chances when they arrived. Very good 3 points and keeps the current run (Rangers game excluded) going.

Like others, I dont think our performances are miles apart from where we were earlier in the season, but the fine margins have turned in our favour. I think the current formation suits us better, but thats entirely because of Devante Cole. You could see yesterday that White just isnt at the same level.  The fact that the 3 are also playing more centrally has helped as we now have more targets to hit. O'Hara has been a surprising find at centre half and its clear for all to see Gallagher is much better in a 4 than a 3/5.  The midfield balance also seems to be better with Campbell Polworth and Maguire all having clearly defined jobs. All little tweaks, but they have changed the odds in our favour. Long may it continue.

[Electric Blues]

1 hour ago, texanwellfan said:

If Rangers can score a few more we will be in top 6 by end of today. 

No such luck. With hindsight, a better approach would have been for us to not concede five to that same Rangers in the first place,

[weeyin]

4 minutes ago, Electric Blues said:

No such luck. With hindsight, a better approach would have been for us to not concede five to that same Rangers in the first place,

My preferred approach is to have more points than 8 or 9 other teams at the end of the season.

[Spiderpig]

2 hours ago, texanwellfan said:

If Rangers can score a few more we will be in top 6 by end of today. 

Not today, but another 2 or 3 penalties for Rangers is always on the cards, anytime they play,  never known a team get so many awarded .

[Andy_P]

2 hours ago, Electric Blues said:

No such luck. With hindsight, a better approach would have been for us to not concede five to that same Rangers in the first place,

On that point I think if you work on the assumption that most of our points will come outwith the Old Firm, strip away the eight goals conceded to them and you are looking at seven goals lost in nine games to fellow diddy teams and two of them were stupid penalties. Not perfect but not too bad. And that's with an unsettled back line and of recent weeks goalkeeper. 

Keep eradicating those daft mistakes.  Keep that level of frugality in defence and that's a reasonable platform from which to build a half decent league campaign.

[Electric Blues]

11 minutes ago, Andy_P said:

On that point I think if you work on the assumption that most of our points will come outwith the Old Firm, strip away the eight goals conceded to them and you are looking at seven goals lost in nine games to fellow diddy teams and two of them were stupid penalties. Not perfect but not too bad. And that's with an unsettled back line and of recent weeks goalkeeper. 

Keep eradicating those daft mistakes.  Keep that level of frugality in defence and that's a reasonable platform from which to build a half decent league campaign.

I quite agree, and ignoring the Old Firm (and god knows I try to) we've scored ten without reply in the last two months which is hugely encouraging.

My point, if indeed I even had one, was that what we ourselves do matters more than whether other teams ship a barrow load. That said,  Kilmarnock have conceded just four goals against the Old Firm in three games now, and even took a point off Celtic along the way, and I'd be an even happier camper if I thought we had a decent chance of doing the same next week.

[Shaka]

Just now, Electric Blues said:

I quite agree, and ignoring the Old Firm (and god knows I try to) we've scored ten without reply in the last two months which is hugely encouraging.

My point, if indeed I even had one, was that what we ourselves do matters more than whether other teams ship a barrow load. That said,  Kilmarnock have conceded just four goals against the Old Firm in three games now, and even took a point off Celtic along the way, and I'd be an even happier camper if I thought we had a decent chance of doing the same next week.

I think we do have a chance next week. Celtic will be going all out on Thurs for a win in Prague, traditionally sunday league matches after those kinda games are a struggle. Plus we do sometimes get the odd draw with them, its Rangers we always lie down to in the league

[texanwellfan]

25 minutes ago, Shaka said:

I think we do have a chance next week. Celtic will be going all out on Thurs for a win in Prague, traditionally sunday league matches after those kinda games are a struggle. Plus we do sometimes get the odd draw with them, its Rangers we always lie down to in the league

I think that pretty much cements the outcome then. Motherwell 0 Celtic 6

[Yorkyred]

I tend to just accept in advance that we will lose to both the old firm teams, helps with any disappointment.  They rarely let me down.

[mfc]

As long as we go out next week and give it a real go,that's all we can ask and see where it gets us,do that and we have a chance of getting something,too many home games against the old firm lately we have just let drift by without offering much.

[Kmcalpin]

A pleasing and rewarding win yesterday. It was thoroughly deserved. A real team performance but for me, Gallagher and O'Hara just shone above the others.  The latter has really settled in at central defence. Watt worked hard, took his goal well but things didn't always come off for him.  Right now 4-3-3- seems the best formation and its bringing us success. Disappointing to lose Cole and Lang through injury but it wasn't surprising given the way Livi played. There would have been a few more on the treatment table this morning. As expected they were physical, uncompromising and combative, with Bartley kicking anything that moved.  Overall a niggly game with a few personal battles going on.

The first half was fairly even possession wise but we created the chances and whats more took them.  Livi were playing against the wind and launched everything into the air. A deserved half time lead. The second half was an entirely different game. We managed the game very well, not something we've always done. Playing against the wind we were content to sit back. We also missed Cole's movement up front. Jordan White just doesn't seem to be cutting it. Livi played along the deck much more, dominated possession and also exerted a lot of pressure but it was toothless and powder puff.  Our midfield struggled a wee bit against more abrasive opponents and were forced deep at times but in the main our 2 full backs, especially McGinley, coped well. O'Hara and Gallagher were rocks in the middle and as a result Chapman was rarely tested.

All in all a good result and performance on a dreadful pitch and in horrific weather conditions. Lets hope our injury list hasn't lengthened.

[CoF]

12 hours ago, Stu92 said:

Little bit off-topic here, but I've found all the PPV chat down in England quite interesting recently.  £14.95 for a game that ordinarily wouldn't be on the TV is apparently too steep for an English football fan, with Scottish football fans seemingly with a lot more disposable cash these days.

Aye, it's a good question. 

I think a big part will be perceptions of where the money is going. If I didn't already have as season ticket I'd more than happily put £12 directly into the club every second week and I've no objection to paying most other SPFL clubs £12 / £15 quid to see an away game. It's a still a lot of money, and probably not value for money, but for most they won't object to giving clubs extra income just now when there is a genuine risk of clubs in Scotland folding. 

Given the finances kicking around English football, the perception is that clubs / sky don't need the money and the average punter who is paying £80 a month for Sky is already skint etc etc. 

[weeyin]

The £14.95 is an issue for fans in England because Sky are charging it over and above the normal subscription. When the government granted the Premiership a special exemption to restart playing ,part of the deal was that all the games would be streamed for fans on the regular service.

So while the games wouldn't normally be on TV, they should have been on TV as part of the agreement to get football back up and running in the Covid deal. Sky are just making a money-grab.

[CoF]

1 hour ago, weeyin said:

The £14.95 is an issue for fans in England because Sky are charging it over and above the normal subscription. When the government granted the Premiership a special exemption to restart playing ,part of the deal was that all the games would be streamed for fans on the regular service.

So while the games wouldn't normally be on TV, they should have been on TV as part of the agreement to get football back up and running in the Covid deal. Sky are just making a money-grab.

Are you absolutely sure the condition about free games wasn't just about completing the 19/20 season? 

Sky aren't even profiting from this - the money goes to the clubs. Surely it's no different to what we're doing but with Sky rather than that lassie with the sellotaped TV cables that we've got?

 

 

[weeyin]

3 hours ago, CoF said:

Are you absolutely sure the condition about free games wasn't just about completing the 19/20 season?

The article I was reading said it applied to this season too - although how binding that was, I don't know.

Seems to be additional complications from some clubs keeping season ticket holders' money and expecting them to buy PPV for their home games.

Regardless,  while I'm all for helping out clubs that are genuinely financially struggling - and there are many - the billionaire owners need to be stepping in here to contribute after sucking out the profits from multi-billion pound TV deals these past few years.

 

[Ya Bezzer!]

Good to see the introduction of the not good enough, never a midfielder Barry Maguire wasn't a large enough handicap to prevent us winning the last two matches.

 

[livivoice]

Credit where credit is due but Maguire has pleasantly surprised with me with his ' keep things simple' approach.

His midfield performances in the national under 21's have also been encouraging. 

[CoF]

10 hours ago, weeyin said:

The article I was reading said it applied to this season too - although how binding that was, I don't know.

Seems to be additional complications from some clubs keeping season ticket holders' money and expecting them to buy PPV for their home games.

Regardless,  while I'm all for helping out clubs that are genuinely financially struggling - and there are many - the billionaire owners need to be stepping in here to contribute after sucking out the profits from multi-billion pound TV deals these past few years.

 

Yep, can't argue with any of that.