pete 2,499 Posted October 1, 2018 Author Share Posted October 1, 2018 13 minutes ago, der Berliner said: My main point of bother that both Coulibaly and Arfield did hardly anything in midfield. They were probably asked to do the defensive MF shift, but since Livvy did nothing but press and defend doggedly, they should have been more active in the creative department. Likewise, Ejaria tired visibly from the 70th min. onwards, at last creatively. And here we are probably at the crux of the matter. I for one wouldn't trust on Ejaria's ability to carry the creative spark every week and for the whole of 90 mins. We never made a 3rd substitution, when Grezda or Dorrans might have provided some spark in attacking midfield. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but I'd thrown on Halliday, made him the left part of a back three and Coulibaly as DM, the rest would have been ordered to press hard or find spaces. I would assume Lafferty got a knock, else he would have stayed on, Grezda and Kent would have been added. Thomson ... obviously doesn't think Morelos can be fouled and waves away 4 out of 5 fouls on him. Then hands Livvy a free-kick for virtually nothing. Second half, he calls a handball on Worrall, who has his hands in front of him and the ball bounces off him from half shot a yard away. Then, he ignores the shove on Middleton (he likes football as a man's game, this Thomson lad) and a few secs later ignores the Livvy handball under the very same circumstances as he gave against Worrall. You don't want to blame a loss on a ref, but how often have we suffered from their inability over the last few seasons. And the sad thing is, there is hardly any hope that it will improve. But how can you prepare a game on a level playing field when you are up against effectively 12 men every other Saturday? Agree with the Thomson bit. Morelos was getting pushed in the back the whole game and never got anything and the livy players just seemed to drop and they got a free kick.For the record though I think the Middleton penalty decision would have bee very weak and I would have been raging if he had given that against Rangers. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ser Barristan Selmy 222 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 8 hours ago, ian1964 said: 18 matches played, 2 lost, 7 drawn, 9 wins, 33 goals scored, 13 goals against, and we are 2 pts behind the scum. At the start of the season we didnt know what to expect! but we knew we would have some bad results for sure. A long season ahead yet with lots of twists and turns for this new team. Being 2 points behind the worst performing Celtic side in decades is not something to be proud of. As I said yesterday, we've been hugely impressive in Europe, but the league form is awful and completely unacceptable. It must be rectified immediately. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soulsonic5791 408 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 I'm not too sure that a midfield three neecessarily works. They all rotated to take the ball from the centre halves yesterday but more often than not, the onus to start moves fell to Ovie. In my view, he's better further forward. Scott Arfield struggled to impose himself on the game (I think because he's essentially a limited player in terms of creativity) and Coullibaly doesn't quite look himself yet. Couple that with not moving the ball quickly enough, crosses from wide areas not being as crisp as they might be and Alfie not being able to drop off and take the ball into feet well enough meant that, despite lots of the ball we struggled to create good chances. I'm not going to go overboard yet on the criticism but yesterday's ordinary performance gave some cause for concern and you could argue that we could have easily shipped three or four goals. Can they bounce back against Rapid and Hearts? I'm reasonably confident that they can. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aweebluesoandso 290 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Some of the players need to get their heads out the clouds, European nights are all well and good. But they need to get themselves grounded for the Bread and Butter weekend work, whether that's at away at the Piggery or Livi, points make prizes. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackSocksRedTops 3,476 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 I really wish we would have just kept the same side from the St. Johnstone game tbh. Forget the opposition and go and play our game. Now I feel that we have lost a lot of momentum gained in the league with wins over Dundee & St. Johnstone. Oh well, onwards and upwards. The Hearts game is a must win IMO and then we have Accies away (plastic pitch ) and then Killie at home. If we don't get 9 from 9 I think we can kiss goodbye to the league. Celtic are misfiring at the moment but I can't see that continuing for too long. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ranger_syntax 3,765 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 Watching that game was torture. It was clear throughout that we were struggling to create anything. So many crosses into the box that Livingston dealt with easily. The pitch is not an excuse but it is definitely one of the reasons we lost. We need to learn to perform better on that surface because the SPFL does not have the wit to insist on grass. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacK1950 2,231 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 With the amount of rubber crumb coming up I think players should be advised to wear face masks to avoid inhaling,and training bottoms + long sleeves be the suggested kit.? 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,411 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 9 hours ago, Ser Barristan Selmy said: Being 2 points behind the worst performing Celtic side in decades is not something to be proud of. As I said yesterday, we've been hugely impressive in Europe, but the league form is awful and completely unacceptable. It must be rectified immediately. Being 2 points behind the best team in Scotland for the last few seasons at this stage is something to give us hope considering our start to the season, new team and new manager, what did you expect before a ball was kicked this season?. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RANGERRAB 3,258 Posted October 1, 2018 Share Posted October 1, 2018 1 hour ago, ranger_syntax said: Watching that game was torture. It was clear throughout that we were struggling to create anything. So many crosses into the box that Livingston dealt with easily. The pitch is not an excuse but it is definitely one of the reasons we lost. We need to learn to perform better on that surface because the SPFL does not have the wit to insist on grass. I’d disagree. All teams seem to have players who can adapt to plastic pitches and players who don’t seem to be able to. Yesterday,for example, I thought Lafferty struggled & eventually came off. I also thought it was a mistake yesterday not having RyanKent on from the start. He’s got his confidence back & is starting to look the player he was at the beginning of last season. That can only be good news for us 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete 2,499 Posted October 1, 2018 Author Share Posted October 1, 2018 1 hour ago, MacK1950 said: With the amount of rubber crumb coming up I think players should be advised to wear face masks to avoid inhaling,and training bottoms + long sleeves be the suggested kit.? As I said in another post on the packaging of the crumbed rubber is a warning not to inhale or get on your skin. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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