Livingston: What happened to David Martindale's early Midas touch?

Livingston do not look like a side boasting back-to-back top six finishes as they go into Sunday's game against Celtic propping up the Scottish Premiership table.

They recovered from a slow start last season but a troubling malaise has set in at the West Lothian club for a while now.

Since beating Aberdeen 2-0 at Pittodrie on 2 February, Livingston have won just one league match in 17 outings.

However, manager David Martindale remains upbeat.

"When I looked at the fixture list, I always thought the first six games was going to be a tough run," he said after picking up a first point of the campaign in Saturday's 0-0 draw at Dundee.

"Once we get all our players back I think we'll be in a really good place."

Top end of the pitch a problem

Defender Jack McMillan and winger Jaze Kabia could return by the end of September after picking up injuries at Ibrox in the first of four consecutive league losses, while Adam Lewis is only just back after a knock in the same game.

Scott Pittman has missed the last two games and Craig Sibbald was a first-half casualty at Dens Park.

Stephane Omeonga should add tenacity and drive to midfield once the Belgian is up to speed and the experienced Andrew Shinnie will be expected to be more influential after managing two 90-minute appearances so far.

Goalkeeper Max Stryjek once again proved his worth with a couple of great saves in the draw at Dundee, while central defender Ayo Obileye looks the best of of a whopping 15 players recruited over the summer.

But there is a problem at the top end of the pitch. Bruce Anderson has scored one of the club's two Premiership goals - against former club Aberdeen. The 22-year-old was hardly prolific on loan at Hamilton Academical last term and, at 5ft, 7in, is not best suited to the long ball game favoured by Martindale.

Understudy Jack Hamilton is a tad over 6ft but, at 21, is still raw after promising stints on loan at East Fife and Arbroath, while Harry Panayiotou has only been seen for 11 minutes in the League Cup.

Switching to a 4-3-3 formation has left a big gap between midfield and attack and we have not seen Livingston swarming opponents like they did during their best spells over the past two seasons.

With such a big squad upheaval, a lack of cohesion is maybe no surprise but has Martindale lost his early Midas touch?

Livingston were without a win after five league games last season too, one point better off than they are currently. That tally had improved by 10 after 15 games when Gary Holt stepped down last November.

Martindale took over, on an interim basis initially, and made management look easy, winning his first eight matches in all competitions, with his unbeaten run eventually stretching to 14.

The reformed criminal, who came to coaching late in life after spending over three years in prison, picked up the manager of the month prizes for December and January, becoming just the third man to win successive awards since 2015, along with Rangers' Steven Gerrard and Scotland boss Steve Clarke (then at Kilmarnock).

That remarkable sequence included a run to the League Cup final and back-to-back draws with Celtic and Livingston's recent record against Sunday's opponents is heartening.

In the past three seasons, there have been five draws and one victory for the Lions.

However, the most recent meeting was a 6-0 thumping at Celtic Park in April.

Can plastic be fantastic again?

Home form was the foundation of Livingston's fifth place finish in the curtailed 2019-20 campaign, with 28 points and just two defeats from 14 games - the best record outside of Celtic and Rangers.

Last season, that dipped significantly to 22 points from 19 matches on their much maligned artificial surface.

They remain empty handed on their own patch this time round, losing after scoring first against both Aberdeen and Motherwell, which suggests Livi have lost some of the grit and graft that made them such awkward customers.

"I don't think, with the calibre of player they have, that Celtic enjoy playing on the plastic surface. So we have to use that to our advantage," said Martindale.

With tough fixtures to follow, at Ibrox (League Cup) and Tynecastle, this would be a handy time to rediscover that belligerence.