R.R.FC

This. The Championship will rightly be favourites but momentum and a winning habit can make a big difference. It wouldn’t be a massive shock if the League One side went up. Had a very quick look back (so may be wrong) but I believe the League One side has won the play offs on 10 of the 13 years since it was introduced. And even one of the years they didn’t they still went up (Airdrie). Those stats alongside our 1 win in 10 play off ties are bound to make encouraging reading for Forfar fans.

It totally depends where we end up obviously. If we somehow go up, Alloa staying up and Falkirk coming down with Partick would be the ideal scenario. If we stay down it all changes and that would be worst case scenario and a fucking disaster, virtually ensuring an additional year at this level. I think my preference is Alloa down automatically with QOS in the play offs. But whoever the championship side is will likely win the play offs which we will be hoping for if Forfar beat us. McKinnon relegating Falkirk would be pretty funny, it’s a shame I can’t give it my full backing due to the effect it would have on us.

This tough spell might actually benefit Arbroath long term. They are still going to win the league comfortably but the recent struggles will have shone a light on the deficiencies in the team and squad ahead of next season. If they had continued their early season form Dick might have thought less changes were required in the summer. However, he’ll be under no illusions now and will have plenty time to bring in what is needed to make you competitive in the Championship.

There is no chance we are coming back unfortunately. We would need to win all our games which isn’t happening and even if we did Arbroath only need another couple of wins. I think we all thought the title was over before we played Arbroath at home. However, looking at the table, if we’d won that we’d definitely be in the hunt now. Sums up our season though so many silly points dropped and very inconsistent. In saying that we now have 1 defeat in 7, hopefully the start of some sort of momentum going into the play offs. Chance to string 3 straight league wins together next week for the first time in a year which would be a big boost. Stenny have been woeful against us this year but their recent results suggest they’re much improved and fighting for their lives so it will be tough.

Interested to hear why would it be such a surprise if Insall signed for East Fife? He has played for you twice before and the fact he’s just coming back from a drug ban and has scored 14 goals in 48 games isn’t likely to have teams battering down his door to offer a deal. 8 of those goals were at League Two level as well. I don’t ever recall seeing him play so he may be a brilliant all round player. However, looking at it from the outside I’d be surprised if anyone better than East Fife would be willing to offer him a deal given his goal scoring record and with him just returning from a 2 year drug ban.

Yeah, you would think so. As far as I can see Lyness is the only one where it is publicly stated there is a promotion clause but I’d imagine there will be a few others. I think your list is correct regarding the senior players. Not sure about the youngsters apart from Jamie Watson. He signed a two year deal last summer but I can’t see him being a regular starter.

I’m not sure a complete rebuild is necessary nor will it be possible with the number of players we have signed up already. Those signed up would appear to be the higher earners so there isn’t going to be the cash available to add 7/8 players who are an improvement on what we have signed up currently. Recruitment in the summer will obviously be crucial and we have got it badly wrong the last 3 summers. However, I think 3/4 good quality signings in key areas, defence being the main one, would be enough to see us challenging. I would caveat that by saying we would need a lot of luck with injuries to key players like most teams. Anybody know at what point Vaughan will be available next season? A fully fit Lewis Vaughan in this league can cover a multitude of sins as we saw last season, we were verging on a one man team at times. His fitness will be key and if we have him fit for the full season it could make a massive difference. It can’t be underestimated the effect he has on the team and he has only completed the 90 minutes in the league 3 times this season. We won two of those 5-1.

Agree with this. Think the public acknowledgement of not being good enough is just a last resort for some sort of reaction from the players. Week after week he has defended them to no avail. I’ve seen a few people criticise JM for renewing Flanagan’s contract but I think that’s really harsh. Yes, I’d probably release him at the end of the season now if we could have. However, at the time of his extension he was one of our best players and it was thoroughly deserved. I certainly don’t recall many questioning it at the time. I actually think extending Bene’s contract was the bigger mistake. We all know how good he can be but I can count on one hand the amount of time he’s been anywhere near that in the last year.

Stunned by this.

Anyone go to watch the reserves play? How has McKay been playing? The results don’t suggest he is knocking down the door for a first team place but I obviously don’t know what standard the rest of the back 4 or team are. He may still be standing out.

Because your back 4 should be compact and only be covering predominantly one side of the pitch when defending a long punt goal kick. In this instance it was the left hand side. Your right back doesn’t stay on the right touchline in that defensive situation. I’m not a big fan of Crane so far but he’s in entirely the correct position. That’s not the left backs area for him to cover he’d need to totally vacate the left back area and also cross the two centre backs. For Murray to cover he’d just be tucked in to where you’d expect when defending that type of goal kick. There’s about 20 yards between him and the centre backs when Bene goes for the header which at 1-0 with 5 minutes to go from defending a goal kick is criminal. As highlighted above Murray is unsure whether to watch the winger out wide or tuck in to a more natural position. I think there is uncertainty due to us playing the diamond in midfield and Forfar pushing their wingers and full backs on late in the game. It’s a very minor detail and I’m not saying in anyway he is the man at fault for the goal as you say it’s clearly Bene/Davo. If either of them don’t make simple mistakes Murray positioning is irrelevant. I just think there’s a slight shape issue which will hopefully be worked if we stick with the new formation. I don’t expect everyone(anyone) to agree. I was always a centre back when I used to play football so I guess I always look to pass some share of the blame elsewhere!

Would agree regarding the shape of the team, would like to see us stick with that for a few of games. We looked a lot more solid defensively but no formation can account for individual errors like the goal. I think both centre backs half to take their share of the blame for the goal both make mistakes and don’t cover themselves in glory. I would also, perhaps harshly, question Murray’s positioning. From a goal kick coming down the left hand side of the pitch I think he should be tucked in much further. He should drop off and tuck in with the rest of the back 4 when Bene goes for the header. However, he seems to expect Bene to win it and as a result is caught too far across and high up the pitch and as a result is unable to cover the space left by Bene. Look at the positioning of Crane throughout that move if Murray had taken that sort of position on the other side he could have helped clear. That may seem very harsh given the main blame in clearly with the centre backs but I think an experienced natural right back helps out there.

The width of a post thing annoys me. Yes, if it went the other side we’d be champions but that game wasn’t some hard luck story nor was our season. We played our usual punt after punt and I can’t remember thinking at any point that a goal was coming. The bigger factor in us missing out on the league was our inability to take more than 2 points from a possible 12 away to a very poor Forfar (at the time) and Albion Rovers. Add that to the fact we only won 1 out of 4 against Ayr (including 2 drubbings).

Falkirk/Partick/Morton/Dunfermline coming down would be a bit of a disaster for us assuming as you say we do our usual in the play offs. However, there’s no guarantee we’ll be facing at least 1 other full time side next year. It’s still entirely possible, although looking unlikely at the moment, that Alloa are the ones relegated automatically.

Yeah, I would agree with all of that. I’m still 100% behind McGlynn and think given time he will sort the problems and get us where we want to go. It’s just a shame he didn’t have last summer to build the team he wanted. Smith building his team and then leaving 5 games in has really hampered us. Totally agree also regarding the balance, I think a James Craigen type wide midfielder who can tuck inside when defending would really help with that rather than two out and out wingers. I’d give Lyness a shot on Saturday and I’d be tempted to try Wedderburn at CB in place of Davo. Forfar is the only home game I’ve missed but by all accounts he was solid there for that game. Would then put Matthews in midfield to replace Nat which would give us a bit more energy and pace in there. Would also replace Flanagan with McGuffie. JM has tended to change personnel after a defeat and get a positive immediate response but then the same failures repeat themselves not too far down the line. I think a more fundamental change in terms of our set up is required to sustain any kind of turnaround in form.

What about the Saturday before? Barry Smith masterminded a 3-0 defeat to Peterhead, and 2-0 defeats against Cove Rangers and Cowdenbeath as well as a couple of 3-0 demolitions at Somerset. I’ve not seen anything nearly that bad from JM yet. The Barry Smith revisionism is hilarious. Last season has been done to death but even this season we lost to Cove, Cowdenbeath and failed to beat East Fife and Stranraer. We were incredibly lucky to draw with East Fife and even luckier to win at Airdrie where any other day we’d have suffered the 3-1 defeat we deserved. And that was all before he left at the start of September! Barry Smith left when he did because he knew he couldn’t keep that team near the top so got out while his stock was at its highest. The football under him was horrendous. The results haven’t been what we hoped or expected for under McGlynn but I certainly enjoy watching us at Stark’s a lot more now. Should McGlynn be doing better? Probably. Would Smith be doing better? No chance.

Agree with all of this regarding Smith and last season. However, this McGlynn side is totally different to the sides you played against previously. When we are on form we are very easy on the eye and we have played some good attacking football this season. However, this has meant we can be extremely open at times particularly away from home. We don’t have that gritty, ruthless streak that used to be JM’s signature. We are incredibly soft centred. We need to try and find the right balance quickly but we don’t have the personnel to play the McGlynn Mark 1 way currently.

People also said Reece Donaldson, Lee Bryce and Colin Wilson should be getting more game time and look where they are now. You assume playing a young player every week will automatically make them better, that is not the case. Exposing players to a level they’re clearly not ready for does absolutely nothing for their development. Watson would benefit greatly from a spell away on loan at a lower level where he can get regular games and develop at a level he is ready for. Hopefully if we get a right back in he is allowed to do that. In saying that and going against popular opinion, I actually think Murray has been fine at right back in recent weeks. He’s clearly not the long term solution but I think he has actually been the better of our two full backs recently. Crane has been nowhere near as good as I was expecting.

Watson has been given plenty chances this season and he’s shown he’s clearly not ready. Would agree on McKay though.

Good interview with Lewis Vaughan up on the website discussing his Rovers career so far. My hearing must be going because I can swear he said Joe Hamill is the best player he has ever played with.

Would disagree with this thought we were pretty solid at the back yesterday. Bene in particular but everyone played their part. For all the possession they had Thomson only really made one save so credit has to go to the defence for that even though the Pars were toothless. Davo had his moments but gets automatic passmarks for that block in the second half at 0-0 which was just as important as Thomson’s save though it’s been overlooked. Stll have concerns about Davo going forward but he was fine for the most part yesterday.

I assume that’s what they mean when saying a decision on a cash gate has been delayed due to the levels of current demand. I’d imagine if the Pars sell out their allocation there won’t be a cash gate to ensure they don’t try to turn up in the Rovers end on the day.

I had blocked Bayview from my mind to be fair! Couldn’t remember them playing together. Can understand why they wouldn’t work as a partnership though, they are both very similar types of player. Usually in a partnership each player brings different qualities.

On this note, where do we think we need to strengthen with the loans? One will be a winger to replace Armstrong. That leaves 2 available. I’d still like to see a natural RB brought in. Murray has settled into a game there recently but it’s clearly not his natural position. If JM isn’t going to give McKay a chance I’d be happy with a Murray and Bene centre back partnership. I would hazard a guess we may also be in for a creative central midfielder. We’re pretty strong in there with Gillespie, Wedderburn and Matthews but probably lack a bit of creativity. The fact we were looking to extend Hendry’s deal before the news about his injury suggests we may try to add someone else. Obviously just because we have 3 loans free doesn’t mean we’ll use them but McGlynn tends to use the loan market and has made reference to freeing up his loans by sending the 2 keepers back.

I had assumed any keeper we got in would be back up to Thomson but Lyness seemed to do pretty well at St Mirren and was playing ahead of Danny Rogers. Can’t see him dropping 2 divisions to be back up.