Raith Against The Machine

It's impossible to overstate just how certain it is that we'll be playing Livingston at Almondvale.

Sit down, shut up. Sit down, shut up. Sit down, shut up. Sit down, shut up.

Berra has gotten himself in front of absolutely everything so far this afternoon. He's been immense.

You'd think he was the second coming of Cafu the way Rob McLean was banging on in the first half.

I hadn't realised there were still daft numbers of subs in this competition. That'll be a big advantage for Aberdeen.

I hope that goal has made you furious you daft miserable c**t.

For all that Aberdeen have had the ball, they've created next to nothing other than the goal. They've gotten down the sides a few times but Benedictus and Berra are coping absolutely fine. I'd argue that with the shot that BRS had blocked and the one that Zanatta put into the side netting, we've actually had the better of the chances (again, other than the goal). We all know this Aberdeen side are quality, so I'm not sure what the commentator and "Crags" were expecting. There's no sense in going toe to toe. You soak up the pressure and try to play on the break, which we've done. We'd do a damn sight better at playing on the break if we could deliver a fucking set piece, right enough. Two corners and a dangerous freekick in that half. One straight out of play, two that were highly preventable offsides. Massively frustrating. I imagine Aberdeen will continue to turn the screw as the Rovers tire, and they'll bring extra quality off the bench, so this will probably finished 2 or 3-0, but I've been fairly encouraged by what I've seen. Varian has struggled to get involved, I'd be bringing on Poplatnik or Keatings to try and introduce a little more guile. BRS hasn't looked as off the pace as I first feared, but you can see just how much a difference Spencer and Vaughan would make to this side.

FOR F

This commentary from Premier is a bit over the top, no? Aberdeen are playing well enough, the Rovers have dropped out of the game a little and the goal was a great strike, but it's been their only real chance created. You'd think Aberdeen were 7-0 up, the way they're going on about it.

So that's a sort of 4-5-1 out of possession becoming a 4-3-3 as we counter? With the greatest will in the world, I'm not sure how much defensive output we'll get from Zanatta and Connolly out wide, but it'll be interesting to see. It's harsh on Lang as an individual to drop out, he didn't do anything wrong at Inverness, but without Spencer and Vaughan I don't think we've got the right bodies for the 3-4-3. Varian, in theory as much as anything else I suppose, should act as a better focal point than Poplatnik or Keatings who are more minded towards a false nine role. A big opportunity for Varian to show what he's got.

Respect for just sticking "JET" on the team sheet. More nicknames and abbreviations to the fore, please.

Our performance tomorrow will go a long way towards determining this, but if we struggle to mitigate for our injuries against a second string Aberdeen side then this game will have real movable object v stoppable force vibes. Any optimism I have comes from the thought that there are more ways to work around even the worst injury crisis than relying on an epiphany from a fundamentally bad manager.

Would you expect to see much instant impact from a new CEO? Would that position not be more focused on strategic direction and more medium-to-long term projects. I think you'd need at least a year to get a feel for the direction the club is heading in before really being able to make any sort of judgement. And as for "not particularly well liked", I have absolutely no idea I'd that's true or not, but everyone seemed to quite like our last CEO but he didn't know the rules of an organisation whose board he sat on, gave away a future Scotland international for free just because Rangers asked, oversaw some dreadful managerial choices and then sanctioned the loaning of our best player to a rival who subsequently helped relegate us.

Is it possible that Peter Grant didn't submit his CV because Peter Grant doesn't know how to spell CV?

Womp womp.

No there isn't. We're fucked.

As he was in the last couple of games against us last season, too.

Aye, someone else (CALDERON?) made the point already, but if Berra, Zanatta and Connolly were new players who'd rocked up without any reputation, we'd all be pretty pleased with how they're getting on. I've got no idea why some folk seem desperate for them, and it seems even the Rovers, to fail. Utterly bizarre behaviour. As for the derby, it's very simplistic, but for me it all hinges on Vaughan. He's the one who drives the fluidity and the interplay within our attack. Zanatta, Poplatnik and Connolly all have their moments, but Vaughan's presence seems to bring them all together into a unit. That cohesion might well come without him in time, but with only the Aberdeen game between then and now, I'm not sure they'd be ready in time for Dunfermline. Vaughan is also likely to be the difference between McGlynn opting for the 3-4-3 or the 4-2-3-1. Either way, it's going to be a very interesting game, particularly if Wilson still isn't fit for the Pars. Both teams have something of a soft centre and the midfield might be more of a void than it is a battle. If the Rovers can somehow block out that 20 minutes against Hamilton I'm very confident in the defence, but the Pars front line is stronger than ours on paper. Fundamentally though, I think the biggest mismatch between the two is in the dugouts. I'm unashamedly a John McGlynn fan boy and I'll make no apologies for that, but it would appear to me that Peter Grant might well be an absolute charlatan. I'm fully aware that this might come back to haunt me, but he's got real Gary Locke vibes. Kind of guy who puts his primary school on his CV (and then doesn't submit it).

Shudder.

Mine arrived a few weeks back too. Definitely ring the office.

What's the script with Wilson? Is he out long term? His presence or absence made a huge difference in the derbies last season.

Uh... sure. Setting that aside, these things happen in football. We've no divine right to go to Inverness and win (at this stage, if feels like it might take divine intervention). We know this is a competitive division. Some people seem to have lost the run of themselves over the last year. Even last year, when we were largely excellent, we lost some bad games. Queen of the South at home particularly stands out. Today wasn't a bad game to lose. It was a game we lost. A close game, decided by a great strike. Our next game is against Dunfermline. We've both had a draw and a loss so far, but looking at how those games have gone, I'd rather be in our shoes than theirs, particularly if we can give Vaughan a break next weekend and have him back for the derby.

Nonsense. Only applies inside the box. Also, it's not a new rule, it's been around for five years. The explanation is quite simple. The referee doesn't think it's a clear goalscoring opportunity, or he'd have sent Ridgers off. But I think he's fallen for flawed logic that you see fairly often in situations like this. If that's a defender, rather than the goalkeeper, you'd only give the booking. He's still got thirty yards to go and there are two defenders in relatively close proximity who might be able to catch him. But that also accounts for the fact that he's got a goalkeeper to beat. In the situation yesterday, had Varian not been fouled by Ridgers, he's got the whole of the goal to aim at, from 25 yards out. Neither defender is close enough to block his next touch. They might catch him if he takes a touch, but he's only got to side foot a simple effort to score. That's a clear goalscoring opportunity. There should be very few situations where a goalkeeper commits a foul outside his box where he isn't then sent off. Maybe if the ball is into the channel and the attacker would have to find a teammate, but not in a case like yesterday's.

Christ, some people are desperate to be dramatic, eh? Everything has to either be agony or ecstacy. We've lost one game. Narrowly, at that, away from home to a decent side. There are 34 more games to go. Maybe we will get relegated, who knows, but it's far, far too early to tell. Not everything needs to be amazing or abysmal. There's room for nuance.

Tough to take, really, but we were never likely to take anything from this one, particularly when you think we were without our best defender (Musonda), midfielder (Spencer) and forward (Vaughan). Acquitted ourselves well enough, and could've been different if the referee had sent off Ridgers as I still think he should have, but we'll need to find a more cohesive attacking strategy if we're to do anything against Aberdeen or Dunfermline in the next couple.