Raith Against The Machine
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Posts posted by Raith Against The Machine
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2 minutes ago, DeeTillEhDeh said:
Not even a second of injury time.
Genuinely nonsense.
Referee doing everything he can to stop the Rovers getting back into the game.
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1 minute ago, Shadow Play said:
Two strikers playing in a partnership. It really does make a difference.
Two????? In a what?????
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They should be handing out medals to everyone in the away end after this.
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Actually, Scott Brown is still there.
5-4 Rovers.
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Haha! It's all the injuries we thought we had, plus no Jamie MacDonald.
4-0 Dundee.
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Sorry about all that earlier. I've checked, all of our players are now fit, and what's more, they've got loads to play for.
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9 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:
Thistle fans have a weird thing about him because Rovers fans said we missed him in the game away to Firhill a month or so ago.
They'd have a point if we'd won that game, but all that happened was a load of Rovers fans predicted before the game that we'd miss him massively, and Thistle subsequently spent 90 minutes running clear through the middle of the park.
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2 minutes ago, renton said:
I dont think Murray would want to play 4-2-3-1 if he could, or at least not as often as he does. Did he not even say something along those lines in an interview early in the season that he reverted to it because the players he had worked best in that system?
Yeah, he did, but given some of the fucking mental in-game decisions he's made, I'm terrified to find out what his ideal system is.
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I should also say, and I appreciate that it's across two different managers, but when you've tried twenty one different strikers in broadly the same system without any success, it's maybe time to try something different. Or is it twenty second time lucky?
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26 minutes ago, piebob said:
I've added in a games per goal figure for each (which makes the incorrect assumption that they played 90 minutes in each game). Suggests that Vaughan and Duku were the most prolific during that spell (if you can call a goal nearly every 3 games prolific).
The thing with Duku is that all ten of his goals came in his first twelve games, including seven in his first six. Purple patch aside, he's as bad as the worst of them.
And for Vaughan, he's really the only one there who isn't an out-and-out striker. 99% of the appearances by the others were as a proper number 9. I can only think of Bowie playing off the right (but very much as a forward) and Mitchell being asked to come onto the wing a couple of times. Not only is Vaughan putting 20 of those strikers to shame with his numbers, he's doing it predominantly one step back from the front line.
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Well, ladies and gentlemen, here it is. The definitive* list of all the strikers we've used since Kevin Nisbet left at the end of season 2018/19...
- Jamie Gullan - 21 goals in 71 appearances
- Lewis Vaughan - 12 goals in 30 appearances
- Matej Poplatnik - 11 goals in 44 appearances
- Manny Duku - 10 goals in 28 appearances
- Kieron Bowie - 10 goals in 35 appearances
- John Baird - 5 goals in 24 appearances
- Gozie Ugwu - 4 goals in 19 appearances
- Lewis Allan - 4 goals in 22 appearances
- Ethon Varian - 3 goals in 43 appearances
- Steven MacLean - 2 goals in 7 appearances
- Isma Goncalves - 2 goals in 8 appearances
- William Akio - 2 goals in 10 appearances
- Kyle Connell - 2 goals in 23 appearances
- Lars Lokotsch - 1 goal in 7 appearances
- Jack Smith - 1 goal in 8 appearances
- John Frederiksen - 1 goal in 11 appearances
- Joao Vitoria - 1 goal in 12 appearances
- Luke Mahady - 0 goals in 2 appearances
- James Keatings - 0 goals in 7 appearances
- Timmy Abraham - 0 goals in 8 appearances
- Kieran Mitchell - 0 goals in 18 appearances
Those 21 strikers have combined to score 92 goals in our last 170 games. Pin that list on the mantel to keep the bairns away from the fire. Absolutely pitiful, abysmal stuff. It's miraculous that we've actually been reasonably successful over those four seasons!
*not definitive at all. I've scribbled it down when I should be working, so there's every chance there's a couple of errors in there. I forgot Ethon Varian entirely on the first run through, if you can believe such a thing. I've combined starts and sub appearances in all competitions because, frankly, I can't be bothered doing otherwise.
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4 hours ago, raith1974 said:
I agree with some of your earlier points not all. Murray had been allowed to bring in strikers and not one of them resemble anything close to being a striker. Connell I had my say earlier in the season. A player deemed not good enough for Killie and loaned out in their Championship season should never have been our first choice striker. Frederiksen I wanted to see succeed but sadly not. Goncalves is slow looks unfit and that Hamilton performance was a joke. Akio headless chicken comes to mind. If we are going to have any success next season Murray needs to find a couple of strikers and not random punters that wouldn't look out of place down the Bevvie.
I really think this criticism is only valid if there are viable, visible alternatives. It'd be different if, in the same week we signed Frederiksen, other clubs in the division had brought in strikers who've knocked in ten goals since, but I'm not seeing that. Ayr brought in Akinyemi in the summer, Thistle and Caley had Graham and McKay already. Queen's Park had (and then lost to the Premiership) Simon Murray. Dundee brought Robinson back for a second loan, although I'm sure we couldn't have afforded him, and he's still only scored 9 goals all season.
Ian Murray can't conjure up strikers from nowhere. I think we've spent too much time this season trying to work a lone striker system with strikers who don't suit it, but he's brought in and then subsequently disposed of Connell and Frederiksen, alongside trying Gullan, Vaughan, Akio and Goncalves. You can't accuse him of not trying to find strikers, or choosing bad ones over good. He's had to settle for what he can get, because better options literally don't exist.
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I can't believe people were being negative about an obviously made up rumour that was obviously made up.
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It looks very much like our defence will be our second choice left back, our third choice left back, our second best (of two) central defender and our only defensive midfielder.
I don't think anyone cares about this enough to be offering up the above as excuses, more just a statement of fact.
To be fair, last time we were at Dens we only had two outfield subs and had to use one of them after about half an hour, but this isn't a semi-final. This is one team with everything to play for, and another just trying to make it to full time without being carted off.
The masochist in me was considering going up for this, but I'm not spending £24 to get into a (for us) dead rubber. Once the time lines are out, however, I might put down that amount on Dundee -3.
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3 minutes ago, CALDERON said:
Would really need to understand commercials with regards to any outside influence first of all. On the face of it, I'm not averse to a setup like that.
Me neither. With the caveat that these people need to be capable and justify their wages, there needs to be a professionalisation across the club. You can't run with a board of directors who turn up for a few hours at a time but never meet all at once, and a manager who has to do everything for himself, especially without an academy to provide a natural path.
Football has moved on. Ian Murray can't be training, coaching, managing, scouting, negotiating and recruiting by himself.
Look at the successful clubs and try to mirror them. Clubs like Livingston and St Mirren who've been where we are and gone on to better things. They're not trying to get promoted out of the Championship by bringing in part-time players, or asking their manager to run the show without adequate support.
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I'd definitely be looking to keep Lang. He's still young, he's carried our defence at times this year, and I don't see where we're going to get an upgrade from.
I'd also offer Nolan a new deal. He still needs more games, but he's got potential. I'd really want to bring in another central defender who probably knocks Nolan into third choice, but I wouldn't be devastated if we went into next season with the same pairing as this year.
I'd let Dick go. He's fine for the Championship, but absolutely no more than that. If we released him today, would a Morton or an Ayr even bother looking to pick him up? I'm not convinced. He'd be better off going to an Airdrie and having a good season in the top half of League One. If we want to push on, we need a left back who can offer more going forward than just sheer endeavour.
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Aye, McGlynn certainly could've made better use of the funds available to him (to say the least), but the club hierarchy can't put that on him entirely. He wasn't signing the cheques.
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2 minutes ago, Derry Alli said:
You can sign boys from Sunday League, like Dundee were made to do.
We've got enough players to fill a starting eleven, they're just not particularly good, and certainly not well balanced.
Our season is done anyway, who cares?
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1 minute ago, TheScarf said:
Well yes, you don’t get to postpone games because of injuries. You fill your starting 11/bench with 16 and 17 year olds like every other club has to.
I agree with your first part, and choosing to go with a squad this size is a decision the club has made, but we also don't have an academy. Beyond a couple of modern apprentices (one of whom is injured), we don't have any 16 or 17 year olds.
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2 minutes ago, CALDERON said:
I completely forgot Connor Mcbride existed, and frequently have this season.
I don't think you're alone in that, to be fair.
It's an upgrade on the reports we got when he signed, at least, because it sounded like he was going to be actively terrible, but instead he's just been a bit... nothing. Doesn't stand out for any reason, good or bad. You've got to think he'll be playing part-time football next season.
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40 minutes ago, CALDERON said:
To be fair to Murray, the only one of those number 10s he signed was Easton. And he has a decent amount of defensive cover tbh. 3 defenders were out injured today, and an additional one during the game. There's only so much additional cover you can sign.
The major concern today is the number of injuries happening at the same time, it happens too frequently.
I agree with both the content and the sentiment of what you're saying this evening, but Murray did also sign Connor McBride, who's probably the most egregious 'waste' we've had this season. Connell (probably) and Frederiksen (definitely) were worse players, but we were crying out for a number 9 when he signed both, and they were gambles worth taking. There was nothing on McBride's CV to suggest he'd be an upgrade on our existing options, and he's vying for a place in the one area of the park where we're actually quite well off. Easier said than done, of course, but I fancy we'd be at least a point or two better off if Murray had taken those wages and bolstered pretty much any other area of the park (other than goalkeeper).
Ultimately, though, a minor amendment in the grand scheme of things. As you say, he was dealt a bad hand from a squad building perspective. It's a squad of solid Championship players, by and large, but the feeling certainly is that as a whole we're paying over the odds for it. Add to that the sudden losses of Berra and O'Riordan, and Murray's done well to keep things broadly moving in the right direction.
Ian Murray has made some decisions I don't personally agree with, and some objectively wrong decisions, both in games and on a more macro level this season, but he's done more than enough to earn another season at the helm. Any manager is going to bring their own baggage, and I'm not seeing anything egregious with Murray that can't be overcome by moving another year away from the decisions of others, learning from past mistakes, and (hopefully) benefiting from better luck.
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I had it in my head that you couldn't sign any new players after 31 March, for some reason, but Dundee just brought in a new boy this morning. Might need to get Murray out scouring the Powerleague Monday night to get a couple of bodies in for Dens.
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Sounds very much like we'll be heading to Dens with two defenders. Magic.
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2 hours ago, Raith Against The Machine said:
Anything less than a three goal deficit isn't a terrible outcome for us.
Yup, totally fine with that, given the injuries we went into the game with. Presumably Millen going off after 52 minutes means he has some sort of issue too, as well as Isma going off late on.
One game closer to the end of the season.
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Dundee V Raith Rovers
in Scottish Championship General Chatter
Posted
I don't know that he does much vlogging anymore, but that's who you're thinking of, aye.
I'm not really sure what he's supposed to do. He's relatively quick but not really big or strong. Unless he's getting in behind a big unit, he's not troubling defenders at this level. Not entirely sure I've seen him take two consecutive touches. Just no real composure or evidence of technical ability.
Scored a rebound from a piss-poor penalty and did a backflip at Ochilview, though. Gets a few points for that.