Raith Against The Machine

There's a fucking world of difference between David Goodwillie and Brian Rice lads, for f**k sake.

All football managers are - to a greater or lesser degree - egotists. There's not a manager in the country who wouldn't look at Falkirk and think "I could turn that around, no bother". Now there are many who won't want it for a variety of reasons, but there'll still be a huge number of applicants. The problem isn't that decent managers won't want it, it's two-fold. One is finding a decent manager instead of a deluded eejit (or two) who's out of his depth. The second is that after a certain point you go through enough managers that it becomes clear the real root of the trouble lies elsewhere, and there are systemic issues (all called Gary?) that are preventing success. It's possible that Falkirk have managed to appoint three or four management teams on the bounce that are out of their depth and hugely underperforming solely because of their own ineptitudes, but with each passing appointment it looks less likely. Now obviously with the likes of Miller/McCracken and Sheerin there's a shared responsibility. You can see standalone managerial decisions that just look wrong. But is it because Sheerin is absolutely dreadful and the club just needs a fresh manager and they'll go the rest of the season undefeated, or is it that the club is such a complete basket case that no manager could win the league? The answer almost certainly lies somewhere in the middle, but nobody knows really just how close to which end.

Our most recent winners of Player of the Month... Ethan Ross - October 2021 Steven Anderson - September 2019 Kevin Nisbet - October 2018 ????????? - February 2018 Lewis Vaughan - August 2017 Without looking it up, can anyone name the mystery man?

Ian McCall, John McGlynn or Dick Campbell?

There was still half an hour to play, and the game was at 0-0. There's no way that decision was made on anything other than who McGlynn thinks was the best available player. BRS has fallen below Arnott in the pecking order, and frankly I'd be surprised if he got it back now. He's had his chances and sadly just hasn't done enough. I don't think Spencer's absence necessarily creates a selection conundrum, though. I suspect we'll go back to McGlynn's preferred shape, that he's used in all of our other home games, and he'll use Matthews and Tait at the base of midfield with a three in front of them. Although I suppose that's contingent on having Connolly and Ross available, and would mean Bene dropping back out again. I'd certainly have Tumilty back into the starting line up too. If we don't have Ross or Connolly I suppose Musonda goes into the base of midfield and Tait goes into the three, but I've no idea what we do if we don't have either. You probably have to find a way to incorporate Varian and Poplatnik because otherwise we just don't have enough forward thinking players.

Just painfully predictable. At least the first short corner did produce a cross, of sorts, but we've tried that cut back for Tait to first time it on the edge of the box in just about every game this season and I think that's about the second best its gone.

I think you'd have to have Tom Lang as man of the match. Everything that Arbroath created in the first half came to an end with his involvement, including that unbelievable header on the line. While the Rovers set up was conservative, I can't see that McGlynn would've "taken a point" before kick off. It was a set up to provide a solid base from which we could go and try to shake something loose at the other end. And when you look at the few chances that both teams had, it's fair enough. To play any more open would've played into Arbroath's hands, and we did create a couple of half chances. In hindsight, I think Musonda in for Tumilty was a step too far. Maybe Tumilty was carrying a knock, but I suspect it was more of a punishment from McGlynn for that daft red card at Falkirk. With the three centre halfs already out there, we didn't really need that additional solidity from Musonda, but missed the outball that Tumilty provides, and that was compounded by the absence of Ross (in the first half) and Connolly. So much of our good play is built on movement and interchangeability and we just didn't have the right tools for that yesterday. Varian did his usual good work harrying and breaking balls loose, but we never looked like having the support in place to really benefit from it in open play. We were relying on him to hold the ball up long enough to win set pieces that we could attack from. No comment on how that went. It was one of those games - again, particularly the first half - where we would've been better off with a more orthodox number 9, but we simply don't have one. As I said yesterday, the period between Little and Spencer's injuries was the only time the Rovers looked like properly imposing themselves on the game. Prior to Little going off, Dick was being targeted again and again by Jason Thomson on the overlap and he wasn't having a great time. It looked like it was only a matter of time before Arbroath scored from that route, but Thomson going to centre half totally changed that dynamic and let us off the hook. As we saw earlier in the season, though, Brad Spencer is the beating heart of that Rovers midfield. Matthews and Tait are both very good at what they do, but they need Spencer there as that metronomic lynchpin to really be at their best. Once Spencer went off, we lost that composure required to build through the middle and were relying on balls into the channels. Aaron Arnott didn't do badly when he came on, but he's never going to bring the same control at this stage in his development. I imagine that substitution is the death knell for Blaise Riley-Snow's prospects as a real first team player too. All in all, a point at Gayfield is no bad thing. Looking at the way this Championship has broken, I don't think there's a manager in the top five who wouldn't be content with draws away at the other teams around them. Arbroath are too good a side to get an exemption from that, as much as Dick Campbell might want to kid on otherwise in the papers. The Rovers are now 14 games unbeaten, and that's a monumental achievement. It's been a strange 14 games, though. Breaking games down into halves, how many have the Rovers truly been in their stride? Maybe five or six? That's not a criticism, it's just an observation. McGlynn has toyed with different formations and different personnel throughout, and there have been spells where there have been seemingly clear weaknesses (the entirety of Matthews absence, for example) but the team have persisted throughout. You'd have to assume Spencer won't bounce back immediately from that injury, so there'll be more punches to roll with going into tough games against Killie and Thistle, but would you readily bet against this Rovers side continuing their unorthodox unbeaten run to Christmas? I wouldn't.

Agree on the referee. Just a horrible way to manage a game of football, prevented it from ever really becoming anything other than a drab affair.

Without either side really creating much, the Little injury turned the dial in our favour but the Spencer has turned it right back. We can't get two passes strung together.

Little going off could be game changing. Looks like Jason Thomson into centre half. He's never been particularly brilliant there, and he's been causing bother on the overlap.

Arbroath v Tom Lang so far. Luckily, Tam's doing well.

Forget Jamie MacDonald, that's the save of the season from Tam Lang. What a header.

Also, just laying it out now. If we try any short corners that don't immediately lead to a cross into the box, with those options in the air, I'm going to hurl myself into the North Sea.

Musonda starting ahead of Tumilty alongside a back three is a surprise. Should be just as solid defensively, but might lose a little going forward in open play. Set pieces could be interesting with all of Musonda, Lang, Berra and Benedictus on the park too. A shame that Ethan Ross has only made the bench. Fingers crossed he's fit enough to come on and do damage in the last 20 minutes or so.

Possibly Jamie MacDonald missing too. His other half's pregnant and was fit to burst on Tuesday night which is why he missed out. From the way McGlynn was talking, if the wee one made an appearance on Wednesday or Thursday then we'd see him back for this game. Any later than that though, and it'll likely be the first Bairn to have a significant effect on our season...

It's a no from me, dawg.

Billy Dodds is wearing too much fur for a man who already looks like a woodland critter.

Ah surely it's a time for something a little more festive... Oh it's Christophe time, he'll clear it off the line, Winning headers every time, Berra's a winner, his form'll never dip, He's gonna take us up to the Premiership

I think it's fair to say that if either team win this one they've got to be considered title contenders, particular if Killie and Caley draw tonight. Top of the league a couple of games short of halfway and you can't keep thinking about yourselves as plucky underdogs.

That's what Sol Brynn gets for cutting about in 2021 with a haircut straight out of Aufweidersen Pet.

This wee teuchter commentator is borderline offended by how passive Morton are.

You'll struggle to get three minutes of highlights out of this one. The phrase "devoid of quality" springs to mind. The introduction of a few more kids seems to have turned the tide a little, Rovers are finally getting a bit of joy now that Carson has stopped doing his usual Ballon D'or work against us.

It goes straight to penalties, thankfully.

lol