SuperHans

Well let's see what happens now. Undefeated and joint top of the league. No manager, no window to bring players in and limited expenditure for bringing a new manager. Squad size is hardly going to wet the knickers of anyone with any potential.

It was a clear observation. I don't put every single fellow supporter under one umbrella and claim that everyone at Starks Park is miserable. I'm just pointing out that I agree that when he deserves criticism then fine but it works the other way round and I've read an awful lot of of praise for him over the last couple of weeks in particular. I would make my posts simpler for you to be able to understand but unfortunately for you I can't be arsed.

Where do I mention in that post 'the fans'? I like to point out the majority of posts on this and other Raith related threads are continually critical of the club, team and manager. As I said above, if they deserve criticism then fine but let's also praise them when it's due. I've also mentioned in previous posts my utter bemusement at the people who will cheer and support the team when things are going great and then hound, boo and abuse the players and management as soon as things go wrong. I'll also point you in the direction of the Airdrie v Raith thread at about the half time mark and then the 3-1 mark where there were 'supporters' of the club actively voicing their hope that we did lose that game and suggested that a few more poor results would mean the manager would be sacked!! What kind of attitude is that? Not to mention the 'fans' of the club shouting for Smith to go and abusing the players with 10 minutes to go against Airdrie and then singing 'We love the Rovers we do...' 8 minutes later. Thankfully I don't tar all my fellow Raith Rovers supporters with the same brush. Many of us actually do go to games to support the team and don't feel the need to abuse players and management as soon as something goes wrong.

Hendry slotted in well after he was 'introduced' to the team. Smiths judgment was that he wasn't ready when he first arrived. Smith wanted to win the league so I'm sure the players that he put out on the pitch were the best he felt to do a job. The fact Hendry didn't feature until he did suggests that Smith didn't trust him to do the job he needed to do. Smith takes a lot of flack and when he deserves it then fine. You mentioned him getting the plaudits when he does something right, I've seen very little of this so far this season. On Friday the Raith TV interview highlighted that he had 9 'first team' players fit. Saturdays performance and result speaks for itself. Let's all remember that if Smith messes this season up, it's his career that will be on the line. If there's anyone who wants this season to be a success more than anyone else it's him.

Apologies, the quoted post was directed at Ro Sham Bos post regarding his negative attitude towards the squad size. I couldn't find his post and quoted the wrong one. On the point of players being there to 'make up the numbers', I would agree just now. But now that the reserve league has stared I would be expecting these guys on the bench to be at least playing regularly in that and hopefully getting some more experience under their belt. The issue we have os that it won't be a reserve league at our level as the the majority of the teams in the league won't have squads big enough to be playing senior players with the younger players and it will effectively continue to be an under 20s league.

Fascinating that this team can win a game 4-0, dominating a game, keeping a clean sheet, playing a style of attractive football the week after an incredible show of character and spirit by winning a game 4-3, having a striker who is second top goal scorer in all of the Scottish leagues, Lewis Vaughan coming back and scoring, Duggan getting off the mark and grabbing a goal and yet there are still people out there that will find something to moan about. I genuinely wonder sometimes if there are Raith fans who hate it when we win as it gives them nothing to be unhappy about. It's embarrassing how reluctant people are to get behind this team and how quick they are to criticise.

Why on earth would we want another attacking player? Nisbet 6 goals in 4 games, Buchanan 3 goals in 4 games as well as Duggan, Milne, Vaughan and Stevenson as attacking options. We need a right back. For all the people that want Smith sacked, how can his sacking be justified considering how little he has in terms of resources?

I know from friends who've been involved in playing at levels similar to ourselves that if they're struggling for a club then it's quite common for them to train with a team that will let them. This is purely speculation but, Garry Irvine was on the radio a couple of weeks ago punting himself for a club. Played under Barry Smith at Dundee. Fits in perfectly for what we're looking for right now.

It was always hard to pick between Smith and Lennox. Can't remember off the top of my head, but I'm sure they each conceded about the same amount of goals during their stints I'm goals. However, when you look at how many of those goals conceded were clearly preventable and how they cost us then you tend to jump to Smith being the shitter keeper. But then on the other side of it, Smith did make some pretty good saves that kept us in games. It was just 2 equally poor goalies in my opinion. Wright looks ok, but he seems to have bags of confidence.

This 4-4-2 is exactly a rigid formation. That's what I find very frustrating from all the critics. There's plenty of time when we've been in possession (particularly at home) where Watson has pushed up and worked on an overlap with Matthews who's pushed inside to make a 5 midfield leaving Bene, McKay and Murray at the back. I'd agree with the Buchanan statement. He was and looked a completely different player yesterday which was very refreshing. Nisbet out wide looked very impressive and it seemed Duggan and Nisbet did the work outside of the box to get the ball into Buchanan. Flanagan swapping sides every now and again gives us a great option from deep with Gillespie and Nat Wedderburn feeding him it as often as possible. Milne and Vaughan coming back and Davo ruled out really is quite exciting. I'd be worried about Watson for his inexperience, any manager watching our highlights would see our right hand side is the weakest area for us. Interesting side note that Davidson wasn't discussed in the interview at all which suggests to me that Barry had likely discussed not wanting to talk about it before they started. I hope he's gone. But we do need another defensive player in.

Can you fully explain the concept of the 4-4-2 for me? It's benefits and the problems it causes? I'd be fascinated to know your take on this and why it has such a massive influence on why you hate that formation and the manager who plays it. If you could do it without googling it then that would be even better?

Finally someone who actually seemed to be watching the game!!

Bet you feel a bit stupid now...

Firstly, he was forced into playing players who were carrying injuries so that he could get his strongest team on the park. I recall McKeown having an extremely poor season under Grant Murray but being one of our better players under McKinnon. He put it down to the fact that he played a large part of his first season with us carrying an injury but there was no cover for him to sit out. Secondly, luck 100% plays a huge part in any club winning the league. Was it poor tactics from Barry Smith that made Vaughan (our top goal scorers) hit the post in the last 30 seconds of the last game of the season? Was it poor management that led to Moore skying his penalty for Ayr against Alloa which took the league decider to the last game? Thirdly, yes Ayr did put play us on several occasions last season. But they also dropped plenty of points in other games. Defeats against Stranrear and Forfar at home as well as losing to Alloa in the above mentioned game. A season is played over 36 games not just a handful against league rivals. Fourthly, just because one team plays one way and does well, doesn't mean it's the same spread across the board. Livingston are in the Premier League now through a long ball and direct approach, the Motherwell 'hatchet men' made it to 2 cup finals last season with their direct and long ball strategy. I'll agree that last season at times was like watching someone running into a brick wall over and over again. But Smiths winning record speaks for itself. We won games and the fact that we didn't win enough to gain promotion comes down to a lot more than just the style of play. For the record, I hope we do see a change in style and tempo with faster and slicker moving football. But I won't be moaning about the more direct approach, as I mentioned before, East Fife had a lot more possession than us and pressed us at home. Perhaps the longer ball approach with pace on the flanks would have elevated a lot of that pressure and pushed us further up the pitch.

There were a lot more factors to us not getting promoted than the style in which we played. I'll refer you back to Barry Smiths win record as our manager. Ayr won 1 more game than us and that was the difference. I'm not a Barry Smith fan myself but I think there's a lot more to it than peoples misconception of how ineffective our style of play actually was last season. Circumstances, players under performing, injuries and luck are all contributing factors rather than the simple "long ball dusny wurk Barreh!" theory.

What about all the good results? In the league we won 22, lost 5 and drew 9 so I'm going to say that every defeat was obviously a bad result and barring the draw at home to Ayr and opening game of against Alloa then I make that 12 'bad results' and 22 good results. Stating that every bad result has seen brutal football is stating the obvious a little bit don't you think? As for conceding any edge we have as full time, that's just a load of shite. I'll admit that at times, we should have been better than the style of play that we resorted to. But when 10 men are standing behind the ball playing negative tactics, the relentlessness of continued long balls towards the defence with faster and fitter players paid off a lot more than you seem to think. Although it was a poor performance at the end, I'll revert to the horrible 2-2 draw away to Airdrie on a cold Sunday afternoon. Persistent bombardment and pressure was the difference between losing and not losing that game. The same could be said for the above mentioned draw away to Alloa. However, the other draws to Arbroath, Forfar and Albion Rovers all came from being in front which there's no excuses for. To summaries; 22 good results versus 12 bad isn't a bad return and just one more good result would have had us Champions. It's not pretty but more times than not, it got the job done.

This season we've been making a very conscious effort to play the ball on the deck much more. If anything I think the avoidance of playing it long has actually had a negative affect on how we play. Teams are pressing us a lot more and throughout the second half in particular the defence seems to fall deeper and deeper. The lack of a 'target man' is the issue for that style but I'd also say our inability to win the second ball in the middle of the park and capitalise was the issue last season. Remember that this 'long ball' game that we hated so much did win us 22 games last season so it can't have been that unsuccessful. It didn't win us the league right enough but sometimes a more direct approach is needed rather than passing it about for 90 mins hoping we break a line. Forcing the issue won us plenty of games that mattered towards the end of the season e.g. Albion Rovers (2-0) at home and East Fife also at home (2-0). Both tight games as I recall until late goals from persistent long balls forward that allowed us to regain possession in the final third and eventually break the defence down.

There's points from both sides. It's done now and personally I think the team and management benefited from the result and performance. The 'injuries' have been described as 'knocks' so it was hardly like anyone was stretchered or even subbed off for that matter. We do seem to be getting ourselves worked up over protecting players and worrying about them getting hurt. If they'd played that game as a bounce closed door match (which is common this time of season) then would there be any difference. I want us to win every game we play regardless of the competition or opponents. Obviously, it won't always happen but we went out with intent last night and it was good to see.

Were you there last night? Aberdeen Colts were no mugs. If anything, it was the younger players (Matthews the exception) who I think had the poorest performances. That's understandable at their level of experience but with a few more youngsters in the team and a few less experienced players then last nights result and performance could have been different. We really turned it on for 15 mins and got what was needed to win the game but that Aberdeen side weren't poor. Smith did the right thing to keep the nucleus of the starting 11 together with a few additions. Onwards and upwards I think.

Exactly!! Smith was actually applauded off as he walked towards the tunnel by the home fans! If he'd lost or even if we'd scrapped through with a poor performance then all the slavering moaners would have been out with the pitchforks again. I'm starting to see it and others are too that when we get the ball down and play, we can see a better intent than we did in the second half of last season. By all accounts, this was the case at the same time as last season but I think we've actually got better players than we did last season. Consistency was our problem last year and that's what we need this season. Injuries won't help but I'd rather see guys playing together regularly than having youths dropping in and out when they don't need to be.

To be honest, I'm not that fussed about him. I noticed a considerable difference in how McKay played last night with Davo beside him rather than Bene. I thought similarly last season too. McKay looks a lot more comfortable with Bene than Davo. I think McKay will feel hard done by if as soon as David suspension is lifted, he goes back to warming the bench.

The players injuries is unfortunate but I'd still say that last night was a beneficial exercise for BS and the players. Hopefully nothing too serious for Wedderburn and Murray for Saturday but if they are fit to play then Smith could actually have a little bit of a selection headache. Do you throw Davo in and replace McKay straight away? Who starts up front with Nisbet; Duggan, Milne or Buchanan? If both keepers are fit to play then who do you go for? Last night was always going to be a straight forward win and although the majority of players played well, they were playing against a youth team so I'm not going to get too excited about individual performances but as a team I think we looked good. More players getting much needed minutes on the pitch, set pieces and playing a lot more fluid than we've been used to seeing last season. Mixing in the youth players wouldn't have benefited many and if Aberdeen Colts had snuck a result or even had the performance been poor then it would have been counter productive. Players will pick up knocks and suffer injuries throughout a football season. There's no point in trying to wrap them up in cotton wool to protect them.

I don't know what the script was with Brian. I don't like the idea of fielding young keepers for one off games. A mistake could cause serious confidence problems etc. I found that with Lennox last season. The more games he was playing, the less confident he looked for coming out and collecting crosses or dealing with balls in the 6 yard box. The height thing isn't an issue for me and comparing his height to someone who played the game over 20 years ago is a ludicrous point. A lots changed since then. Smith had howlers up both his sleeves as we know. But, I can remember more saves that he made than Lennox to be fair. I can't actually think of a 'good save' that Lennox made at all last season. I'd be happy to be reminded if there is one anyone can think of.

Aye I'd agree about Zanatta. I think he failed to live up to his expectations after he came back. I can't see him getting anywhere near that Hearts starting team so it'll be interesting to see what happens to him. I wouldn't have him back out of choice but if there was nothing else coming in and he did end up back at us then at least we know what we're getting.

I'm sure Killie did a rolling jackpot where fan (maybe more than 1) selected a player from the youth team or the subs to try the crossbar challenge. I might be wrong but I'm sure the jackpot went up £50 each week until it had been won then just started again.