ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds

Fair point but ATS has hardly had a chance at left back. He’s either played centre back or on the left of a back 3 in pretty much every appearance.

I actually thought their number 19, Julien Carre, looked quite decent. Was right up for it and had loads of energy.

I never said they done well I said I don’t think there were many players that stood out as playing poorly. First half was a shambles but second half we were in total control and should’ve scored more than one. There were a few times players looked afraid to shoot and we overplayed it or the final pass was sloppy after a good move. But nobody really had a torrid time and almost every player who had one of those moments where they looked afraid to shoot or played a sloppy pass had other moments where they contributed well. We were more wasteful than bad imo, but ultimately if you don’t get the result it doesn’t really matter how good or bad a team is, only that they didn’t win.

As for the talk about Aggy in hospitality today, yes absolutely I’d take him back in any capacity. An experienced head and another player in a very small squad is something we could obviously do with. However I’ve actually just had a laugh to myself trying to imagine how ridiculously immobile a midfield trio of Agnew, McCabe and Telfer would be.

I actually thought McMaster done fine as well and was surprised to see him singled out on here. I don’t actually think there were many bad individual performances. Deveney and Devenny were quite poor. The inability to defend the corner seems more of a tactical/coaching issue to me, although Lyness can certainly be blamed since he came out for a ball he didn’t collect. Over the game as a whole I don’t think Fordyce or Watson done a whole lot wrong, and Ballanatyne definitely deserved man of the match. Telfer’s one I’m never sure about becuase he’s quite a tidy player and I’d actually argue he showed a bit more aggression today than he has in the past, but sometimes he just looks like he doesn’t know what he’s doing, especially when he gets himself in the box. Jamieson took his goal well and worked his socks off but I’d prefer him more central. Gallagher was quite poor and looked clumsy and got the ball stuck under his feet a lot, but he also has moments where he turns someone brilliantly. Smith frustrated me a lot. Didn’t play bad but there were a few times I was screaming for him to shoot and he took and extra touch. Then again, he also headed a ball up the park and sprinted by about 6 players to get to the loose ball first. Don’t want to sound rattled but I certainly won’t miss those absolute hammer-throwers when they inevitably finish bottom and end up back in League Two next season.

Is ATS unfit or does McCabe just not like him? He’s never been left out a squad since signing just been an unused sub in a team that only makes one sub (if that) every week. I think he’d be a better option than Deveney at left back if I’m being honest. A lot of us said in the summer we were only really bothered about losing Easton and obviously Murray from last season. Right now I’d do anything to have guys like Josh Kerr, Scott Agnew, Jordan Allan or Scott McGill available.

Just had a thought, presumably the law that restricts the broadcast of games at 3pm on a Saturday will be suspended during the world cup? Does that mean that while the world cup is on teams in our league can offer streams to UK residents again?

I’d have Frizzell as a straight swap for Devenny when he’s back, but in time I could easily come to prefer Devenny over Telfer. Wouldn’t change the shape from the last couple of games either. I’d keep the back 4 with Gallagher and Jamieson as a forward pairing. I’d start Smith at left back before I ever dreamed of dropping him, that’s how highly I value his work rate and commitment.

Can access them on the club website. I tried to attach the link but had the same issue with only interviews showing.

Smith playing deeper in midfield probably negates some of his talent, but it made the team better as a whole. Jamieson and Gallagher worked well as a strike partnership so I’d be more than happy to see us continue with this shape (might even be worth keeping Smith deeper when Frizzell returns, with Frizz directly replacing Devenny). Best I’ve seen Telfer play since the Clyde game and I’d say I was happier with his performance yesterday because Clyde just sat off him and let him play the game at his own pace. The small squad is still a worry, and it’s a bit annoying that we’ve had two 4-0 wins, and a 5-0 win but are still in the position we’re in. If we can get ourselves in the top 4 for January I’ll be happy, and players NEED to be signed in January. We were miles off it in the covid season before signing Turner and ended up 2 points off top and losing playoff finalists. If we’re within touching distance of the top teams come January anything can happen.

With Ballantyne returning I imagine we’ll either line up with a back 3 with wing backs or see McCabe move back into midfield. My guess would be 3-4-3. Lyness Watson McCabe Fordyce Ballantyne Telfer Devenny Deveney Jamieson Gallagher Smith That would leave ATS and McMaster on the bench, although I’d personally prefer to see ATS play over Fordyce on the left of the back 3 since he’s been on rotten form and that would let him manage the game from the bench. I think that central midfield duo would be quite reliant on their other teammates helping them out so as to not be overrun by Montrose, so would require the back 3 to take turns stepping up into midfield as well as the wing backs coming in a bit narrower and Smith doing his usual tracking back. It’s not exactly a lineup that fills me with confidence at the moment. Essentially what I’d be looking for is us not losing, Ballantyne lasting 90 minutes without getting sent off, no more injuries and a bit more defensive resilience and midfield control than we’ve seen in the last couple of months.

We’re 4th top scorers in the league on 21, behind Alloa and Falkirk on 22 and Edinburgh on 24. The only teams that have conceded more than us are Peterhead and Clyde. Our forwards might not be clinical but they’re hardly my immediate worry. Gallagher is joint top scorer in the league.

That exact midfield three was totally bossed by Kelty’s midfield a few weeks ago and as a result everyone on here generally agreed that McCabe and Telfer in the same midfield probably isn’t going to work.

If losing the manager and his assistant wasn’t going to leave the playing squad as weak as it would I’d probably be wanting him sacked now. Recruitment’s been terrible. Yes Rae and Frizzell’s injuries are unfortunate and caused us problems but to have a senior playing squad of only 14 outfielders (and that’s if everyone is fit and available) is ridiculous. Tactically we’re all over the place snd absolutely leaking goals. Our strong start has us a few points clear of the relegation playoff at the moment but there’s no doubt we’re currently the worst team in the league. When Findlay was sacked we had 7 points from 9 games. Granted that’s much worse than our current 15 from 12, but our record since that 6-0 gubbing is as bad as any run Findlay had us on. A 5-0 win and a 3-3 draw hiding amongst 6-0, 4-2, 1-0, 2-0 and 3-1 losses, as well as another 1-0 loss in the challenge cup. That’s 19 conceded in the last 7 league games and only 4 points picked up. I don’t think sacking him will help us if it means losing another player (or potentially two) from the squad. If McCabe and Fordyce were to agree to step down but continue playing for us then it might work, but I wouldn’t blame them for refusing to do that. Even if they did agree to step down, what would the dressing room dynamics be like with the former gaffer just a regular squad member? Where would McCabe’s head be as he worked under some other manager that got his job? I don’t think it would be feasible to do this even if they both agreed to it, and I don’t think they’d agree to it anyway. I think we’re basically stuck with McCabe until January at least. Ideally I’d like to see another coach added to the backroom staff, and I think we should be desperately giving free agents trials and signing anyone we can on a short term deal if they can potentially help us out. McCabe’s job should be to get us in the best position possible by January when we can properly start to rectify some of our issues by bringing in players, and to do that he might have to abandon his preferred style of play. We need points, even if we do it the ugly way. It doesn’t take a lot to finish 4th in this league and get in the promotion playoffs, and if the gap isn’t too big by January it’s entirely possible that we could be there by the end of the season with the right additions (Kyle Turner practically single-handedly dragged us from 7th to 2nd a year and a half ago). But right now we need to change something and start picking up at least some points, because if we don’t change anything now not only can we forget about promotion playoffs but we can forget about relegation playoffs as well. If we keep up the current form we’ll comfortably finish bottom.

Presumably one of the academy boys. Would be good if one of them turned out to be good enough for the first team squad this season considering we’re so low on numbers.

The bookies have us odds on for this. FC Edinburgh at 12/5 might be a license to print money.

Difficult game for Airdrie tomorrow. Football.

I’m sure I’ve mentioned this ages ago but there’s something horribly ironic about a manager having greater job security because of his own failure to put together an adequately sized squad. Impressively Machiavellian if intentional!

A big worry for me is that if we don’t even challenge for promotion this season it’s hard to see the likes of Smith of Frizzell sticking around for another season, which means we’ll basically be back to square one next summer. I actually wouldn’t be surprised if Smith is sold for a small fee in January if that’s something Raith Rovers would be able to do. Murray’s clearly a big fan of Smith and he stays in Cowdenbeath so it seems inevitable that he’ll end up there if we’re destined to stay in League One forever.

He also missed a League Cup game through suspension for cumulative yellows. I like him as a player but 3 separate suspensions by October is ridiculous.

Not sure what we do from here. Can’t sack one of our better players in such a small squad but we’re definitely in trouble. Desperately need to bring in a coach to help out and some out of contract players as well, even if they’re shite.

If Fordyce and McCabe were out as well as those three we’d be down to 10 senior outfield players so that’s just as well. Guarantee at some point this season we’ll have to finish a game with 10 men due to an injury after we’ve only made one or two subs.

And to think I’ve heard groans about too many long balls at recent games

Honestly, if we’re getting a share of the gate money I’m absolutely fine with us advertising it. My only issue is that we’ve heard so little about our own academy. Would be nice if we had a full squad list or match reports on their games so we know how they’re getting on. A designated twitter account for the academy would be good and could provide updates on players, matches etc.

I was also unsure about him last year but right now we’re extremely light in numbers and could do with his experience in the middle of the park.