Kuma Power

There's also a lot to be said for keeping some consistency in our defence as we head into the second half of the season. If O'Reilly moves on, then we are looking at either: stepping up Dylan Corr (who is young and has started I think one league game this season); waiting on Watson coming back and praying he stays fit; moving Scott Brown back into CB (when we really need him further up the park, espeically while Stanton is out); or taking a gamble on bringing someone else in. All of these carry risks that I'd rather not be taking. Our defence is porous at the best of times, and I do appreciate that that's part of the trade-off for the number of goals we score, but the sum of a settled back line can often be greater than its parts. For that reason if nothing else, I really hope we offer O'Reilly something until at least the summer.

5 of the last 7 goals we have conceded have been shots from outside the box. Clearly you can't legislate for someone scoring a worldie like we had last week. But it does point to us either giving attackers too much space to get shots away, a keeper who is carrying a knock and is not as athletic as he usually is, or a combination of both.

Weather forecast seems to be looking less and less positive for Saturday, especially later in the day. Hopefully game will be able to go ahead, but could be challenging for those travelling from further afield, especially via the trains. Hoping to come down from the Highlands for this one, but will need to see what Scotrail are saying tomorrow and Saturday morning. Fingers crossed.

It was even worse when Urawa had the Vodafone sponsorship deal in the mid-2006s. Very difficult to tell Urawa Reds shirts from that era from Man Utd shirts at first glance!

Likewise, I'd be surprised (but also delighted!) if we get any contract extensions being announced right now. We don't know what league we will be in next year as Raithie says above, and understandably the agents will be looking to get the best opportunities for their players in what is a short career. That's not to say we won't have already sat down with some of the guys we want to keep on and put an offer on the table, of course. If previous seasons are anything to go by, we might not hear anything for a few months yet, but hopefully no need to be panicking at this stage. On Shaun Byrne, something that was discussed on the podcast earlier in the week got me thinking: it might not be the worst thing in the world if we do end up signing Byrne outright in the transfer window, as long as it doesn't break the bank. Dundee are doing well and, barring an injury crisis, seem to be well loaded in that position. Crucially, it would also open up a space to allow us to take another over-21 loan player in, which could help us to strengthen in critical areas for the second half of the season.

Alex Schalk - formerly of Ross County - scored the winning goal in the FIFA Club World Cup quarter-final yesterday for Urawa Red Diamonds. He and his Urawa teammates will now face Manchester City in the semi-final.

We discussed this on the Oh No No No podcast a few weeks back in the context of Ian Murray when the Ross County manager's job came up. Can't remember who it was that said it, but if Murray were to move on and we were looking for continuity at Raith, then Tam Courts would be right up there given he's worked with our ownership before at Kelty.

Late drama in the J2 promotion playoff today. Tokyo Verdy clinched promotion back to J1 with a 96th-minute penalty against Shimizu S-Pulse. Because of the way the promotion play-offs work, the higher-placed team gets home team advantage and only needs to draw over a one-leg playoff, whereas the away team needs to win (at least that's how I think it works - those who know, please do correct if I'm wrong!) Absolute boot in the baws for Shimizu, but will be good to see Verdy back in the top flight after a long absence. Meanwhile in J3, a late penalty for Kataller Toyama vs YSCC Yokohama wasn't enough to stop Kagoshima United clinching the second promotion spot to J2 on goal difference. What is it with me and late penalties today ?

It's getting to the end of the J.League season. Vissel Kobe won their maiden title at the weekend after spending many Yen over the years doing so, whilst Yokohama FC are headed down to J2 after losing the relegation battle. Two giants in the J2 playoff final next to decide the final promotion spot for J1: Tokyo Verdy vs Shimizu S Pulse. Also going to the wire in J3 for the second promotion spot to J2 behind Ehime FC. Kagoshima Utd are two points ahead of Kataller Toyama going into the final round of J3 fixtures next weekend, although you can never count on either of these teams to get a result.

Just to build on what a couple of others have alluded to above: Livingston away is a rather underwhelming tie, but it also has the potential to be a valuable training exercise for our squad. If we end up in the playoffs, this is *exactly* the standard of opposition we will have to beat if we want to go up.

Commiserations @Brummie Clyde - honestly think if the league had been 2 games longer Omiya would have caught Iwaki. Tough shift to have to take on a very in-form Shimizu S-Pulse in a must-win game. Elsewhere, nice to see Avispa Fukuoka pick up their first ever trophy, beating Urawa Reds to win the Levain Cup (Japan's equivalent of the league cup). Yosuke Ideguchi, he who is still contracted to Celtic, played the full match. Bit of a shame to see that Hisashi Jogo, who's been with Avispa for his entire 19-year career, didn't make the bench, but at least got brought up to lift the cup.

Have to say I feel conflicted about Jamie Gullan. Over the last few years, he's given us Rovers fans some great memories: the 5-3 at Bayview, the 5-1 vs the Pars, getting the party started with the penalty against Motherwell in the cup, the goal that broke the Inverness curse... I really hoped that this season he could put his injuries behind him and kick on, but sadly he hasn't yet managed to do that. Agree that we still don't really know what his best position is, but I do wonder if that's a result of him only managing 4-5 games at a time before he breaks down again - which makes it very, very hard to get a clear picture of what he can do and how he fits into the team. It's a difficult one and I hope I'm proven wrong, but it is hard to justify offering Gullan a new deal if he can't manage an injury-free and effective run between now and the end of the season - especially if that frees up funds to, say, offer Sam Stanton a new deal.

Was thinking too - unless the Arbroath game is rearranged (or unless it has been and I just haven't been paying attention), as it stands we only have two league fixtures in November. Clearly we'll have the Challenge Cup game against Hamilton and the Scottish Cup tie against Dunfermline, but in terms of consolidating a playoff spot and keeping pace with Dundee Utd for as long as we can, it's maybe not a bad thing that we have a few weeks off league business where we can get the guys that have been injured back up to speed.

I think that's a really good summation of where we're at. Like you, I reckon the next few weeks could be tough - especially given the number of injuries we're carrying - but I've seen enough so far to have hope that we'll be well in the hunt for the playoffs come the end of the season. Just to add a couple of things that give me hope compared to last season: -we seem to be getting better at dealing with setbacks. In addition to the number of points we've won in the last 15 mins of games, we've already taken nearly as many points in games where we've gone behind as we did across the whole of last season. I bang on about this to anyone who'll listen, but I defintiely think that having a few more experienced heads who've won this league before like Murray, Byrne, Mullin and Watson (when he's fit) on the pitch is helping everyone to keep the heid; -there have been a few games where we've thrown a lead away then recovered, but on the whole our game managment, which has been a huge weakness for the last few seasons, seems to be improving; -we're doing more in the opposition box. Yes, we really need Hamilton back fit and scoring, but the likes of Stanton, Vaughan and Easton are causing trouble and scoring goals from inside the box to a greater extent tha they were last year. Compare that to last season, where we were very reliant on Connolly and Easton unleashing screamers from the edge of the area.

Still a chance for Omiya... I don't see Iwaki picking up another point between now and the end of the season, and the 1-7 thumping to Shimizu S-Pulse has wiped out any goal difference advantage we might have had. Mind you, Omiya have a *very* tough run-in, with both Shimizu S-Pulse and Tokyo Verdy, who are going to be going full-tilt to secure the remaining promotion spots.

Been reading some of the discussions and debates about the J.League shifting to a winter season. Understandably a lot of the smaller clubs in the northern part of Japan have concerns about what this is going to mean for attendances, as it's absolutely freezing in those parts in winter with metres of snow around the grounds! As far as I'm aware, there's going to be a break in the dead of winter for a few weeks to miss the worst of the extreme cold and snow - but on the other hand, it's so hot in summer in Japan that players in the southern teams will wilt if they keep playing in summer. It's a really difficult one to resolve given the number of different climates that exist within Japan!

If there's a red warning out, there's also the possibility that emergency services have to be on standby or diverted elsewhere. Not sure what the protocol for calling off games is, but it may well be the police that have the final say. As others have said though, football aside the conditions over there look absolutely horrific, and I hope all the Lichties on here are staying safe and avoiding the worst of it.

Big win for Ventforet Kofu in the Asian Champions League against Buriram United the other day. They moved the game to the national stadium in Tokyo and still their fans managed to create a great atmosphere. They've got an excellent chance of getting out of their group now.

As far as I'm aware Stanton is only contracted until next summer. Although of the guys whose contracts are up at the end of this season, he's absolutely the one I'd want to be sitting down with first to discuss an extension. Hopefully if we can put a good run of results together and look like we're building something, we can convince him to sign on again - even if he's on a McGlynn contract, he's worth it.

Shinji Ono, who played for Japan at the 1998 World Cup, has announced his retirement from Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo at the age of 44: https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20230927/p2g/00m/0sp/075000c His appearances this season have mainly been restricted to cup games, but it's still one hell of an innings.

Brilliant stuff @Merkie84, thanks for sharing. The fact that J.League games manage to have a brilliant atmosphere, yet without any aggro, is definitely what I find most different to games in Scotland. That and being able to have a beer at your seat while watching the game Hope you're settling in well in Japan!

...and meanwhile in J3, half the league are separated by just seven points in the chase for the second promotion spot, with ten games left to play. Could be a wild final day if things don't start to spread out over the next few games.

Was reflecting a bit on the squad and the depth we have this season after the game today. Now, I don't mean this as a criticism of anyone in our squad, least of all Masson who for the most part didn't look out of place against Airdrie. And I do acknowledge that experienced defenders are hard to come by at the moment. But when you think about it, it's pretty wild that we can swap out our entire front 4 for a completely different set of 4 experienced Championship-level attackers - yet are only ever one injury or suspension away from having to play a midfielder or a teenager in defence.

Aye, huge GeoGuessr fan here. I usually play the Japan maps as trying to work out where I am from the signs is a good way to practice my reading and build my local knowledge - can usually perfect-score the Japan game if I have enough patience, and have hit a max score on the Taiwan maps a couple of times too. But as above, it's wild to see how good some of the top players are, they were live-streaming the GeoGuessr world championships a week or so ago and the speed and accuracy of these guys is crazy.

On the subject of us dominating the Challenge Cup, I was in Ljubljana in Slovenia this week and had a spare half-hour - so cycled out to the home of NK Bravo, where our cup final hero Matej Poplatnik now plies his trade. Unfortunately wasn't able to fit a game into the schedule, but did visit the club shop/bar to pick up a scarf for the collection. Nice wee club, the guys in the office said Matej has started this season well, but were a bit perplexed when I told them the reason he had a big bandage in the Challenge Cup Final was that he'd headed the ball with such force he ripped his ear open on an opponent's boot. Apologies this is only peripherally related to the Rovers, but with not much to moan about at the moment, it at least helps to pass the time before the next game