The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Double Jack D]

14 minutes ago, pub car king said:

Dabrowski's weakest area is coming off his line for the ball. Some keepers are just like this and an experienced defence will compensate for this to an extent. 

However in our case although we've recruited better CB options it is still our weakest part and the 2 goals on Sunday are down to defenders.

The first one is a poorly defended corner where nobody even jumps with the 2 attackers going for the ball. The second one involves Liam Dick going for a wander in Leith before the ball goes under Watsons leg's leaving the keeper unsighted.

Too often Dabrowski is being left exposed when he doesn't have the confidence or experience to come out in the way someone like MacDonald would. This needs to be a coaching priority for Thompson who himself is weak in this attribute. As well as looking at fine tuning the defence which might just need game time. 

I do think this is a key point. Last season we had a keeper who had more experience than our centre halves combined, this season we have the polar opposite. Hopefully as the relationship develops Dabrowski can become more confident and assertive with his defenders. Our defence certainly has the attributes to be a decent unit but we are leaking goals just now. 

It is strange that he is drawing this uncertainty from some of the crowd based on one or two dodgy kick outs and a goal conceded v Morton which was clearly much more down to very poor defending than a goalkeeping error.

A couple of saves and a clean sheet on Saturday may help however his last appearance at EEP wont do much for his confidence

[Arthur Reid McDermott]

3 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I don’t think there’s been anyone being over the top in their criticism, and I say that as a signed up, fees paid member of the happy clapper club. Most are just saying what they’ve seen in the games played. 

Count the amount of moans against the Lad Hank.  They don't have to be over the top, it's the number of moans that is in danger of sapping his confidence.

[Hank Scorpio]

5 minutes ago, Arthur Reid McDermott said:

Count the amount of moans against the Lad Hank.  They don't have to be over the top, it's the number of moans that is in danger of sapping his confidence.

I’d like to think players have a slightly thicker skin than reading what is said on the internet and taking it to heart. We are nobodies with an opinion which means nothing to anyone. 

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

 

[Stardog_champion]

3 hours ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said:

 

Most importantly oor Scotty Broon

[Ro Sham Bo]

I'm definitely in the 'not convinced' category regarding Dabrowski and would class the 2nd goal on Sunday as one he might have done better with. Having said that, his save from Boyle was very good and, if the roles had been reversed and Boyle had scored while Vente's was saved nobody would be questioning him at all, so in that respect he is a bit unfortunate. 

[Scottydog]

6 hours ago, Double Jack D said:

I do think this is a key point. Last season we had a keeper who had more experience than our centre halves combined, this season we have the polar opposite. Hopefully as the relationship develops Dabrowski can become more confident and assertive with his defenders. Our defence certainly has the attributes to be a decent unit but we are leaking goals just now. 

It is strange that he is drawing this uncertainty from some of the crowd based on one or two dodgy kick outs and a goal conceded v Morton which was clearly much more down to very poor defending than a goalkeeping error.

A couple of saves and a clean sheet on Saturday may help however his last appearance at EEP wont do much for his confidence

From what I've seen so far the leaking of goals bit can be mostly attributed to poor defending, a failure to stop a cross or defend a set piece has been our undoing more than once.

Of Dabrowski's weaker points I agree that I'm more inclined to feel concern when he has the ball at his feet than when seeing a ball flying into his box, but they are both area's he needs to improve on and hopefully he will.

On the subject of him losing confidence due to the support's uncertainty in him that's going to happen from time to time. All players need to be thick skinned and learn to get over that, as for on-line abuse I hope that all the players at SP have the good sense not to read what's written here or on P&B.

[R12ATH]

19 minutes ago, Ro Sham Bo said:

I'm definitely in the 'not convinced' category regarding Dabrowski and would class the 2nd goal on Sunday as one he might have done better with. Having said that, his save from Boyle was very good and, if the roles had been reversed and Boyle had scored while Vente's was saved nobody would be questioning him at all, so in that respect he is a bit unfortunate. 

Perhaps on the 2nd goal bit it went through Watsons legs and took a nick then went through his legs.. Dick was more at fault.. Got caught under the ball at the long switch of play by trying to intercept it, then was out of position.. Keeper at fault for first..Should be coming out for that, hibs clearly knew his weakness as they did it all game.

[SirJimmyofNic]

Going by all the expert goalkeeping coaches in our support, I guess Hibs Marshall should've saved Smith's shot as hes a more experienced keeper, Dabrowski is in his first season playing as a first choice starter, hes bound to be nervous about making a mistake, I'm sure the Manager would soon bench him and play Thomson if there was a problem, and then the experts can shift their criticism onto him

[TxRover]

43 minutes ago, R12ATH said:

.. Keeper at fault for first..Should be coming out for that, hibs clearly knew his weakness as they did it all game.

IM specifically addressed in his post match interview that Big Kev was unable to come out due to a couple of players physically blocking him back on his line. I suspect that some focus will result in finding ways to beat that.

[Scottydog]

Any news on Dick's suspension or possible appeal?

[Raithfan2711]

14 minutes ago, TxRover said:

IM specifically addressed in his post match interview that Big Kev was unable to come out due to a couple of players physically blocking him back on his line. I suspect that some focus will result in finding ways to beat that.

He is rooted to his line virtually every corner we’ve come up against. There was one player and KD was stood there pushing when the ball comes in. Goalies and defenders must deal with someone in their face, for me that’s not a reason to stand there and simply push them a bit in the back. If that continues, get used to seeing us losing goals from headers 6-8 yards out. 

btw I’m not totally suggesting it is his fault. He has maybe been told to stay there. IM likes to set up his corners in a certain way from what I can see. For example, he never leaves anyone up. That is one where I’m not sure how much more successful it is defensively, but the only goal I can remember is scoring from a counter after an opposition corner was against Ayr ages ago. Wish he would mix it up a bit sometimes. 

[renton]

Should be noted that McGurn was rooted to his line.

If Dabrowski is similar, it's really up to the CBs to adapt, with McGurn, defenders learned that they had to deal with everything practically to the goal line.

That's a fairly extreme example, and while I think he's been hesitant at times he was pretty confident punching out on Sunday. The first goal I think he'd have struggled to get through the tangle and the fact two Hibs players were basically above and dominating their markers to get contact with the ball suggests it wasn't really the keeper's fault we lost that one...

[Scottydog]

Forgotten who we played but I remember one particular game at Starks defending the home end, an opponent stood facing McGurn blocking him, the corner was swung in right on top of him and we shipped 2 identical goals in succession.

TBH I cant think of a keeper we've had that was noted for commanding his area by coming for crossed balls.

[Jilted John]

4 hours ago, Scottydog said:

Forgotten who we played but I remember one particular game at Starks defending the home end, an opponent stood facing McGurn blocking him, the corner was swung in right on top of him and we shipped 2 identical goals in succession.

TBH I cant think of a keeper we've had that was noted for commanding his area by coming for crossed balls.

Guido is the only one I can think of off the top of my head.

Commanding your area isn’t always about running out for every cross though. It’s about organising the defenders. I’m hoping that all comes in time.

[Double Jack D]

Also worth remembering that I don't think Jamie Macdonald caught a cross in 4 years at the Rovers.

[TxRover]

18 hours ago, Scottydog said:

Any news on Dick's suspension or possible appeal?

Nope

[pub car king]

If the social media don't lead with "Dick out" then what's the point 

[TxRover]

So Craig Cairns headline should be “Raith face Pars with Dick out”…or perhaps “Raith have to play with no Dick”?

[JaketheSnake]

MacDonald was a good shot stopper but was glued to his line for corners, didn't command his box and his kicking was horrendous at times. Majority of keepers have those weaknesses, especially at this level. Big Kev has similar strengths and weaknesses to MacDonald but is young and will improve. If he was good at everything he wouldn't be playing lower league Scottish football.