The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Michael W]

12 minutes ago, Enigma said:

For me, without Watson or Corr, I want to see us carry on with Brown-Murray as the centre back pairing. Stanton can drop deeper or we could even start McGill in midfield.

I think Stanton playing deeper is OK as a stop gap, but it leaves us quite exposed and less 'steely' in midfield with Brown missing out. Maybe fine where necessary or against weaker opposition. 

We also miss a lot from him in the forward play when he has to go further back. If we had Matthews available this would be less of an issue, right enough. I would much prefer Stanton wasn't playing deeper against Dundee United, that's for sure. 

I wonder if McGill would be the better option to keep Stanton further up the field. 

[CountryBumpkin]

1 hour ago, pub car king said:

This is a worry as knee's tend to be complicated things, wasn't he injured a bit last season as well?  The misdiagnosis of Corr is also concerning. 

Murray will have to earn his money this week, realistically we want Byrne and Brown in midfield and a proper CB in defence. Masson was left out at Ayr so does he run light in midfield again and have Stanton drop deepnorndoes he shuffle defence again? 

I feel with Brown and Byrne in the midfield we're very limited because they're both very similar players right now. Having two sitting and no fullbacks to push forward it limits our ability to provide other options in attack, isolating our front four. If we do that, one of them has to sit, the other has to push forward and i'd much rather have Byrne going forward, he's just much more accomplished with the ball at his feet than Brown overall. 

[Enigma]

19 minutes ago, Michael W said:

I think Stanton playing deeper is OK as a stop gap, but it leaves us quite exposed and less 'steely' in midfield with Brown missing out. Maybe fine where necessary or against weaker opposition. 

We also miss a lot from him in the forward play when he has to go further back. If we had Matthews available this would be less of an issue, right enough. I would much prefer Stanton wasn't playing deeper against Dundee United, that's for sure. 

I wonder if McGill would be the better option to keep Stanton further up the field. 

I basically agree with everything you say, but I think keeping Brown and Murray keeps the defence stronger than having Masson in there or Dick as a CB with McGill as a left back. McGill with Byrne and Stanton further up the park would probably be my preference. I feel McGill deserves a shot in his ‘natural’ position.

Edited October 2, 2023 by Enigma

[Stardog_champion]

3 minutes ago, Enigma said:

I basically agree with everything you say, but I think keeping Brown and Murray keeps the defence stronger than having Masson in there or Dick as a CB with McGill as a left back. McGill with Byrne and Stanton further up the park would probably be my preference. I feel McGill deserves a shot in his ‘natural’ position.

I’d be happy with that defensive set up, keeping Stanton further forward gives the forwards a lot more fluidity

[Michael W]

7 minutes ago, Enigma said:

I basically agree with everything you say, but I think keeping Brown and Murray keeps the defence stronger than having Masson in there or Dick as a CB with McGill as a left back. McGill with Byrne and Stanton further up the park would probably be my preference. I feel McGill deserves a shot in his ‘natural’ position.

I feel the easy answer here is to clone Scott Brown. 

[R.R.FC]

I would return to Brown and Byrne as the midfield 2 with Stanton further forward if Watson is fit. I understand the reluctance given the exciting attacking performance first half on Saturday which we hadn’t seen for a few weeks.

However, I think if we go toe to toe with Dundee United we get beat IMO. A look at their games so far show the teams with the most success are those who have got bodies behind the ball, defended well and frustrated them. Leaves us open to criticism if we get beat meekly taking a more defensive approach when it is 2nd vs 1st and we are at home so I’m probably in the minority but I just think it is the best way to get a result.

I also think some of the criticism of Byrne and Brown as a partnership is over the top. There are obviously similarities and draw backs to them as a duo but it gives us a very solid base to build from and they’ve had far more good games than bad since they were paired together. Before the Airdrie game we averaged a goal for every 50 minutes they played together and a goal against every 149 minutes so it’s not exactly like they sapped all creativity from the side.

We have more than enough creativity in the front 4 positions to create chances regardless of who is playing behind them. Similar style to the Ray McKinnon side which on our unbeaten run often played 2 out of Davo, Toshney or Callachan ahead of Barr and Benedictus to just give the front 4 the freedom to go and find space and create.

Also, on Scott McGill, I really like him and think he’s an excellent squad player and someone I was pleased we sign. I just don’t think he’s good enough to actually be a starter for us in his natural position of midfield when everyone is fit. I get he brings energy and different qualities but I don’t think we’d gain anything by bringing him in for any of the midfielders or attackers who played on Saturday.

[Enigma]

Connor O’Riordan has made the latest Scotland under 21 squad, along with Keiron Bowie. Had no idea he was eligible but I’ll take it.

[CountryBumpkin]

25 minutes ago, R.R.FC said:

I would return to Brown and Byrne as the midfield 2 with Stanton further forward if Watson is fit. I understand the reluctance given the exciting attacking performance first half on Saturday which we hadn’t seen for a few weeks.

However, I think if we go toe to toe with Dundee United we get beat IMO. A look at their games so far show the teams with the most success are those who have got bodies behind the ball, defended well and frustrated them. Leaves us open to criticism if we get beat meekly taking a more defensive approach when it is 2nd vs 1st and we are at home so I’m probably in the minority but I just think it is the best way to get a result.

I also think some of the criticism of Byrne and Brown as a partnership is over the top. There are obviously similarities and draw backs to them as a duo but it gives us a very solid base to build from and they’ve had far more good games than bad since they were paired together. Before the Airdrie game we averaged a goal for every 50 minutes they played together and a goal against every 149 minutes so it’s not exactly like they sapped all creativity from the side.

We have more than enough creativity in the front 4 positions to create chances regardless of who is playing behind them. Similar style to the Ray McKinnon side which on our unbeaten run often played 2 out of Davo, Toshney or Callachan ahead of Barr and Benedictus to just give the front 4 the freedom to go and find space and create.

Also, on Scott McGill, I really like him and think he’s an excellent squad player and someone I was pleased we sign. I just don’t think he’s good enough to actually be a starter for us in his natural position of midfield when everyone is fit. I get he brings energy and different qualities but I don’t think we’d gain anything by bringing him in for any of the midfielders or attackers who played on Saturday.

I don't think there has been any criticism of them as much as pointing out the similarities between them. It does give us a base, but it can leave the front 4 isolated, partly because our fullbacks are not the types to create width and attack either. I'd be happy with both of them playing if one pushed forward to assist and run from deep more often. (Like Callachan did regularly, like Matthews does when fit). It also leaves a lot of space between the front 4 and the deeper midfield which we need to close off.

I don't disagree that we could be outmatched if we go toe to toe with United, but we can look to strike a good balance and break like we did against Ayr. For me that would mean keeping the front line we had for this game as it is.  

[R.R.FC]

16 hours ago, Broken Algorithms said:

With Graeme Kilgour no longer doing the Saturday Sport Show for k107, a group of our fans have decided to start a new podcast- Oh No No No.

This is very much independent of the club (though I should add, they've been tremendously supportive) and we're aiming to deliver regular content by fans, for fans. Within the group, there's the relentless enthusiasm that you'd expect to find with people who are absolutely daft about their local football team. Here's the first episode - we've plans for a preview of the Dundee United game later this week. 

All the best with this. A dedicated Rovers podcast is something I’d been looking for a while now. Seems like a really good group of people involved so no doubt it’ll be a success, all the best with it!

On John’s query regarding the timing of our goals conceded. I make it last season in the 15 minutes after half time we conceded 16 which was double the amount we scored in that same window and the most of any 15 minute interval. However, Saturday was only our second this season. If we split the game into 30 minute thirds since Murray took over there does appear to be a particular vulnerability either side of half time. Our percentage of goals conceded is as follows:

First third: 22%
Middle third: 46% 
Last third: 32%

For the full picture the breakdown on our goals scored in Murray’s tenure is:

First third: 30%
Middle third: 27%
Last third: 43%
 

[Ro Sham Bo]

1 hour ago, Enigma said:

Connor O’Riordan has made the latest Scotland under 21 squad, along with Keiron Bowie. Had no idea he was eligible but I’ll take it.

I think him and big John Frederiksen are both eligible for Scotland after doing that Valente's chippy challenge on Raith TV.

[rodricoh]

1 hour ago, Enigma said:

Connor O’Riordan has made the latest Scotland under 21 squad, along with Keiron Bowie. Had no idea he was eligible but I’ll take it.

Don't see him in the squad named on line. There is a Connor Bannon.

[TxRover]

1 hour ago, Enigma said:

Connor O’Riordan has made the latest Scotland under 21 squad, along with Keiron Bowie. Had no idea he was eligible but I’ll take it.

 

14 minutes ago, rodricoh said:

Don't see him in the squad named on line. There is a Connor Bannon.

Conner has played for the Ireland U-20 and U-21 side…not sure he’s gonna play for Scotland.

[McGuigan1978]

https://www.scottishfa.co.uk/news/scot-gemmill-names-under-21-squad-for-hungary-and-malta-matches/
 

The squad’s listed here and he’s definitely in it 

[Raithie]

Recent email from the club:

* Club considering giving Utd the away Railway Stand section.

* Dundee Utd have sold 2322 tickets with about 500 left in the North Stand. Dundee Utd expecting to sell 3000 away tickets and if given the Railway Stand would bump their allocation to 3300. If they were to fill the Railway Stand as well it would generate an additional £8,500 for the club. 

* Prior to suspending tickets sales in Railway Stand only 19 tickets had been bought for that section. 

* Club can relocate punters from that stand to South or Main Stand.

* At the moment 533 home tickets have been sold in addition to our 1,895 season ticket holders.

* Club anticipating an additional 500 to 1000 home tickets being purchsed before Saturday bringing home crowd to about 3,300. 

* Singing section folk in South Stand have said they plan to sit there for this game even if Railway Stand was an option. 

[Raithie]

Forgot to add. The email also had a link for fans to cast a vote on whether to give Dundee Utd the Railway Stand or not.

[Ro Sham Bo]

I voted give it to the Arabs. A crowd of 6,000 +  will be superb.

 

 

[Specky Ginger]

1 hour ago, Raithie said:

Recent email from the club:

* Club considering giving Utd the away Railway Stand section.

* Dundee Utd have sold 2322 tickets with about 500 left in the North Stand. Dundee Utd expecting to sell 3000 away tickets and if given the Railway Stand would bump their allocation to 3300. If they were to fill the Railway Stand as well it would generate an additional £8,500 for the club. 

* Prior to suspending tickets sales in Railway Stand only 19 tickets had been bought for that section. 

* Club can relocate punters from that stand to South or Main Stand.

* At the moment 533 home tickets have been sold in addition to our 1,895 season ticket holders.

* Club anticipating an additional 500 to 1000 home tickets being purchsed before Saturday bringing home crowd to about 3,300. 

* Singing section folk in South Stand have said they plan to sit there for this game even if Railway Stand was an option. 

So much more professional and decent than the utterly ham fisted way we went about moving season ticket holders from the main stand to accommodate Rangers fans seven years past.

[Rovers_Lad]

Might just be me but from memory Liam Dick played a few games a centre back and did well

[renton]

11 minutes ago, Rovers_Lad said:

Might just be me but from memory Liam Dick played a few games a centre back and did well

Aye, he did well enough, but I suspect it's more the fact that we have better cover for Brown in midfield than we do for Dick at left back, if either had to move into a CB slot.

[Rovers_Lad]

Fair point renton