The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Raith Against The Machine]

Some absolutely fucking mental takes on here in the last 24 hours. Did folk think they'd signed up to watch Real Madrid every week? Where the f**k does this sense of entitlement come from? 

Yeah, the last few weeks haven't been good enough, but we did also win a derby away from home in there. We're playing games in the Championship, the most notoriously competitive division in the country. Who gave you the impression that we had any expectation of having it easy every week, or that Murray and this squad should be or are somehow infallible? 

We've been in phenomenal form. We're now in a sticky spell (and have still only lost twice, mind) but it's almost certainly nothing more than reversion towards the mean. 

And guess what? We'll lose more games between now and the end of the season. We probably won't win the league. We probably won't get promoted. I suggest some of you come to terms with that now, to save the rest of us from your tear stained breakdowns every other week because your favourite football team haven't performed immaculately for 36 consecutive weeks. 

Children. 

[Rovers2017]

I take full responsibility for yesterday's loss boys. I brought a couple of Rangers supporting family members along to the game as they have a soft spot for Rovers and wanted to watch us. 

They loved our donner pies though. 

Edited January 14 by Rovers2017

[SirJimmyofNic]

I really hope we get a couple of defenders in pretty soon, our next 2 league games both at home, are ICT and Dundee Utd playing the way we are atm, lose them and I can see Partick breathing down our neck

[SanStarko]

15 minutes ago, Rovers2017 said:

I take full responsibility for yesterday's loss boys. I brought a couple of Rangers supporting family members along to the game as they have a soft spot for Rovers and wanted to watch us. 

They loved our donner pies though. 

I blame them playing Geordie Munro when the teams came out instead of playing Can't Stop.  As soon as that happened I had a bad feeling, I'm not a superstitious person until it comes to football then I'm stupidly superstitious.   I thought the Ayr and Arbroath games were my fault as I didn't bother buying a programme for those games as I had no change on me.

[RRFC_Liam]

I’ve seen people criticising some peoples reactions why? We’ve taken 5 points/15 points dropped 7 points at home against relegation fodder sides while leading at some point in all 3 games…. If you want to win a league title these are the games we should be winning at home.

i get “you can’t win every game” but come on we’re allowed to criticise as well as giving out praise its a part of football 

Edited January 14 by RRFC_Liam

[Beastie Russell]

22 minutes ago, RRFC_Liam said:

I’ve seen people criticising some peoples reactions why? We’ve taken 5 points/15 points (fact) dropped 7 points at home against relegation fodder sides while leading at some point in all 3 games (fact)…. If you want to win a league title these are the games we should be winning at home.

i get “you can’t win every game” but come on we’re allowed to criticise as well as giving out praise its a part of football 

Folk lose me when they type (fact) 

I understand what a fact is and don’t need reminding - thanks

 

[RoversNProud]

This entitlement nonsense unfortunately isn’t anything new amongst us Rovers fans. We need to remember we are a Championship football club in Scotland. The standard obviously is a hell of a lot below the levels of the English Premier League. Either support the team or don’t bother at all!
 

For me 2 x full backs are a priority and a Goalscorer. Jack needs some help up top and isn’t prolific enough.
Dicko has been woeful most of the season and Ross, as good and steady as he is, will always get needless suspensions. Agree with most, than Corr was our best performer yesterday. I’d love to see him now get a run of games at centre half,  as a blind man can see the laddie has got the ability 

[R.R.FC]

29 minutes ago, RRFC_Liam said:

I’ve seen people criticising some peoples reactions why? We’ve taken 5 points/15 points (fact) dropped 7 points at home against relegation fodder sides while leading at some point in all 3 games (fact)…. If you want to win a league title these are the games we should be winning at home.

i get “you can’t win every game” but come on we’re allowed to criticise as well as giving out praise its a part of football 

The last few games are disappointing (The Arbroath and Ayr games were embarrassing given the circumstances and would’ve been concerned poor for most Rovers teams in recent years) but perspective is needed. Losing away to 4th place Airdrie or against a Queens Park side with a new manager where we still had enough chances to get something from the game can happen. If somebody had told us all at the start of season we’d be level on points with Dundee United after 21 games with 44 points having surpassed last seasons entire points total we’d all have taken it in a heartbeat.

We’ve underperformed in the last few games but for us to have fans complaining at this stage about  potentially losing touch with United at the top (whilst still being 8 points clear of a decent Partick Thistle side) shows how much we overperformed earlier in the season. You take the rough with the smooth.

I’d have been delighted with the season Partick Thistle are having so to be in our position after 21 games is outstanding. Some Rovers fans have got carried away with our outstanding form at the start of the season, as if that was going to be sustainable or the expectation for the rest of the season. Yes, we have a larger budget than normal (I’m still not sure it’s hugely greater than McGlynn had in 21/22) but it’s still massively less than Dundee United so we shouldn’t be measures against them. Budget wise we also won’t be hugely different to a lot of the bigger sides in the league, we have no divine right to expect to win every week, our side isn’t massively better than anyone else.

We got ourselves in a great position but it was only after after 16 games there was/is a long, long way to go. Let’s not lose sight of the fact as frustrating as it may be, whether we finish 1 point or 21 points behind Dundee United, if we finish 2nd it’s an excellent season. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded in my opinion.

[FitbaSupporter]

With Dundee Utd’s budget and squad we were probably never winning the league, but the win up at Tannadice had a lot of us believing.  Reality has sunk in a bit since though. More concerned about Thistle pipping us for second. Reckon if we can make sure of second place then we’d have a good shout in the play offs. 

[Michael W]

35 minutes ago, RRFC_Liam said:

I’ve seen people criticising some peoples reactions why? We’ve taken 5 points/15 points (fact) dropped 7 points at home against relegation fodder sides while leading at some point in all 3 games (fact)…. If you want to win a league title these are the games we should be winning at home.

i get “you can’t win every game” but come on we’re allowed to criticise as well as giving out praise its a part of football 

This needs to be tempered against the number of very late goals that have won us points. We can't take the good as a given and the bad as something more sinister. 

I agree that the recent home form is worrying, but we can't just look at them in isolation. 

[Sarto Mutiny]

We're really not that good ourselves. We are suffering from the loss of Moult, Gallagher, Docherty and (on Friday) Sibbald. We all get injuries, but they've probably been four of our best five players this season, and our recent form is not all that either. With that in mind, it's not a great time for Rovers to lose form themselves, your recent results since beating us at Tannadice have let us off the hook a bit.

There's probably an element of both clubs regressing to the mean, the brilliant form of both sides until mid December is very unusual for the Championship. Dundee won the league least year with 63 points, and we are both sitting on 44 points in mid January. It's not a given United will win the league from here, trust me. Maybe it suits Raith Rovers to be the pursuers. 

[SerieA]

Didn’t risk coming on here last night-knew folk would be spitting feathers.

I genuinely don’t think we’re far away.Some of the football again yesterday was very good. Every chance yesterday seem to fall to Hamilton and he should’ve had a hat trick-I’m not forgetting the one he missed against Arbroath when we were 2 nil up. Could do when one of them dropping to Vaughan yesterday. I think if a striker becomes available we’ll take him.
 

They scored a very good first goal. Murray was spot on with the 2nd one-fair few errors for them to get the corner which for me was more frustrating than us not defending the corner.

It’s a poor run we’re on.Think each player has a part to blame for that-Millen for that red card,Byrne making some uncharacteristic mistakes, Easton n Vaughan decision making and falling to the ground for unknown reasons, Hamilton not making the most of his chances just some of the flaws.

Still looking forward to next week at Livi. Hopefully another big and loud away support.Fancy our chances.

 

[embow]

There's been a fair few in the "heads gone" category on this forum and Facebook because of the poor return of points in the last three games against the bottom three clubs. If you are having a sticky patch would you not be better dropping points against these teams rather than the teams closer to you i.e. United, Partick and at New Year the Pars when they were still in fourth spot?Less damage surely?

We are still equal top albeit United with the game in hand (Morton away in a midweek fixture in February) and with admittedly a far superior GD. 

Long long way yet to go folks.

As long as we can get back on track and don't end up going through another sticky spell like QP had last session in the closing fixtures we'll have entered the play offs, if not having hopefully won the title with a game or two to go.

I'm fairly sure that this will yet go down to the wire.

Edited January 14 by embow

[RAITHROVERS84]

For me it’s just disappointment. 

Airdrie away just a poor performance and that happens. Yesterday the team worked hard and pressed, for taking a couple of chances we win that. 
Felt the Ayr and definitely the Abroath game fell into the ‘unacceptable’ category..that Abroath 11 (after all subs used) will most likely have been the weakest team seen in years in the championship. 2 nil heading for 4 or 5 to walk out with a draw had me stunned.

No entitlement from me, just frustration to have such an array of attacking talent and different types of players in the forward areas but what has proved to be a woeful back line. They stand off attackers for far too long and we keep being done at set pieces.

Murray will get it sharpened up I’m sure. There’s definitely been new supporters come watch the last 3 home games, it KD be great to try keep them.

[MICMAC]

What happened with the singing section yesterday. Never heard a peep out of them until about 10 mins into the 2nd half and that wasn't much.  Was a very strange atmosphere yesterday that we don't usually have at Starks. When you're being outsung by 50 or so QP fans and you're at home then something is wrong.

Can someone at the back please buy them a pie and wake them up

[CapitalDiamond]

It’s a crazy league this one. DUFC were nothing special on Friday night but got the job done, RRFC with the reserve keeper and 3/4 of last week’s back 4 unavailable the losing the next day.

There will be twists and turns to come I’m sure. 

Murray really stablised us. A couple of criticisms we’d have had would include

1) a lack of an ability to win clutch games (yourselves, Thistle and Cove were never that far away, but the head to head was what did for us). You win at Tannadice was huge in that respect.

2)Throwing on so many forward players that the team lost all structure. The 1 nil defeat to McGlyn’s Raith at Starks when I think both teams finished with 9 men (Raith 2 red and Airdrie a red and an injury) was the ultimate. We had about 5 forwards on the pitch but no coherent tactic to make that work. We lost the game and give that it was the Covid season and we were 5 points behind you when the clock stopped, that was massive.

Murray seems to have improved on both fronts (and in fairness at Airdrie, he had more limited resources). 
 

Interested to see how the title race plays out.

 

 

 

[Stardog_champion]

2 hours ago, RRFC_Liam said:

I’ve seen people criticising some peoples reactions why? We’ve taken 5 points/15 points dropped 7 points at home against relegation fodder sides while leading at some point in all 3 games…. If you want to win a league title these are the games we should be winning at home.

i get “you can’t win every game” but come on we’re allowed to criticise as well as giving out praise its a part of football 

It’s because they love to feel superior as if they knew we’d f**k up and Lord it over anyone who criticises the manager and players. Murray has favoured midfielders over defenders for months and hasn’t addressed the problems for a second season. Kyle Turner is a class player. But is he what we need if we can’t defend?? Fans of other clubs having a wee giggle at our bottle crashing, and yet those same fellow supporters feel they need to virtue signal to each other about their erm knowledge of the game. As defeat is inevitable, of course it is. But the manner of the defeats is most annoying Murray seems terrified to upset his players so he’s quite happy to shoe  horn those same underachievers week after week that are completely out of position, whilst players that ACTUALLY do play in these positions have sit on their arse. But heho that’s my take on it. 

[SerieA]

Hylton?

[Stardog_champion]

6 minutes ago, SerieA said:

Hylton?

Who??

[Offshore Rover]

20 minutes ago, CapitalDiamond said:

Throwing on so many forward players that the team lost all structure.

We ended up with playing a back 2 for a few minutes yesterday. I do understand why murray wants to chuck on all attacking options. He’d rather lose the game 2-0 or 3-1 but say he’d given it his best shot rather than lose 1-0 or 2-1 and leave attackers on the bench. It creates some wild moments and I do agree that it does mean structure and organisation goes out the window at times. But sometimes a bit of structure gets you further than a bit of chaos. It’s all part of the fun tho.