The New Raith Rovers Thread

[foreverarover]

1 hour ago, SirJimmyofNic said:

High time you took over from Thomson then, if your that good a coach , I've seen some amount of keepers grace Starks over the years and not many have dominated their area 

If your being coached by someone who couldn't do it either it's not idea. 

[berko]

It seems we are into the second half of the season and have been sussed out and tactics are known. Now its not obvious to me what our game plan is.

It's clear that our fullbacks don't defend well, and don't generally stop crosses or folks cutting inside. Witness how much now goes down towards Dick and Millen. There is a big gap between our sole central defender! and Byrne who is often on his own. And it looks like in most games recently the other teams are swamping the space between our centre half and the rest of the team who are back towards the halfway line. The opposition has worked out that no one is going to be far enough back or far enough up from defence to stop them from playing in the middle of our half, not stopping long-distance shots heading toward the goal and causing Kev problems. 

Kev stays on his line in the middle of the goal and any long distance shot towards either corner goes in. 

We keep hearing that getting defensive reinforcements is key, where are they? A lot of the teams in the championship are picking them up and improving their defence. Thistle is a good example. There have to be some fullbacks or central defenders out there that can enhance the squad. We don't need any more strikers. They are scoring enough, in my view it is the defence that's the challenge at the moment. If we don't fix it in the next couple of days, I worry about the rest of the season.  Keith Watson not appearing off the bench again too when a back four with him in and pushing Brown forward was a sensible option.  Are we saving him for Airdrie or is he done for the season? 

Trying not to be too critical but worry again that Airdrie will be better tactically than us on Friday. Losing some of my positivity. 

Sign some better defenders, please and quick. Thank you 

 

 

 

Edited January 27 by berko

[CALDERON]

The run of games between Tannadice and the next Utd game were always going to determine how credible any title challenge was.  There was always the chance Utd would get their shit together and go on a run.

They haven't really done that,  they've dropped points on 3 different occasions.  The fact they've still overturned that points gap with the game in hand, just goes to show how awful our form is. 

Taking the lead in each of the last 4 home games, yet dropping 10 points, is fucking awful.  I dont know the exact reasons for that, but its a massive area of concern.  I wasn't there today, but doesn't sound much different to the story of late.

It's absolutely vital that a defender comes in.  I'm sure it's being actively looked at, as losing O Reilly and signing 2 attacking players would not look good at all.

It's frustrating, but rhetoric of our luck running out once the late goals dry up is proving to be correct.  We've shown nowhere near enough in terms of seeing games out or taking control of them.  The run of games we've had since beating Utd is about as kind it could have been - its a fucking massive opportunity blown.

 

 

Edited January 27 by CALDERON

[McGuigan1978]

That was absolutely atrocious today, both in terms of how we were set up, but also from a player perspective too. 

Yes, we absolutely shouldn't be starting games with a back three that only contains one central defender, unless there's no other option, but to be fair, our one and only central defender, Euan Murray, was probably culpable for the first two goals we conceded. 

I also thought Liam Dick, and then Dylan Easton when he came on gave 0/10 performances. They didn't do a single thing right, but in general, everything about us is panic stations when things aren't going well. 

Chaos has been a massive part of why we're so high in the table, but as we kicked off at 1-1 (I think) Vaughan tried to lob Mark Ridgers from the centre. They then almost scored from Ridgers kick out. Absolute madness, and it shouldn't be happening. 

Calm your jets and start doing the basics right.

Since Tannadice, we actually had a really good chance to put our foot down against the poorest sides in the division, and potentially extend our lead. 

Instead, we've capitulated, partly through formations which don't suit us, partly through poor form, but also today, it just looked like belief and confidence were sorely lacking. We barely won a challenge in the middle of the park. 

Loads of comments about the full backs, but that's not the issue. We need a central defender, and I'm quite frustrated that Ayr brought in Jack Sanders from Kilmarnock, I thought he'd have been ideal for us, but nevertheless, we'll see what transpires the rest of the window. 

[pub car king]

Our next league game on the 16th is against Dundee United, by which time they will have played the game in hand away to Ayr. 

If they win at Somerset it has the potential to more or less decide the league for United. 

They would be 4 points and about a million goals ahead of us. Lose that and we're very much looking over our shoulders at Partick. 

Conversely they could lose or draw that game in hand and we beat them it's a straight shoot out. 

So no pressure then. 

[RAITHROVERS84]

Fingers crossed this break after the diddy cup game gives the needed time to get Stanton back on the pitch.

Maybe Murray will arrange a bounce game against a league 2 side so the players can remember what it’s like to win a game, not concede 3/4 goals and get some confidence back.

For the crazy attacking setup we deploy it doesn’t actually create the level of chances you’d think we would get.

It’s time to get a CB in, fill the constant black hole we have in the middle of the park and stop this kamikaze nonsense. 

Easton & Connolly on the bench and maybe we need to look at McGill and how he can be utitlised…he’s becoming forgotten about. The best way for Murray to get the message over about the performance levels is to ring the changes. That might mean Corr, McGill and Matthews coming in. I don’t think it can be justified not with how poor some of the guys have been recently. 

Only Vaughan and Hamilton are showing a bit of quality at the moment for me. Everyone else has dropped at least one level if not more. Don’t know what’s going on with Easton but he was really poor….again.

The casual fans are voting with their feet…400/500 less today and that’ll continue if the performances don’t pick up. Atmosphere was the worst I’ve ever seen..the goal was barely celebrated and that’s probably because we knew what was likely to come.

It can still be a successful season but nothing changes if nothing changes and that’s on Murray to solve ASAP. 

[Ding Dang Doo]

I've not read all the posts today but can see that at last a few folk have finally started questioning Euan Murray. He's been awful for months now and not really sure what he does. He's not commanding, he doesn't win strength battles (as shown today by getting absolutely bullied again) and he's not a ball player....so what are we actually getting from him?!? 

Watson would come back in and sort it. He will talk at least which is something nobody else in the team seems to do. We seem to have "leaders" in the squad but nobody who actually wants to shout and command the rest during the 90. After the 3rd goal today everyone just put their heads down and nobody wanted to take ownership.

Murray at least acknowledging that 3 at the back was poor but I disagree what others said. For me that wasn't the issue today. Murray on the first, Byrne on 2nd and the 3rd was a complete failure to compete by the team. 

[RRFC_Liam]

42 minutes ago, RAITHROVERS84 said:

Don’t know what’s going on with Easton but he was really poor….again.

I’ve been saying it for weeks in my opinion I think his head has been turned and he doesn’t seem to be interested when was is last good game post Utd? 

[McGuigan1978]

1 minute ago, RRFC_Liam said:

I’ve been saying it for weeks in my opinion I think his head has been turned and he doesn’t seem to be interested when was is last good game post Utd? 

Why do you think playing terribly would enable him to get a move? 

[RRFC_Liam]

28 minutes ago, Ding Dang Doo said:

I've not read all the posts today but can see that at last a few folk have finally started questioning Euan Murray. He's been awful for months now and not really sure what he does. He's not commanding, he doesn't win strength battles (as shown today by getting absolutely bullied again) and he's not a ball player....so what are we actually getting from him?!? 

Folk have been questioning Murray and granted he’s been poor but maybe the injuries he’s been either having or playing through them and they could have an impact on said performances? 

[RRFC_Liam]

1 minute ago, McGuigan1978 said:

Why do you think playing terribly would enable him to get a move? 

Based on recent weeks nothing but someone on here who’s a put in the thread a saints fan was saying players could agree PCAs in December and Easton was on fire that month maybe it was agreed then? I dunno but as said that’s my opinion, but he doesn’t look right maybe players have found him out and nullify what he’s good at

[A_Rover_In_The_Burgh]

32 minutes ago, Ding Dang Doo said:

I've not read all the posts today but can see that at last a few folk have finally started questioning Euan Murray. He's been awful for months now and not really sure what he does. He's not commanding, he doesn't win strength battles (as shown today by getting absolutely bullied again) and he's not a ball player....so what are we actually getting from him?!? 

Watson would come back in and sort it. He will talk at least which is something nobody else in the team seems to do. We seem to have "leaders" in the squad but nobody who actually wants to shout and command the rest during the 90. After the 3rd goal today everyone just put their heads down and nobody wanted to take ownership.

Murray at least acknowledging that 3 at the back was poor but I disagree what others said. For me that wasn't the issue today. Murray on the first, Byrne on 2nd and the 3rd was a complete failure to compete by the team. 

Been saying it for a while about Murray as well. Really really poor. 

Honestly feel that the whole back line need dropped. 

Why on earth was Mullin in the middle today as well? He is another one who may put in a good ball granted but I just don't see much else from him. Brown and Byrne were extremely poor and maybe too similar to play with each other. Smith played on the left and done nothing, Connolly played on the right and nullified any threat as he constantly has to cut in, so no crossed balls. Vaughan scored and had a shot from the half way line but in the 1st 20 minutes he actually gave the ball away 9 times, had one shot on goal that he ballooned and should have done better with. Hamilton scored and won his fair share of headers but nobody ever seems to pick them up or anticipate that he's going to win them. 

Easton tried when he came on but players are on to him and he was fairly well marshalled. Rudden done well to make the Vaughan goal, a goal and looked like a pest. Has to start the next game. As for Turner, I didn't see anything from him to be honest and that was tipified by his ballooned shot at the end. Matthews came on and put his foot in and tried to make things happen. 

 

I feel we need to start again, maybe adopt a 532 to try and stop conceding goals?

If Watson is fit then he has to start. 

McGill Loan Watson Corr Hannah

     Matthews  Brown  Connolly 

            Vaughan Rudden

If Hamilton is fit, I'd start him with Rudden. I really want to see Connolly on his natural left side. He does have a wand of a left foot and I feel it's wasted on the right. 

Maybe we should recall Ross from Falkirk cause we have no effective wingers. He would at least offer something different? 

I'm just thinking out loud, as I honestly don't have a clue how to fix the shambles that is our backline. 

I don't think anyone can now defend any of them so why not try the bench warmers who when called upon haven't done much wrong, Inc Masson. 

[McGuigan1978]

6 minutes ago, RRFC_Liam said:

Based on recent weeks nothing but someone on here who’s a put in the thread a saints fan was saying players could agree PCAs in December and Easton was on fire that month maybe it was agreed then? I dunno but as said that’s my opinion, but he doesn’t look right maybe players have found him out and nullify what he’s good at

You’ve been saying it every few days for weeks, but I’m struggling to believe that Dylan Easton has “had his head turned” and decided to play within himself, when he’s playing at the highest level he ever has done, and just a few weeks ago, had two thousand people singing his name at Tannadice. 

What’s probably happening is that he’s going through a poor spell of form, which is less to do with head turning, and more to do with the fact he’s a reasonably inconsistent footballer, which is why he’s with us at 29 years of age 

Edited January 28 by McGuigan1978

[Elnamaw]

1 hour ago, berko said:

It seems we are into the second half of the season and have been sussed out and tactics are known. Now its not obvious to me what our game plan is.

It's clear that our fullbacks don't defend well, and don't generally stop crosses or folks cutting inside. Witness how much now goes down towards Dick and Millen. There is a big gap between our sole central defender! and Byrne who is often on his own. And it looks like in most games recently the other teams are swamping the space between our centre half and the rest of the team who are back towards the halfway line. The opposition has worked out that no one is going to be far enough back or far enough up from defence to stop them from playing in the middle of our half, not stopping long-distance shots heading toward the goal and causing Kev problems. 

Kev stays on his line in the middle of the goal and any long distance shot towards either corner goes in. 

We keep hearing that getting defensive reinforcements is key, where are they? A lot of the teams in the championship are picking them up and improving their defence. Thistle is a good example. There have to be some fullbacks or central defenders out there that can enhance the squad. We don't need any more strikers. They are scoring enough, in my view it is the defence that's the challenge at the moment. If we don't fix it in the next couple of days, I worry about the rest of the season.  Keith Watson not appearing off the bench again too when a back four with him in and pushing Brown forward was a sensible option.  Are we saving him for Airdrie or is he done for the season? 

Trying not to be too critical but worry again that Airdrie will be better tactically than us on Friday. Losing some of my positivity. 

Sign some better defenders, please and quick. Thank you 

 

 

 

Sums it up perfectly - hope the management team read this post

[vikingTON]

2 hours ago, berko said:

It seems we are into the second half of the season and have been sussed out and tactics are known. Now its not obvious to me what our game plan is.

With the enormous caveat of not having seen Raith play since October, I think you're overlooking a far more obvious factor. The vast majority of your wins in the first half of the season were by a single goal margin and many decided by a very late winner. That simply wasn't sustainable without an upgrade in the overall quality of the team to make the return fixtures comfortable victories.

The uncomfortable truth is that Raith were rather fortunate in accumulating many of the victories they have in the league standings, and that luck (including luck with random absences for/against you too) has deserted you.  It's a straightforward regression to the mean rather than the rest of the division suddenly poring over your highly effective gameplan and hive minding the solution.

[MICMAC]

1. Big Kev is a fkn bomb scare. He's not fit, you can clearly see during the game that he has no problem diving to his left but has problems getting down to his right. He's stopped talking to the defence. Today he could've claimed so many balls in the air but chose to stay on his line (again) as for their 1st goal today, a fit Kev wouldn't have stopped and back peddled. TBH I'd quite happily have McNeil between the sticks at the moment.

2. Why does Easton have to try and beat his man 2 or 3 times, since the Dundee United game he's been absolute mince.

3. I thought Rudden looked good when he came on. 2 great passes, one for Vaughans goal and the other for a dithering Easton.

4. Stop the fkn booing

[TxRover]

4 hours ago, A_Rover_In_The_Burgh said:

I feel we need to start again, maybe adopt a 532 to try and stop conceding goals?

If Watson is fit then he has to start. 

McGill Loan Watson Corr Hannah

     Matthews  Brown  Connolly 

            Vaughan Rudden

I don't think anyone can now defend any of them so why not try the bench warmers who when called upon haven't done much wrong, Inc Masson. 

So Masson would fit perfectly in that Loan slot, just saying, if you're gonna send Hannah and Corr out there, may as well do the triple.

5 hours ago, Ding Dang Doo said:

Watson would come back in and sort it. He will talk at least which is something nobody else in the team seems to do. We seem to have "leaders" in the squad but nobody who actually wants to shout and command the rest during the 90. After the 3rd goal today everyone just put their heads down and nobody wanted to take ownership.

I'll be called a fan boi for this, but RaithTV have commented multiple times about Masson's tendency to be shouting at the back (that'll happen when you get to sit listening to Mickey and the Gaffer yelling at defenders match after match)..

Murray has never been a Captain type, unlike Brown...but I don't see Brown talking that much either at CB. Millen and Dick are skewered between IM's charge forward direction and the need to pile back often because our center defence is woeful. Byrne or Brown/Byrne at DM positions simply doesn't work without Sam's fairy dust sprinkling around the middle, and Turner may have Stanton's attacking/passing skills, but lacks the defending as far as I've seen so far.

Watching the game, there was an area between the halfway line and fifteen or so yards outside the penalty area where we just didn't challenge attackers very much. We would happily built through that area, but when ICT came piling into our half, that area was almost given to them. 

[Jilted John]

2 hours ago, TxRover said:

 

Murray has never been a Captain type 

He captained Killie when they won this league

[FitbaSupporter]

Don’t think Easton’s head has been turned. He was very hit and miss before his purple patch in December. There was a reason he was dropped and sat on the bench earlier in the season.

[SerieA]

Couple of points one from yesterday and one from the recent run of games:

-was good to see us playing out from the back more in the 2nd half.I know Inverness were dropping further back but it gave us much more control of the ball/game

-why have we never swapped our wide players for 10 minutes or so.Changed Connolly and Easton to give them a run at opposing full backs or bring Easton more central and let Turner have a run at the full back or let Easton try and dictate play from a more central position.

Edited January 28 by SerieA