The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Michael W]

Problem further up the pitch? Playing Cradle and Anderson surely you must be playing quite wide? If so that means chances are they'll be space behind them, do you play with a sitting midfielder at all? You could theoretically have a good enough defence but still score a barrel load.

The likes of Hill and Thomson are piah though tbh. Thomson especially is a shocking defender.

It's possible, although we weren't having this problem before November. Certainly we do rely on them going forward. Exactly who plays as the sitting midfielder is sometimes up in the open, as neither of them really get forward as much as you would sometimes expect. Maybe something there needs to be clearer.

Thomson is more than capable at this level, even as a defender. I appreciate he was pants during his time at the Pars, but I can see how he'd struggle at a higher level. Hill is also a competent CB, though he does appear to need a more accomplished player alongside him. If he doesn't have that, he tends to get a bit wayward.

[Rovers_Lad]

correct me if i`m wrong but theres only two teams in the league thats scored less goals than us and one of these teams is relegated

we have too many deficiences to list

[baillieinleeds]

I know I said I wouldn't begrudge us getting beat on Saturday due to us winning the cup, but I really do worry that we won't get anything from these next 2 games. Even if we do scrape or limp into 8th, then serious questions must be answered by the club, re the management and players.

[P.C]

The game on Sat was shocking (im not even going into the match thread). Tho most of that needs to land at Murray's feet. Why when we have 3/4 of our midfield suspended does he not let Callachan or Vaughan start? They have both proven themselves capable of filling in and will be better players for us next season. Starting the game with 4 forwards was just asking for trouble we were honking

With the cup thing I think it was a welcome distraction from the league. As Ive mentioned before if we had played anyone else it would of been at Livingston with a 5,000 crowd and maybe been a small article on the Sunday and Monday morning about it. Tho because we played The Rangers the media went mad and think we enjoyed it more as a f£$k you not just to the Rangers but everyone else who wrote us off

Obviously the problem we have is we are still in real danger in the league. If we can get a draw on Tuesday night we should be able to drag ourselves over the line for staying in the league. The way our season fell apart after injuries to McGurn and Watson is nothing short of for a better word a complete clusterf$ck. Sure next season will be exciting and we will reap the benefits of having sides with a bigger fanbase packing out Starks tho this season we had the squad to go ahead to push for 4th, no reason we couldn't of. Il be glad now to get this season finished. Remember we still havent had any contract extentions either...

[Broken Algorithms]

Many may disgaree but I think our deficiencies lie in the midfield area.

I'm not doubting that our two regular starters there, Moon and Fox, are quality players but I've been more frustrated than usual at the space the opposition have been granted in midfield this season.

I think it's a system issue, not personnel.

I'd be liable to agree with this. Personally, I'd like to think that last Saturday was an anomaly given that we only ever had a maximum of two recognised midfielder on the pitch at any given time (and even then, I'm not sure if anyone knows where Vaughan's natural place is in the team).

Defensively, I felt that the third goal killed off the game and that we were unlucky in the way it panned out, but the first two were inexcusable. However, Saturday's line up allowed for Dumbarton to press high against a combination of two players who aren't used to playing there. Elliot shouldn't have started ahead of Callachan. He's not mobile enough to play in midifield and relies on technique as opposed to pace when playing up top. A cracking player who was used incorrectly. It wasn't hard to see what Murray was trying to do, but it was exceptionally tactically naive and simply didn't work.

Over the course of the seasons we've got various factors to consider. We've lost Watson and McGurn, but that has been discussed time and time again. In terms of the defence, I felt Thomson lost his way up until about the Hibs game and wasn't being consistent enough.

As Andy says, I'd be liable to look more to the midfield and how they are playing. I'd be more than happy to see us keep Cardle, Anderson and Moon who are good players and on their day would add to most teams in the league. Fox has the occasional good game but all too often is a passenger. Cardle can get away with this from time to time, but looking over the course of the season Fox hasn't stepped up in terms of important moments in the league.

In terms of attack, we've been rejuvinated by Baird who could feasibly work well with Elliot. I'd be hopeful we keep the two of them together as they could add a lot.

Tactically, I've wondered whether we could try a 4-2-3-1 with our normal back line, Moon and Fox/Callachan in holding roles, with Cardle, Elliot and Anderson sitting behind Baird. At times at Easter Road against Hibs, we fleeted between this when we had the ball, and a 4-5-1 when we didn't. The problem with this is that the pitch at Stark's is narrow, and tends to hamper wide play. An example of this was the 4-5-1 we played against Accies, where the first half was an absolute clusterfuck in terms of our midfield.

Hopefully we a consistent starting line up, we can get ourselves into a more respectable position. We had an excellent start to the season, but we're looking out of ideas and confidence all too often. Our cup form will be Murray's saving grace (barring utter collapse) but he really should be doing better. There's no point having a team who'll show up once every month or so in a cup game and not have the punters coming through the gates every other week. We need to start getting better football on the go, because we're one of the few clubs in the situation where we've got a direct competition in the shape of another sport with the Flyers who are drawing more and more people in.

[L. Brilliant]

Fox should stay, and should start most weeks.

[Scary Bear]

Fox should stay, and should start most weeks.

Agent or family member?

[L. Brilliant]

Ach. It was always going to be the case that fans would tout Fox for punting, but I think he gives us something no one else does and he's anything but a passenger. Who would Fox punters want instead?

[Rovers1992/1993]

Ach. It was always going to be the case that fans would tout Fox for punting, but I think he gives us something no one else does and he's anything but a passenger. Who would Fox punters want instead?

What does he bring to the team that no-one else does? Apart from the fact he's probably the player with the lowest percentage on pass completion, and gifted away so many goals by himself..?

[Paco]

Let's not exaggerate how poor Fox is, he's a considerable step up from the likes of Stuart Anderson, Iain Davidson and Simon Mensing.

He's one of the borderline ones where I wouldn't be overly concerned either way. Either way I'd like to see us sign another central midfielder to try alongside Moon (if we can keep him).

[Scary Bear]

Ach. It was always going to be the case that fans would tout Fox for punting, but I think he gives us something no one else does and he's anything but a passenger. Who would Fox punters want instead?

In all honesty, if he stays it wouldn't bother me. Nobody much better than him would sign for diddies like Rovers anyway. The only way we'll get any real quality in the team is if we bring it through from youth system, or loan it in from the likes of Hearts or United. Actually, scratch Hearts and insert Hibs, now Hearts are a fellow diddy team.

The only real quality I've noticed from any of our current youth crop, was in wee flashes from Lewis Vaughan, but he appears to either be out of favour or is being used sparingly for some other reason.

Edited April 14, 2014 by Scary Bear

[Cowden til i die]

I thought I was a depressing c**t but you take the biscuit.

[Scary Bear]

I thought I was a depressing c**t but you take the biscuit.

You are a depressing c**t. Have the Dundee fans got bored of you? Oh well, I suppose it's our turn again.

[CALDERON]

Ach. It was always going to be the case that fans would tout Fox for punting, but I think he gives us something no one else does and he's anything but a passenger. Who would Fox punters want instead?

Ross Callachan.

[P.C]

Ross Callachan.

This. He deserves his chance. That i hope we have a slightly bigger squad next season to cope with injuries/suspensions a bit better. The Vaughan one is strange but still need to remember he is only 18 but im hoping he gets a bit more gametime once we get the points we need to stay up

[Rovers1992/1993]

This. He deserves his chance. That i hope we have a slightly bigger squad next season to cope with injuries/suspensions a bit better. The Vaughan one is strange but still need to remember he is only 18 but im hoping he gets a bit more gametime once we get the points we need to stay up

The Vaughan ones definately a strange one, I think he's started 3 games for us this season, and he's picked up 2 MotM awards, says it all really, yet we've barely seen him since the turn of the year..

[peternapper]

Have not been keeping up with your team selections of late, wondered if Reece Donaldson has been getting games or has he dropped down the pecking order. He looked good at our level when on loan but you took him back early as you were short of defenders just wondered if he had had the chance of a run in the team.

[Paco]

Vaughan's been poor, and was exceptionally poor on Saturday, in his last few appearances. Whether that's down to tiredness, match sharpness, confidence, or just the fact he's thrown on when we're inevitably losing, I'm not sure. But certainly given his performances when played from the start he's been unlucky to have moved out the side of late - Baird's signing hasn't really helped his chances I guess.

Hopefully he'll be given a chance in pre-season to truly stake a claim for a first team place. Ideally, if we stay in the league, we should be looking to have a lot more competition for places - none of this five midfielders for a whole season nonsense, might keep the likes of Cardle from dipping in form so dramatically.

[Rovers1992/1993]

Have not been keeping up with your team selections of late, wondered if Reece Donaldson has been getting games or has he dropped down the pecking order. He looked good at our level when on loan but you took him back early as you were short of defenders just wondered if he had had the chance of a run in the team.

Donaldson had his run in the team and to start off with seemed to cope really well and started pretty solid, then a couple of games in a row, he made massive errors which resulted in goals( particularly Dumbarton game when he slipped going up for a header and let the guy go through on goal) and due to these errors he really hasn't featured again since but with hill getting sent off on Saturday, he may get his start tonight..

[Scary Bear]

How many red cards is that this season, 7 or 8?

Great to see us confirm out place in next seasons Championship. Hopefully we can push on and claim 6th spot.

Not sure about winning at Falkirk on Saturday, but it would be nice if we could get a win against Cowdenbeath as we haven't managed that in our last three encounters at Starks.