The New Raith Rovers Thread

[RaithRyan]

1 hour ago, raith1974 said:

Mullin does not have the pace that some on here including myself believe we need. Fitzpatrick at Partick has raw pace, Fotheringham at Dundee Utd has raw pace that's the type of pace we need. 

Aye exactly when I say pace I’m talking the agility and acceleration of a Scott Tiffoney for example.

 

Edited July 7 by RaithRyan

[raith1974]

1 hour ago, Brashy's Boots said:

Fitzpatrick doesn't have much end product and is the most crabbit man I've seen on a pitch in a long time. Gives up when it isn't working.

Fotheringham has certainly developed from when we had him, but he ain't coming back to us.

I never said he would be coming back I'm saying a player like him or Fitzpatrick, raw pace. Mullin does deliver a good ball and Easton loves the trickery but sometimes you just need someone that is able to turn defender and puts fear into them due to the pace they run at them. 

[Tiger Driver]

On 06/07/2024 at 17:20, mealsonwheels said:

I am currently packing as we are moving home and I came across this cracker of a top packed in with some older scarfs. I think it was the 1995 season but could be wrong.

I'm going to pop it onto eBay for sale far too small for me

That's a beauty. 90's goalie kits are something else. Love the absurdness of them all.

[CountryBumpkin]

Pace would be a good commodity to have when we face up against sides that play a high line that we can get in behind. A lot of sides are playing a deeper line now, or as the analysis bores like to call it, a "mid block" to nullify space for players to run into. We're also seeing more 3 at the back formations, which automatically puts two defenders in wider positions when needed. It would be nice to have someone quick on the turn with a bit of acceleration to get away from his defender though, I agree. 

Regardless though, we need more end product from our supporting players. We had 1 player hit more than 10 goals in the league last season, that needs to improve this year. Smith, Easton, Mullin, Connolly, Stanton need to be chipping in with 8-15 league goals for us to be successful. I think we'll be a lot more solid defensively, but we need to increase the goals for tally. 

[McGuigan1978]

Consensus seems to be that we need to improve defensively this season, and although I agree, only two teams conceded more goals last time around, and only Dundee United kept more clean sheets than us, so we weren't disastrous by any stretch of the imagination. 

There was definitely a struggle in opening teams up the longer last season went on though, and we were also awarded nine penalties in the league, the highest by a mile, so you'd imagine that might regress more to the mean this time around. 

Lewis Stevenson and Paul Hanlon will surely help things out in our final third, and I've been encouraged by what I've seen so far in terms of Stevenson getting forward, but I'm not quite so sure about the other flank. 

Admittedly I wasn't giving Saturday's game my full attention, but Kieran Freeman didn't seem to be getting forward nearly as much down the other flank, so I'm not sure what has changed from the second half of last season in terms of how to get at teams and prise them open, which definitely needed as big a focus as the defensive deficiencies. 

[Broken Algorithms]

25 minutes ago, McGuigan1978 said:

Consensus seems to be that we need to improve defensively this season, and although I agree, only two teams conceded more goals last time around, and only Dundee United kept more clean sheets than us, so we weren't disastrous by any stretch of the imagination. 

There was definitely a struggle in opening teams up the longer last season went on though, and we were also awarded nine penalties in the league, the highest by a mile, so you'd imagine that might regress more to the mean this time around. 

Lewis Stevenson and Paul Hanlon will surely help things out in our final third, and I've been encouraged by what I've seen so far in terms of Stevenson getting forward, but I'm not quite so sure about the other flank. 

Admittedly I wasn't giving Saturday's game my full attention, but Kieran Freeman didn't seem to be getting forward nearly as much down the other flank, so I'm not sure what has changed from the second half of last season in terms of how to get at teams and prise them open, which definitely needed as big a focus as the defensive deficiencies. 

I thought Freeman was good at getting forward, but very reluctant to put crosses in. He was linking up well with the winger, but often the ball would get played back to him and he'd immediately either play it safe to the defender or look for help from Brown or Byrne. Hopefully it's something that can get changed in competitive games.

 

[AllanJM]

Tickets for Saturday available 

https://stirlingalbionfc.ticketco.events/uk/en/e/stirling_albion_v_raith_rovers

[AllanJM]

1 hour ago, McGuigan1978 said:

Consensus seems to be that we need to improve defensively this season, and although I agree, only two teams conceded more goals last time around, and only Dundee United kept more clean sheets than us, so we weren't disastrous by any stretch of the imagination. 

There was definitely a struggle in opening teams up the longer last season went on though, and we were also awarded nine penalties in the league, the highest by a mile, so you'd imagine that might regress more to the mean this time around. 

Lewis Stevenson and Paul Hanlon will surely help things out in our final third, and I've been encouraged by what I've seen so far in terms of Stevenson getting forward, but I'm not quite so sure about the other flank. 

Admittedly I wasn't giving Saturday's game my full attention, but Kieran Freeman didn't seem to be getting forward nearly as much down the other flank, so I'm not sure what has changed from the second half of last season in terms of how to get at teams and prise them open, which definitely needed as big a focus as the defensive deficiencies. 

I agree with most of this (wasn't there on Saturday so can't comment on the last section).

While our overall defensive record at the end of the season wasn't too bad, that was definitely affected by a number of 0-0's towards the end of the season where we started playing a bit more defensively.

There were a number of games earlier in the season where we conceded far too easily and often conceded again straight away.  We only took points in those games due to our mad run of late goals.  How many times during the season did we lose a 2 goal lead?

With Hanlon and Fordyce at the back (I like Murray but the other 2 are simply better imo) we'll have a much more solid defence which should allow the attacking players to do their thing.  In other words we get the solidity at the back without having to sacrifice our attacking threats as much.  Stevenson also undoubtedly offers more attacking threat from LB than Dick does.

[buchan30]

Is it this Thursday for the away kit?

[CountryBumpkin]

Just now, buchan30 said:

Is it this Thursday for the away kit?

Friday, 12th I think.

[Keyser Soze]

34 minutes ago, buchan30 said:

Is it this Thursday for the away kit?

 

33 minutes ago, CountryBumpkin said:

Friday, 12th I think.

Suspect it will be Thursday this week with an away game on Saturday. I know there is no clash if we wore blue but certainly last season we played in yellow away from home as much as possible.

[Skyline Drifter]

15 hours ago, Jilted John said:

We do have a fair bit of pace in the team, Mullin, Smith and Gibson are all very quick, even Stanton is pretty fast once her gets going.

Gibson isn't particularly quick unless he's somehow found a yard over the summer. He's not slow and he's certainly got quick feet but his straight line sprint pace isn't brilliant. He was nowhere near one of the quickest in our side.

14 hours ago, Brashy's Boots said:

Gibson on first sighting looks like he might run him close as he develops

He is however the best crosser of a ball we've had in our team since the sadly missed Chris Mitchell. Gibbo has a fantastic delivery on him.

[TxRover]

1 minute ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Gibson isn't particularly quick unless he's somehow found a yard over the summer. He's not slow and he's certainly got quick feet but his straight line sprint pace isn't brilliant. He was nowhere near one of the quickest in our side.

He is however the best crosser of a ball we've had in our team since the sadly missed Chris Mitchell. Gibbo has a fantastic delivery on him.

Where did he get the most effective use, what role? Watching the early matches, he seemed to like heading deep and wide for the end line, so I’ll certainly believe he’s a crosser,

[Skyline Drifter]

8 minutes ago, TxRover said:

Where did he get the most effective use, what role? Watching the early matches, he seemed to like heading deep and wide for the end line, so I’ll certainly believe he’s a crosser,

He's best playing as a winger in my opinion. He can play either side, genuinely two footed but slightly better on his right but he's very good at cutting in from wide and sending in the sort of curling towards the back post cross that just needs any touch to divert into the net and sometimes drifts direct into goal at the back post if nobody touches it. He scored a couple of those for us.

His defending is generally a weak point so whilst he can and has played wing back for us on occasions, it does expose whatever side of the park he's on t a good winger. Far better to have a full back behind him in a 4-4-2. He can also play wide either side in a 4-3-3 and Marvin Bartley often used him in that role. He's effective in that role too even if not a natural finisher per se. He's scored two or three arriving back post from that position.

He has a lot of assists for an 18 year old and that's because his crossing is so very good and dangerous.

[CountryBumpkin]

27 minutes ago, keyser_soze said:

 

Suspect it will be Thursday this week with an away game on Saturday. I know there is no clash if we wore blue but certainly last season we played in yellow away from home as much as possible.

Possible, though this was the original posting, after the fixtures were released.

[Broken Algorithms]

8 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

He's best playing as a winger in my opinion. He can play either side, genuinely two footed but slightly better on his right but he's very good at cutting in from wide and sending in the sort of curling towards the back post cross that just needs any touch to divert into the net and sometimes drifts direct into goal at the back post if nobody touches it. He scored a couple of those for us.

His defending is generally a weak point so whilst he can and has played wing back for us on occasions, it does expose whatever side of the park he's on t a good winger. Far better to have a full back behind him in a 4-4-2. He can also play wide either side in a 4-3-3 and Marvin Bartley often used him in that role. He's effective in that role too even if not a natural finisher per se. He's scored two or three arriving back post from that position.

He has a lot of assists for an 18 year old and that's because his crossing is so very good and dangerous.

 

You can see why Queens fans said he's got quite a high ceiling of potential. Naturally he'll get a lot of comparisons to his dad, but I think it's a bit simplistic. I think he'll reap the benefits of working with Dylan Easton and Aidan Connolly in particular. Neither of those two are the quickest but both are similar in that they'll happily come across a defender and take a ping. 

[AllanJM]

24 minutes ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Gibson isn't particularly quick unless he's somehow found a yard over the summer. He's not slow and he's certainly got quick feet but his straight line sprint pace isn't brilliant. He was nowhere near one of the quickest in our side.

He is however the best crosser of a ball we've had in our team since the sadly missed Chris Mitchell. Gibbo has a fantastic delivery on him.

I did wonder if I was missing something as  didn't think he looked particularly quick against East Fife or Montrose (missed the ICT game).  He certainly didn't seem slow and pace isn't always as obvious when playing against a team defending deep as the attacks just tend to be slower.  

Sounds like his footwork and crossing will be the main attributes he brings to the team.  Based on what I've seen so far, I certainly expect him to feature regularly.

[TxRover]

1 hour ago, AllanJM said:

I did wonder if I was missing something as  didn't think he looked particularly quick against East Fife or Montrose (missed the ICT game).  He certainly didn't seem slow and pace isn't always as obvious when playing against a team defending deep as the attacks just tend to be slower.  

Sounds like his footwork and crossing will be the main attributes he brings to the team.  Based on what I've seen so far, I certainly expect him to feature regularly.

He’s got a lot to offer, but he’s in the mix with some serious talent. I’d expect he’ll be a “change-up” player at first. Coming in at IM’s beloved 65-70 minute mark, to harry and pressure tiring defenders. It may not be the full games he’d desire, but a regular 15-25 minutes would certainly improve his game as he’d also have the chance to watch the others use of their skills and tactics, while getting insight and coaching.

I’d also believe, by the end of the season, he may well threaten to start.

At 18, the likely improved conditioning options at this slightly higher level will also improve his capacity. There’s also the fact that he has now got a better pitch to display his abilities on.

Edit: Got the flight confirmed for the Falkirk match…be afraid, be very afraid.

Edited July 8 by TxRover

[Skyline Drifter]

1 hour ago, Broken Algorithms said:

You can see why Queens fans said he's got quite a high ceiling of potential. Naturally he'll get a lot of comparisons to his dad, but I think it's a bit simplistic. I think he'll reap the benefits of working with Dylan Easton and Aidan Connolly in particular. Neither of those two are the quickest but both are similar in that they'll happily come across a defender and take a ping. 

As someone who saw Wullie come through with us as well they're actually quite different. They play a similar position so there are obvious comparisons but Wullie was lightning with quick feet, bags of energy, bags of potential but largely no end product when he first came through at us. He also listened to pretty much nobody.

Lewis had more assists and goals after a month in the team as a 16 year old than Wullie did in his first couple of seasons with us. He's not as quick but his delivery is way ahead of Wullie's at the same career stage (Wullie's delivery now is excellent but it took him about 15 - 20 years to achieve what Lewis has naturally). He's not the athlete Wullie was/is but he'll get that coached into him hopefully. He will listen and is a fantastic lad.

In end product terms he's a much more effective player than young Wullie Gibson was.

1 hour ago, AllanJM said:

I did wonder if I was missing something as  didn't think he looked particularly quick against East Fife or Montrose (missed the ICT game).  He certainly didn't seem slow and pace isn't always as obvious when playing against a team defending deep as the attacks just tend to be slower.  

Sounds like his footwork and crossing will be the main attributes he brings to the team.  Based on what I've seen so far, I certainly expect him to feature regularly.

I was surprised to see a few folk on here when he signed assuming, I guess because of his age, that he'd be sent out on loan for 6 months / a year. There's no chance in my opinion that Lewis Gibson has been signed by Raith to send out on loan. If he's not a starter for you straight away he'll certainly be a contributor off the bench. For all he had some fitness concerns last season, he's a first team regular from the division below with over 60 appearances across two seasons. He doesn't need sent out to a lower level to learn anything.

Edited July 8 by Skyline Drifter

[Skyline Drifter]

6 minutes ago, TxRover said:

I’d also believe, by the end of the season, he may well threaten to start.

At 18, the likely improved conditioning options at this slightly higher level will also improve his capacity. There’s also the fact that he has now got a better pitch to display his abilities on.

Away and raffle yourself. For what it's worth, our pitch will be marginally better than yours I'd imagine. Unless you laid a new one in the summer when I wasn't looking.

And he'll be starting fairly regularly well before the end of the season.