The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Been going too long]

36 minutes ago, Ian Mcleod said:

Tumilty was still under contract with us in the summer as he signed a 2 year deal at the start of last season. To be honest Tumilty was bang average for us the majority of last season in L1 and was one of the weak links a lot of the time. He has had the occasional games where he does show his quality but that's not been often for us.

He isn’t a great defender but very good attacker when with us, didn’t realise he still had a year to go . Mcglynn has been the only manager to consistently get him playing well 

[Specky Ginger]

7 hours ago, Been going too long said:

He isn’t a great defender but very good attacker when with us, didn’t realise he still had a year to go . Mcglynn has been the only manager to consistently get him playing well 

He was good for us in the lockdown season, but considerably less so in 21/22. It was almost like his head had been turned and we lost a hell of a lot of goals down his side that season.

[TxRover]

15 hours ago, renton said:

Well, if we are summarising the last few pages we can say that:

1. We have no physicality.

2  we have no pace.

3. Our main striker has no confidence.

4. Our main defensive addition is giving off perma crock vibes.

5. Everyone else has us figured out.

Did I miss anything? 

13 hours ago, mrpaddyx said:

6. Bookies favourite for the title!

7*. Not enough playing young players.

*(TM) TxRover

11 hours ago, Toddy said:

Sorry for picking on your comment specifically but i'm really intrigued as to what Freeman has actually done wrong that's caused numerous posters to complain about him? I've been to games V's East Fife, Inverness, Stirling ,Stranraer and Hamilton so far and haven't seen what others obviously have to cause such a fuss.  

Exactly, and he’s been mostly invisible, which isn’t a completely horrible trait for a defender.

11 hours ago, Been going too long said:

If we wanted an attacking right back tumility was free in the summer and would have been perfect imo 

And we’d be conceding much more to the attackers left. No thanks.

[CountryBumpkin]

11 hours ago, grumswall said:

Potentially agree with this. 

I don't rate Freeman too highly so far but I do think he's an upgrade on Millen defensively, albeit not by much. He's too safe in his general play which ultimately slows us down. He's two footed which is normally a good thing but it seems like he uses the wrong one to play the pass with in certain situations, which affects our forward momentum. I never rated Millen highly and all he really had was a good cross from deep imo. For us to play with a holding midfielder we need both fullbacks to push on and allow the back 4 to become a back 3, with the midfielder slotting in. Stevenson will get forward either down the line or drift in, Freeman needs to learn from him in doing the same and we could be on to something with him. If he doesn't then we're not improved at rb from having Matthews play there who is probably more likely to get forward and put a ball in the box imo. 

Problem is we're not playing that way, or IMO, intending to. What we've looked to do so far, in most of the games anyway is start with Easton on the left, who will cut inside and Mullin on the right, who won't, he'll stay wide on the right. That allows for an overlap on the left with Stevenson being able to exploit space left when Easton drifts in. On the right, Freeman has nowhere to go that isn't then interfereing with whatever space Mullin has on the right. Its natural for him to stay a bit further back and look for specific opportunities to get forward if we can create an overload. He's been doing that part so far. Where a lot of people are complaining is when he chooses to pick a sideways pass or retain possession by playing it safe. Nothing wrong with that if there are no viable options making space, i'd bet that Stevenson does that just as often when thats the best option.

Like I mentioned in a previous post about passing the ball being all about the player who has control, its up to other players to create space to receive a pass as best they can, there have been numerous times that Freeman has had the ball and there have been no runners, no players looking to create space ahead of him and few making themselves available for the pass. In that situation, as a right back, you're not going to just go take a man on at the halfway line. What if you get dispossessed? You've just exposed your centre halves to a runner coming at them and little to no coverage. There's a reason that Murray has said to Gibson that it doesn't matter if he loses the ball when going forward, its because he will have a player behind him to cover and support. 

For me Freeman is going to be a bit more reserved, perhaps unless we have Connolly on the right, but even then I suspect the overlap there may come from another player, like Matthews or Brown from the midfield. Maybe, just maybe, Murray is fine with having one attacking fullback and the other a bit more cautious. 

[Brashy's Boots]

12 hours ago, Toddy said:

Sorry for picking on your comment specifically but i'm really intrigued as to what Freeman has actually done wrong that's caused numerous posters to complain about him? I've been to games V's East Fife, Inverness, Stirling ,Stranraer and Hamilton so far and haven't seen what others obviously have to cause such a fuss.  

I'm not sure about him yet - not done much wrong nor had many outstanding moments, but he does already have a noticeable habit of progressing not quite far enough, stopping and passing inside.

I'd love to see instead a Jason Thomson-esque lung busting run from deep RB, up the touchline, finished with a whipped cross into the danger zone....

[pub car king]

I think RB/side has been a bit of an issue since Tumilty went. 

The two current options further forward are Mullin who just crosses the ball almost immediately or Connolly who will cut inside onto his stronger foot. Neither of these will head for the bye line.

Gibson should get a run to see what he can do 

[voddyman]

7 minutes ago, pub car king said:

I think RB/side has been a bit of an issue since Tumilty went. 

The two current options further forward are Mullin who just crosses the ball almost immediately or Connolly who will cut inside onto his stronger foot. Neither of these will head for the bye line.

Gibson should get a run to see what he can do 

Deffo agree, I'm really liking the look of Gibson

[Beastie Russell]

You could go to the doctors with a clean bill of health, then come on here and be diagnosed with only weeks left to live.

Do we have to look at the arse end of everything ?

[Ebanda's Handyman Services]

1 hour ago, Beastie Russell said:

You could go to the doctors with a clean bill of health, then come on here and be diagnosed with only weeks left to live.

Do we have to look at the arse end of everything ?

It's the same every year. Loads of folk catastrophizing.

What will be, will be. 

[Irosshed and I was wrong]

I'd personally drop Easton and go with Connolly and Gibson on the weekend. Easton has looked off the pace and IMO slows our pace of play at times. He's a class act but definitely in the 'impact' bracket for me and not doing it so far this season.

[Guest]

Easton and Gibson would be my preferred starters on the wings this Sat. 

 

 

[Heid_The_Baw]

34 minutes ago, ohnononowheredidRossgo said:

I'd personally drop Easton and go with Connolly and Gibson on the weekend. Easton has looked off the pace and IMO slows our pace of play at times. He's a class act but definitely in the 'impact' bracket for me and not doing it so far this season.

Really?  I am probably his biggest critic, but on Saturday his workrate was immense.  He was back in defence covering, he was up the wing, he was through the middle.  Basically covering for other players who didn't have anywhere near his workrate on Saturday!

If the rest of the team put in the same effort, we would have won that game comfortably.

[Jilted John]

I do get it about Easton slowing things down when he gets the ball out wide… the thing is, he’s our most creative player and the most likely to make things happen. Personally I’d like to see him play in the number 10 role while Vaughan is out and move Stanton into the 8.

[Guest]

17 minutes ago, Jilted John said:

I do get it about Easton slowing things down when he gets the ball out wide… the thing is, he’s our most creative player and the most likely to make things happen. Personally I’d like to see him play in the number 10 role while Vaughan is out and move Stanton into the 8.

Agree with him being creative but he didn't look great in a central role v Stranraer. I would keep him left to link up with LS 

[Wardy]

Easton definitely had a better game than Mullin against Hamilton. Although Easton looked better when he was moved centrally in place of Montagu behind Smith when Gibson came on. I thought  Connolly coming on for Mullin was the right call at the time too. 

If Murray, Stanton and Brown are back for Saturday then all 3 should be in the starting eleven. No doubt about it. 

[AllanJM]

16 hours ago, Halbeath Raith Rover said:

Agree with him being creative but he didn't look great in a central role v Stranraer. I would keep him left to link up with LS 

He looked better there against Hamilton but that was largely down to the way him, Gibson and Stevenson played together.

[Double Jack D]

I was really looking forward to this season until I listened to @McGuigan1978 on the VFTT podcast 

 

[buchan30]

Raith podcast doing a predictor league if anyone fancies it.

2 games each week, maximum of 4 points available. And you don’t need to worry about finishing last, because i tend to prop up the table when it comes to these things.

 

[AllanJM]

I'm hoping Lewis Vaughan appearing in the Gym64 video on twitter is a good sign.  I would've been happier to see him running or doing squats (or any leg exercises to be fair) but at least he's doing some training.

[Broken Algorithms]