The New Raith Rovers Thread

[par-adise]

9 hours ago, Michael W said:

 

I am starting to think that the first half of last season was a fluke. Because I can't rationalise the decline otherwise. 

You didn't win a league game by more than one goal until March last season (against us and the second goal was a defensive howler). How many points did you take from very late goals? Fluke might be a bit much as you do have some good players, but you must have realised at the time there was a significant amount of good fortune involved. I think in our first league tie you won at EEP having only had two shots in the match. 

[Grangemouth Bairn]

57 minutes ago, FitbaSupporter said:

Which given no one but Celtic wins anything , is pretty much as good as it gets. 

FTFY.

[Jilted John]

2 minutes ago, buchan30 said:

Someone in the podcast said that he isn’t wedded to the 3-5-2 formation, but it is sounding early on like he is. If it is the system that isn’t working, then he needs to look and change it.

The 3-5-2 needs to go, that’s for sure! We desperately need to find a right back as quickly as possible. 

[mealsonwheels]

I have to say what I watched last night was a world away of what we have seen over the previous season. You could feel the nerves  of all the players. I agree fully that we are inballanced, we are missing the grit in midfield and the pace up front.

What I do see weekly though is teams have found a way to play against us. They play pressure football and don't give us enough time on the ball to string passes. When this happens you can see the players panic and make the wrong decisions.

We need to find another way of playing as we have been found out for many the month now. Maybe this has also been apparent with the board and was a reason for Murrays sacking.

I am not going to question Collins yet, I know it's been disappointing but until he brings or if he brings in some players and we see a different playing style then I will openly praise or criticize. 

Unfortunately at this time the buck is laying with the players!

[Jilted John]

In my opinion, we have too many under performing players rather than a lack of ability in the squad. That’s up to Collins to get them to the level we’ve seen before.

Connolly was one of our most consistent performers, even back in McKinnons days. Recently he’s had two good games in a year.

Easton is becoming a liability. A few good touches now and again but gives the ball away time after time and isn’t creating anything.

Stanton hasn’t played well since January. He’s been a passenger.

Byrne looked like Rodri for the first part of last season, now he looks lost.

Matthews isn’t up to being a midfielder at this level. Puts a good tackle in and gives his all but lacks the technical ability to dictate play.

Hamilton is a good player and fits what we need up top but his injuries mean we can’t rely on him.

Jamieson gives everything, runs around a lot but just isn’t good enough at this level.

Freeman we haven’t seen much of, but from what we have seen, he’s not looked great either.

[St. Jude]

19 minutes ago, Ro Sham Bo said:

Two good seasons out of 15 then. Part of sides which couldn't get out of the championship and were routinely bent over by Hearts in derbies just like we were last night. 

They're losers. Some legacy Murray has left us by signing that pair.

That is some take, they’ve had more success in cups than Rovers have in their entire history.  
 

If you want to focus purely on league performance, they’ve  played in a team that has finished above Rovers in literally every one of those 15 seasons. They’ve also won the championship during that period….. which Rovers have not.

If they’re losers, what does that make Raith Rovers?

 

[Jilted John]

Just now, St. Jude said:

That is some take, they’ve had more success in cups than Rovers have in their entire history.  
 

If you want to focus purely on league performance, they’ve  played in a team that has finished above Rovers in literally every one of those 15 seasons. They’ve also won the championship during that period….. which Rovers have not.

If they’re losers, what does that make Raith Rovers?

 

Don’t pay much attention to him. He’s either bipolar or he does it for a reaction. 

[Raithfan2711]

How many times have we played Hamilton and Vaughan up top, with Stanton and Brown both in some sort of midfield role? I know players who don’t play or aren’t fully fit suddenly become the answer in supporter’s eyes when a team is struggling, but those four fit on the pitch at the same time would be a huge step change. Absolutely toothless up top and no drive in midfield right now.

[bobbykdy]

7 hours ago, North West said:

 

 

 

Jesus Christ, what an absolute king dong walloper you are. All we need is your pals Rammit and Yankee for the set of absolute melts on here.

[Scary Bear]

Last season we played in fits and starts. We had some excellent periods but we couldn’t keep it going for the whole game. This season we are just rotten.

The last good performance was the away win at Firhill in the play-offs.  That’s the line up from that night.

Do Stanton and Brown make that much of a difference? Maybe they do.

 

For me, we’ll live or die by what our new manager does. He’s only two games in and he clearly hasn’t a scooby about the squad yet. If he improves we’ll hopefully avoid getting in relegation trouble. If he’s a dud then we’re doomed.

As chance would have it, it’s 4 months to the day since that night at Firhill. 4 months from that to this.

Edited Saturday at 07:45 by Scary Bear

[Scary Bear]

7 hours ago, BPM said:

Will be the nicest cladding in L1.

You would know.

[RaithRyan]

With Brown out we have zero presence in the squad, and it feels like we’re severely lacking a real leader out there. 

I think a few players have really struggled for any sort of form for a considerable period of time, and the majority of them are tied down on 2/3 year deals. However, Barrowman etc. keep saying we have a good enough squad here to compete, but I’m really struggling to see that case for a few of them. I’m no going sit and list names, sure a few will share the same thoughts as me as to who is severely underperforming.

Im no going to get into a mega state like some have and starting to turn on a boy who’s one week into a job, maybe I say it differently - but it looked like 2 pish teams on show, and a huge stroke of luck broke the deadlock. We looked comfy in the back 4 but then the goal changes the complexion of the game right away. Other than the second goal (which was a peach btw, but we were f**king sleeping at substitution to allow Wotherspoon that much room), big Kev never had much to do.

Pars to their credit started really well, Kane’s energy and tenacity got them going, but we never got a chance to settle into the game due to the early red card, and form that point there was only going to be one winner. 

[Ding Dang Doo]

One thing Collins mentioned in his post match interview was that he'd only had 5 training sessions so hasn't had time to prepare for things like a red card. He then said though that the players would have the weekend off.

Maybe I'm being overly harsh and critical (and feel free to say if so) but if he hasn't had a chance to implement things and he's still getting to know the squad and then we then put in a performance like that surely the players should be in for something over the weekend. 

Like I said probably being harsh but saying you haven't had enough enough training sessions yet and then giving the squad days off didn't match up.

[Jilted John]

I get what you’re saying about cancelling days off and having them in for training. The issue is, if the morale in the team is low, cancelling days off and plans they might have made with their families etc will only make it worse. 

[BPM]

3 minutes ago, Ding Dang Doo said:

One thing Collins mentioned in his post match interview was that he'd only had 5 training sessions so hasn't had time to prepare for things like a red card. He then said though that the players would have the weekend off.

Maybe I'm being overly harsh and critical (and feel free to say if so) but if he hasn't had a chance to implement things and he's still getting to know the squad and then we then put in a performance like that surely the players should be in for something over the weekend. 

Like I said probably being harsh but saying you haven't had enough enough training sessions yet and then giving the squad days off didn't match up.

He will be wanting to go back down south to see family himself. This appointment is heading for the rocks already. Wonderful stuff 

[Ro Sham Bo]

54 minutes ago, St. Jude said:

That is some take, they’ve had more success in cups than Rovers have in their entire history.  
 

If you want to focus purely on league performance, they’ve  played in a team that has finished above Rovers in literally every one of those 15 seasons. They’ve also won the championship during that period….. which Rovers have not.

If they’re losers, what does that make Raith Rovers?

 

In relative terms based on size of the clubs, Hibs fail year after year after year. 

Hanlon and Stevenson have been used to that and they're bringing that culture of failure to Rovers. The pair of them are spineless.

Edited Saturday at 08:25 by Ro Sham Bo

[Ro Sham Bo]

14 minutes ago, BPM said:

He will be wanting to go back down south to see family himself. This appointment is heading for the rocks already. Wonderful stuff 

Yeah it's car crash stuff. I don't think he'll win a game before he's sacked. 

[TheScarf]

3-5-2 is an absolute cunt of a formation and should be banned from football. No player is brought up playing it and has no clue what to do when some FM manager comes along and tries to reinvent the wheel or try to become the new Pep Guardiola by making them play in it every week.

It’s flawed by design, it asks wingers to play as wing backs and full backs to play as centre backs. 

[Jilted John]

8 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

3-5-2 is an absolute c**t of a formation and should be banned from football. No player is brought up playing it and has no clue what to do when some FM manager comes along and tries to reinvent the wheel or try to become the new Pep Guardiola by making them play in it every week.

It’s flawed by design, it asks wingers to play as wing backs and full backs to play as centre backs. 

Only teams like Man City can pull of a back 3. Grizzly centre backs like we have are absolutely lost in that set up.

[RAITHROVERS84]

One issue we have is that there are no really poor teams in the league like recent seasons (Cove, Abroath, Hamilton last time around). It’s only 5 games in for us, however a relegation dog fight is on the cards based upon what I’m seeing.

I knew we were getting beat when I seen the lineup last night. Scott Brown and Sam Stanton are integral to anything that’s good about us, the former being the guy who grabs games by the scruff of the neck.

The starting 11 last night was just a small, powderpuff and slow / poor outfit. Like the Ayr game we take an utterly needless red. I’d much rather ‘maybe’ go 1 nil down and have 11 men on the park rather than watch that chronic football with 10.

Nice cladding, lovely fresh new offices for staff to work from, constant and consistent cash grab from the fans. Can we maybe not have midfielders playing at defence for the 3rd season on the spin?

Quite like the fact Murray attended the game in person. No real reason for him to  be there but he’s not daft. Keeps him in the spotlight and every game that passes it makes him look better and our board worse.

He was right in his final interview..there is something wrong with this squad currently..

Edited Saturday at 08:46 by RAITHROVERS84