raith1974

Is he better than what we have, if not then no use.

Would love to see a role for Ross Matthews but when all fit he is 5th choice for centre mid.

Andy Halliday, Lewis Stevenson.

So Stanton is likely to be back before the end of the month. How do we get him, Turner, Brown and Byrne all into the team. For me Stanton and Turner have to start as both are box to box and both have an eye for goal and a killer pass. Sitting in behind I would go with Brown over Byrne. He's quicker across the park and better with the aggressive side to break up play. The other option is a midfield diamond with Brown at the base, Stanton advanced and Turner and Byrne in the middle. If we go like this we would have to go with a back 3 with two players playing a wingback role to help create width. If that was the case I would go with Smith on one side who has natural pace and a choice of Mullen or Connelly on the other side. Quite controversial as it would mean dropping Vaughan and Easton and potentially both fullbacks although either could fit into the back 3 as Millen done that against the Pars.

To be fair the new board and manager have always stated we appear ahead of the game. Come the summer we will see what to expect next season if we stay down. Hopefully our recruitment will plug the gaps. Proper competition up front, pace out wide, aggression in the middle of the park and an improvement on our defence. We concede far too many goals, soft goals and can be very one dimensional up front with nice passing etc.

A central defender is a must this week. Watson out far too long, Murray missing and very experience after that. Can RaithTV please ask where Matthews was today and perhaps find out if Watson will be back before the end of January.

If we were to be promoted we need to look to offloading 3 or 4 players and bringing in 3 or 4 loans from down south. Dundee have been fairly successful. Hopefully then we don't burst the budget and although it may mean a struggle if we do come down again then we are not lumbered with players on Prem wages in the Championship.

I know some fans are questioning our finances but PT publicly in the summer faced a bleak future with all the board room shenanigans. Can I ask if that is the case how you are signing or potentially signing players in January.

Not only has the thug Duncan Ferguson been found out at ICT and sent of at least once in his short time back in Scotland he is now calling for a ban on plastic pitches in the Championship. To be fair I'll be surprised if he is still at ICT next season. Can't wait on him coming to Starks Park

They can't afford to punt him even if they wanted to.

Just changing the subject really good gesture by SRJ to pay for the young guy's season ticket for next season.

Rumour has it he's coming our way, but no guarantees. I thought O'Reilly would have signed and didn't.

Great bit of business a quality proven midfielder. Maybe with his connections he can convince Tiffoney to sign. Still think we will see a CB and the rumours of Halliday are still there. Maybe Stanton is out but hopefully it is the 2-6 weeks.

I still get the feeling we will sign Lee Ashcroft.

There is no myth, players have sides they prefer to play on. Davidson always right, Bene on the left, that's not to say they couldn't play on the other side. Van Dyke never plays on the right side of defence always left but Gomez fills in on the left but would prefer to play on the right.

Could it be that we have a choice to make as rumours recently were that we were in for Ashcroft. Maybe Potter and Murray working on the best deal for the club and if we miss out on O'Reilly we bring in Ashcroft who maybe presently is a better fit as we need a balanced back 4 and I'm not convinced we get the best out of Euan Murray or O'Reilly when one is played on the right.

At the start of the season all of us would be over the moon with our campaign so far and shows how far we have come when we are so annoyed with only our 2nd league defeat. The one thing Murray and Potter done at the start of the season was provide quality to the squad and depth. The two things missing from our squad is outright pace and directness and pure aggression. Kia Fotheringham isn't the best player in the league but causes problems due to his pace. Scott Brown is a very good midfielder but we still lack that aggression in the middle of the park and also lack aggression in the back 4. Rumours so far Halliday, if we can afford him would be good, Thomas may not be the most liked but causes us and other teams issues. Would love to see Tiffoney come but can't see it and Ashcroft who will be attracting interest from several clubs. Onto next Saturday who knows will be in our defence as we will be missing Millen and possibly O'Reilly and we have had no recent update about Watson other than he's now visible warming up.

Don't think Watson is far away at all. He was out warming up before the Dunfermline game. I would put Corr out on loan to try and secure O'Reilly.

My take is he potentially has something else lined up.

3-5-2 could happen if O'Reilly stays and Watson gets back on the pitch. Who would play the wing backs roles though. Would we go with Dick and Millen or go more positive with Smith and Connolly.

It hurts you more being 21 points behind us and having lost all 3 league games.

But the only playoffs you'll be in are at the bottom end of the table.

At 2 nil why did Hamilton try and chest the ball into the net when he should have put his head on it. The problem we have on Tuesday is with O'Reilly, he may not be able to play as other clubs including Arbroath will be looking for available centre halfs. Seeing as we are getting no Watson updates maybe he'll rock up at EEP. Dunfermline look like they will have a few players out on Tuesday but we need to keep it tight in the middle of the park. Get Byrne and Brown in together, Vaughan in behind Hamilton with Mullin and Easton out wide.

Completely agree regarding applauding a player who got them back in the game.

Murray has to take responsibility for today's result. 2 nil up basically against 10 men and we could have seen that out by bringing on Ross Matthews for one of the many attack minded players and took control in the middle of the park. This 4 1 3 2 does not work without Stanton as no one else covers the massive hole in the middle of the park. We need to change to a 4 2 3 1. And can someone tell Millen he needs to put a foot in to stop a cross.