Raith Against The Machine

Quite. Let's just say Niall or Davie do decide to bring it up in an interview... "John, you've left Manny Duku out of the starting line up recently. Why is that?" ...and there's no exciting reason, its just squad rotation, McGlynn might answer... "Well, we've got a lot of quality players and they can't all start. Manny's out of the team at the moment and he'll need to be patient and work hard to get his place back." ...or, there is a scandalous, dramatic reason for his absence, the answer would be... "Well, we've got a lot of quality players and they can't all start. Manny's out of the team at the moment and he'll need to be patient and work hard to get his place back."

What explanation do you want? He got Covid and lost his starting place. He's played in every game since, except one, and hasn't done too much. There's no grand conspiracy. We've got four strikers, including two who only joined recently. It's entirely understandable, whether or not you agree, that McGlynn try them out. For what it's worth, I think he'll regain his starting place on Saturday, and rightfully so. I probably would've started him against Arbroath too, but I'm not the gaffer. John McGlynn is, and we've surely all seen enough of him now to know he's particularly keen on squad rotation in certain areas of the park, without manufacturing unnecessary drama.

In a series of events that is not at all a parable for the age we live in, this thread has consisted of one or two people making a very mild criticism of a commentator based on some outdated views, followed by a dozen or so people falling over each other to decry this morale "outrage", call everyone snowflakes and pat themselves on the back for not being sheep. Nobody (apart from one person who's clearly exaggerating to get a reaction - shame on everyone who bit to that, btw) is demanding the guy's resignation or even an apology. Personally, I think it's worth pointing out that girls watching the game could probably do without hearing that women "want their man out the house" or that a football match is like "trying to pick up a bird at a disco". Nobody's saying that he's Hitler, or that these are even things that you can't say in the pub or in your workplace (were either of them open). But, when you're speaking in public to a wider audience, you've got to be more considerate. Also, it's 2021, stop saying "disco". That's all.

Ah yes, the famously progressive BBC. Or just maybe, anyone who utters (admittedly, I use the term lightly) the sentence "Ah ken there ur wimmin who watch the fitba noo but most wimmin ur just happy to hiv their husbands oot the hoose oan a Seturday" is opening themselves to accusations of sexism.

It must be an odd existence when you believe every football match boils down to who wanted it more.

Matthews is such a huge miss at the base of the midfield. Spencer is really the only other option (or King?) to naturally play that role, and even then he's not in the same mould. Tait deserves a lot of credit for adapting his game, but he naturally wants to be 20 yards further up the park and it shows. Hendry, clearly, takes the responsibility for being the "anchor" and that restricts his attacking contributions. Without that natural control in the midfield, we need the attacking game-plan to be spot on, and it was miles off it today. The relatively early goal against Morton gave us a lot of scope to sit back and let the game happen in front of the back line, but I think we got a glimpse of how that game might have developed if we hadn't scored from the set piece. Losing Musonda is a huge blow too. I'm sure McGlynn would've rather played the 3-4-1-2 but, as above, he obviously didn't fancy it with Mendy in alongside Benedictus and Davidson. We've basically got four "first team" strikers now, but it seems clear to me that we've got to go back to Duku up front on his own for the Alloa game. It's the only strikeforce that's produced results for us this season. Gullan might be fine in the attacking line behind the striker, but he and Ugwu have had two games together and haven't created a single chance between them, let alone looked like scoring.

For what it's worth, I don't think the wind has had much to do with it. The Rovers, however, have played the pitch terribly. Trying to link together seven or eight passes on a pitch like this is putting yourself on a hiding to nothing. Look at Arbroath - they've moved the ball by running it, and knocking it into the channels. Linn's covered more ground with the ball at his feet than the entire Rovers team.

Getting very bad vibes off Adam King from his few brief appearances so far.

All we've done today is keep the ball on the deck, neebur.

What is that ball through from Gullan? How has that ended up at the touchline? 😂

That header from Duku is more than Ugwu or Gullan has managed all afternoon in terms of keeping the ball up. If Kennedy didn't have time for the shot, King definitely did but he wanted all day. Its no' happening.

From what I've heard rather than what I've seen, King should be a better fit in the midfield than Tait. Neither Gullan or Ugwu doing the job of a number 9 or a number 10. Both floating around, just not affecting the game in any meaningful way. More than just someone to link the midfield and attack, we need someone to be the attack.

f**k sake Kieran.

Good combination between Armstrong and Tumilty. With Ugwu and Gullan not getting any joy at all, we're going to have to get the full backs forward to create anything.

Everyone within 40 yards of the byline to defend a throw-in. Not the most adventurous of approaches...