Raith Against The Machine

It's not in the current "half season" commercial brochure, but I'm sure it was on offer in the initial brochure for this season, as a possible option.

Shocker.

Has there been any kind of update on how Josh Rae is getting on? Sounded like he'd taken a really nasty one but I haven't seen anything since.

Legitimately a moronic opinion.

No complaints with that starting line up. Certainly a much better balance than last week. You could make individual arguments (Vaughan over Stanton, Mullin over Connolly) but the actual roles everyone is playing look appropriate.

After recovering from an injury, Byrne went straight into the starting eleven against Arbroath, a game we lost. He then didn't start the next three, two of which we won and all three of which we kept a clean sheet in. Having now had a negative result, I expect he'll be back in contention for a starting place. I don't think we need the conspiracy theories.

You'd have to think Euan Murray misses this one after his head knock at Tannadice, so Scott Brown will continue in defence. Quite simply, Ross Matthews or Shaun Byrne must play. Nothing against Kyle Turner, but we can't just play a bunch of attacking midfielders again and expect to have any semblance of control.

I was searched on the way in, having been greeted at the turnstile by a steward asking "voluntary search?". Hard to see how anyone has foiled that system.

It's a dive, but it's a dive Moult gets to make with a huge chance of success as soon as Watson puts his arms around his waist. There's nowhere near enough force or contact to send Moult to the ground, but all the referee sees is Watson's arms around him inside the box. Can't blame the referee for giving it, and Watson has to be smarter.

Can't agree with your first point here, but wholeheartedly agree with your second. I saw no lack of effort or endeavour, but we perpetually lost two key battles all afternoon, both of which were down to players being asked to play out of position. Scott Brown at centre half and Kyle Turner were given an absolutely torrid time by the movement and physicality of Moult and Watt. They were getting change from Brown when they competed in the backline, and change from Turner when they dropped off. Ian Murray has some mitigation in playing Brown in that he's done it in more than half of our games this season, but why he thought Turner was the best option in the base of the midfield completely baffles me. And it's particularly galling that the best way to solve both of those problems only involves making one change. If Keith Watson starts that game alongside Euan Murray, and Scott Brown plays in midfield, that's a totally different game. We might still loss it, who knows, but the two key weaknesses that United exploited today disappear. The overriding emotion for me after that is disappointment. It's football, and United are a good side, so a defeat was always a distinct possibility, but the Rovers were hamstrung from the outset by the line-up and never recovered.

Oh my God, have the Police been informed?

Turner completely unsuited to the role we've asked him to play today. Madness asking him to sit and protect the defence when you've got Matthews and Byrne on the bench. He hasn't done anything actively wrong, but he just doesn't have the skillset for it. Even if you gave me this starting XI I'd be swapping Turner and Stanton and getting Stants to do the dirtier work. He's been lost in the noise. This United attack is lightyears ahead of today's United defence in terms of match fitness and ability at this level. If we're to get anything, we need to be asking questions of that defence, with the knowledge that we'll give up chances at the back. By ceding the middle, we're still giving up chances, but not giving ourselves a platform to get forward.

And how would that work, bright stuff? The players are throwing the game so they don't have to receive an "unrealistic" bonus?

Alan Temple is a real necessity in that dynamic. His presence really lifts it out of being pretty unlistenable.

Jim Goodwin shut the f**k up about Raith Rovers challenge [Impossible]

Any thoughts on the game itself? United likely to be playing a teenage winger at left back again?

"hairy ass footballers"

If anything, I think the opposite might be true. As Rovers fans, this is borderline unprecedented for many of us, depending on how well you remember the mid-90s. But for a lot of this squad, these aren't uncharted waters. Watson, Mullin, Murray, Turner, Hamilton, Byrne, Ashcroft and Rudden (and anyone else I might've missed) have all either won promotion from this division or been in title challenges that went down to the wire. That's not to say that the players won't feel pressure or the weight of expectation, but they're better equipped to deal with it than the majority of the fan base is.

Its very simple: See?

Luigi Capuano not exactly what you'd call a "straight talker", is he?

An absolute joke outfit. Perfectly suited to being a B Team for some daft seaside English upstarts.

Just quite pathetic and sad, really. If Dundee United were selling the Shed to their own fans and sticking us into a corner instead, I'd have no real issue with that. There's a limit to how far you should go with that, away supports are an integral part of the game, but if you can sell a seat to a home supporter, it makes complete sense that that's your priority and your prerogative as the home club. To give the away support a full stand and only make part of it available, when there's comfortably enough supply for the rest, is just indicative of the small-minded attitudes that permeate right across the decision making class in Scottish football. You're locking out people who make the game what it is. People who are willing to put their hands in their pockets and pay, quite frankly, way over the odds to be a part of something. And they'll enhance the occasion, make it a better spectacle, and if you want to get into marketing talk, improve the 'product'. Possibly the biggest strength that Scottish football has is its match-going supporters. Dundee United choosing to limit the away support in a stand that's already open is a sign of a football club whose leadership is small-minded, panicking and with no clear idea of it's place in Scottish football.

Is it inherently middle class to have a beard? Have you seen the price of razors?