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The New Raith Rovers Thread


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8 hours ago, Scottydog said:

Nando has been at the club since March or April, Glynns obviously seen something in him he likes and thinks he can work with.

Perhaps the mistake was playing him against Dundee (and possibly ICT), maybe P'heid and Cove would have been better for him.....than again maybe not.

 

If all else fails we can always offload him to the Pars.

I thought McGlynn said that he was on a weeks trial earlier in the season and played in a reserve against Livingstone. Didn't think he had been training with us since then 

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There will always be those who use the referee to deflect from how bad we were. Unfortunately McGlynn is the chief culprit for this.


I didn’t think we were that bad. If you take away Nando’s howlers, there wasn’t too much between the teams. Dundee were the better side but that’s only to be expected. Trying to hang Mcglynn out to dry is a bit over the top.

Having viewed the highlights, it was never a foul for the first goal and that tackle was hard but fair. Definitely a stick on penalty for us though.
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I didn’t think we were that bad. If you take away Nando’s howlers, there wasn’t too much between the teams. Dundee were the better side but that’s only to be expected. Trying to hang Mcglynn out to dry is a bit over the top.

Having viewed the highlights, it was never a foul for the first goal and that tackle was hard but fair. Definitely a stick on penalty for us though.
For me McGlynn is in the same boat Smith was in this time last season. He failed badly last season and I expect him to be feeling some serious pressure by October if we don't show any improvement this season.
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Now that I’ve seen our team in the flesh, and not highlights from the friendlies, and despite the result, there was many positives to be taken.

 

Munro, decent enough, but needs to work on his kicking/distribution.

McKay is fine at RB, but would much prefer a natural, maybe someone in the loan market.

Davo, this will probably be his last season, he’s finished, but had a good game.

Nando, where do I start - absolute Chernobyl of a debut! First goal, wee header back would’ve done the job, there was a slight push in his back but still “mans game” n all that, got to be physicality between the centre forward & centre half. For a big lad, he was far too weak for my liking, maybe just too nice(?!), possibly something McGlynn will work on so toughen him up.

MacDonald, absolutely excellent, very impressed by him, and 9/10 his balls in to the box were good (which may have been a questionable by Airdrie fans).

Matthews, looked mature in middle, thoroughly deserved motm. As HTC mentioned, hopefully will be his year as the elder in there.

Spencer, also very impressed by the work rate. Some balls he played would have been excellent had it not been for a pretty sound Dundee defence. They will come good in the league, no doubts about it.

Hendry - too good, thank f#ck for McGlynn otherwise he would be no where near us.

Victoria, looked good in spells, and was creative when he didn’t really need to think about it, and I think that will be the running comment on him this season.

Bowie, what a player for 16, had no fear, well played young ane!

Allan, held the ball up well, looks good, strong, and actually reminded me of Nisbet against Hearts in the same stage last season (just without the goal). I think when we play in the league the hold up play with him linking in the likes of Victoria, Vaughan & Dingwall, will then get him goals, as he’ll then be in position in the box to finish it off.

 

Anderson, looked fitter & sharper than when he left us, good & glad to have him back.

 

Miller, done fine when he came on in the middle, would like to see him maybe play at RB as he can play there, and we’d have that natural RB as I mentioned above.

 

As for the game yesterday, it’s been done to death. Mendy burst it. And I’d have probably hooked him at HT, but actually keeping him on probably saved some confidence in him. At the time I was furious the Ref didn’t give the foul on Hendry but seeing that .gif, it’s a great challenge, can’t argue there. But the penalty against Matthews is still 100% a stone waller. At 2-1, completely different game. No argue overall, Dundee deserves the win.

Positives from that is we won’t be playing the standard of Dundee every week.

 

Train from Kirkcaldy to Inverness on Saturday at 9am, I can’t wait for it.

 

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A few reflections on that.
1) We won't be playing Dundee every week. Thankfully. But the depressing thing is we want to be back to a few years ago and looking at 'top' championship clubs at home and fancying to win relatively often.
2) Mendy. Oaft. Thankfully Mendy also won't be playing against Dundee, or particularly Nelson, every week. But that was huge learning curve for him today across all aspects of the game. Clearly not ready now but the only hope is he is a fast learner. First mistake mentally rocked him (remember he will never have played in front of crowd like that against opponents like that). 
3) If Mendy is a bombscare even against top league 1 players (Baird vs. Mendy of today for example is giving me the fear), then having the Davo/Bene partnership of last year again - with the caveat that the full backs are better - is worrying.
4) Hendry is so far above this level its unreal. A real joy to watch. I think him, spencer and Mathews give us a very strong central area. I like the look of spencer and Mathews today looked excellent. Hoping this is 'his' season where he really steps on as the 'old head' in that midfield. 
5) I actually though Allan held it up well today (again we won't be playing Dundee every week and think he would have gotten far more changge out of L1 CBs). Vaughan off a player like him could be very good. But, at the moment we miss a player - like Vaughany - who is dead set on scoring and shooting  every time  they get it. 
6) Some nice play and touches from Victoria today. On that display looks like he could be a real asset against teams that sit in, when we need a we bit creativity to unlock the door etc.
 7) Goalie was dodgy as f**k on the kicking/passing front. GET FLYING BACK FROM HOLIDAY NOW YOU WITCH c**t [emoji173]️ xx
8 ) Pish result, but in a strange masochistic way, it's good to feel that again. Feel the pain of real meaning football. It's 'good' to be back.
9) 9:10 train KDY to Inverness booked. Win or bust regarding the league cup. Looking forward to the day our regardless and to be honest, with the size of our squad and luck with injuries, an early exit is not the worst thing in the world (especially after a relatively financially decent return today).
10) Beer and buckfast open on the train home and going to get blootered.  
11) All you c***s enjoy your night!

12 The ref was a bellend
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There will always be those who use the referee to deflect from how bad we were. Unfortunately McGlynn is the chief culprit for this.
The ref was bad tbf.
For me McGlynn is in the same boat Smith was in this time last season. He failed badly last season and I expect him to be feeling some serious pressure by October if we don't show any improvement this season.
It is mcglynns team now. He didn't fail badly last season though. He was working off of a squad built by someone who had to play himself at 45 years old yesterday because he cant get people to sign for him.

I am hoping we have that lottery winning player in soon though. We have a striker who will run all day but won't jump for a header or put the ball in the back of the net Imo.

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All these heads gone after one competitive match against a team we're not expecting to beat in a competition we won't win. We are a solid league 1 side. The sooner some people realise and accept that, the better. Come back after the 1st round of league ties is done.

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Can’t believe the reaction of fans on here after 1 game, Who knows Dundee might comfortably win the championship this season. Mendy blew it first half let’s forget about it and move on the league is our priority so just let’s wait and see and criticise and the end of the season if we are stuck in this league again.

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It's impossible to assess Saturday's performance without putting Mendy front and centre. I don't think I've seen that level of meltdown for years. Players make mistakes, some so egregious that the game turns on a single moment: Davidson for the second EF goal at New Year, for example or you could look at Graeme Smith's attempted ball control against Albion Rovers the year before that. You all can probably recall a good half dozen misplaced square passes, or short ones back to the keepers but for me, to really see the sustained death spiral of confidence sapping mistakes you have to go back to Thierry Gathuessi, playing at right back in a Tuesday night at Airdrie. He couldn't do anything right, we were a goal or two down and he got hooked after 30 minutes.

Of course, it's not just being the goal or two down that's the problem - allowing Dundee to sit back and control the game, whereas as the lesser team we needed the game to stretch a bit. It's not even just the effect on the player himself who looked utterly crestfallen by the full time whistle. It's also because the additional effect it has on the team shape and tactics. You could see, particularly after Hendry lost his shit with a slack pass back to no one, that they were trying to minimise the times Mendy had the ball, risking slower, longer passes to bypass Mendy even as Dundee pressed high onto him, looking for further mistakes. One that stood out for me in the second half was Spencer, I think, wanting to get the ball out wide to MacDonald, but instead of the short sideways to Mendy which would've given the latter a good angle to slot MacDonald in, Spencer tried the longer, curling ball in that was read and cut out with the Rovers committed high and giving Dundee space to run into. An utterly illogical pass brought about by a lack of confidence in a team mate.

So yeah, Mendy's performance definitely had a re-configuring effect on the team.  In his defence, that was a gear or two above what he's been used to, either in France or in playing friendlies over here. It's a hell of a learning curve he's got to go through and quickly. I'm unwilling to write him off at this stage. He has the attributes to make it, but is obviously unused to the pace of the game.  The management team probably did the right thing leaving him on to try and not utterly destroy his confidence, even as I disagreed with that at the time. I would happily have moved Miller into right back and moved Mckay across into centre back, even if they didn't want to bring Benedictus on. Next week promises to be no easier for the guy, so it's a big call from McGlynn as to whether to play him or not, we were never getting out of the group anyway so what the hell...

Positives?

Hendry really is a class above where we are and was full of running, good vision and range of passing as well. Matthews as well, put in a mature performance, covering a lot of ground, even running at players with the ball. Spencer did ok as well but arguably quieter - however that midfield looked good in that they were willing to drive forward from midfield with the ball, and were fit enough to get back into positions to recover it as well. After years of passive, static midfields that combination looks a revelation and will be plenty good for league 1.

I actually like the look of Allan. Still think he's short of fitness but his hold up play was good and for the first hour or so he managed to put himself about. Worth noting that Nisbet at this stage of the season still didn't look up too much so time yet for Allan to improve but I think he'll be alright.

Victoria caused Dundee some problems which was good to see, albeit his shooting was wayward. Alongside Anderson (who still looks like a brilliant athlete) that combination behind the striker looks long on brute force and short on finesse. Could do with a bit more technical balance in there, something that Dingwall will provide when he's back. Bowie looked confident but was maybe lacking a bit of nous that can only really come with game time. 

In defence, Davo did just fine as did McKay. Think Macdonald looked good and his final ball  was pretty decent.

At the moment and in spite of everything that happened with Mendy on Saturday, I still feel like we are ahead of where we were at this point last season, and not just because half the team was injured last year. The midfield is a definite and vast improvement over the Gillespie-Wedderburn combination, MacDonald looked really decent and an improvement on Crane. Victoria looks a bit raw but he's got something about him, albeit he's not the smartest (in a footballing sense) he's more of a head down run at the guy don't think about it type of player but given his size and pace, he'll still give us a good dimension in attack.  Anderson as well, for his fitness, pace and height is a better trade off for the likes of Flanagan who was technically better but obviously just someone who'd fade out of the game.

Having said that, it feels like an arch without a keystone at the moment. Dingwall will come back in first and give us something a bit more technical and a bit more positionally smart than say, Victoria but he's not the game changer I think we need. Vaughan, if we can get and keep him fit is that guy and he'd work so well with Hendy as well. However, i'd feel a lot better if there was a good, technical loan player coming in for up top as I have kittens thinking about how we get more than 5 games out of Vaughan, and it really would make the difference to our season.

Lastly, getting horsed was almost worth it for Baillieinleeds 4Chan inspired meltdown.

#makebailliegreatagain

Edited by renton
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Some of the best players have what we call a howler of a debut. Just look at Larsson for celtic! 

Personally I thought the penalty was soft to be fair. But I have faith that Nando will come good. I think the game is a lot faster than he had anticipated and he will realise that you don't get as much time on the ball in Scotland. 

Far too early to call him out as a dud but yeh he did not have a good game.... 

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13 hours ago, WSDR 88 said:

McKay is fine at RB, but would much prefer a natural, maybe someone in the loan market.

 

I have to disagree, he is not a good option at RB. He looked constantly out of position and was often standing in the middle of nowhere. I don't know if Watson is the solution either tbh. I think a loan would be best if possible.

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Would much rather we had brought in a solid right back than an untested centre half from the European lower leagues. Bene, Davo & Mackay as the centres with proper full backs either side seems too simple for the manager though. 

We do seem better balanced in midfield - looking forward to that playing out this season. If Allen turns out to be a finisher we’d be looking good with Vaughan & Dingers to come back

 

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13 minutes ago, Wardy said:

Where’s Craig Wilson when you need him?

Scored one of my favourite ever goals. 

 

Nisbet made his competitive debut yesterday and played well, had an absolutely fantastic assist. One the limited time I've seen him he's actually a more intelligent footballer than I presumed we were getting. Murray was absent with injury, was that a common occurance during his time at Raith? 

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