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The New Raith Rovers Thread


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2 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Ben’s alright tbh. Slagging his appearance is well out, too. His content is pretty good.

Aye Ben seems a decent guy. Just a young laddie who is a fan of his local team and football in general. Some of his videos are a good watch - particularly enjoyed his Scottish Cup vlog where we beat them 3-0. 

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11 hours ago, roverthemoon said:

This is a glorious watch for all Rovers fans. Favourite bit is his sign off at the end. ‘That’s it. Pumped Again’ 

 

Quite a funny watch😂😂 when you see how ( mainly) grown men react ( guy with blue jacket on🚀)  he is a pars fan so only come across his content by accident but he isn’t the worst, saw the one where he filmed his dad I think losing it when we beat them 3-0 at starks😂😂

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12 minutes ago, Raithie said:

Aye Ben seems a decent guy. Just a young laddie who is a fan of his local team and football in general. Some of his videos are a good watch - particularly enjoyed his Scottish Cup vlog where we beat them 3-0. 

Fuming pars fans getting wired in about their players and manager. What's not to like?

Watched the match highlights and they remind me very much of some of our hapless performances under Grant Murray, with their big no 5 doing an admirable job filling the Ross Perry role.

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38 minutes ago, Been going too long said:

Quite a funny watch😂😂 when you see how ( mainly) grown men react ( guy with blue jacket on🚀)  he is a pars fan so only come across his content by accident but he isn’t the worst, saw the one where he filmed his dad I think losing it when we beat them 3-0 at starks😂😂

Aye that's the one - it's a belter. 

 

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So, it's only 4 games in - but I definitely think we are looking like a side looking to stay out of trouble, rather than one looking to bother the promotion play offs (let alone the laughable chat about title challenges from our board pre season)

4 games in, and already hitting a level of injuries and suspensions that prevent us playing to our strengths. Had BRS not been suspended, or had Spencer been fitter (i.e. not rushed back into the starting 11 on a 3 day notice) then maybe we could kept the 3 in the middle that we are more familiar with, and the gives us more creativity from the two wide players being more free to move around the pitch and support each other. Once we went 4-4-2 on Saturday, we looked a lot less dangerous, particularly as it made it easier to double up on Zanatta.

The absence of Connolly was, I thought, keenly felt. He's been good so far - a direct runner and hard worker. Without him (and obviously Vaughan) Zanatta is carrying the can so far as creativity is concerned - Fotheringham I thought worked hard on Saturday but clearly is very raw, and not nearly as ready to step us as either Kennedy or Ross showed last season. It leaves us looking pretty blunt.

All the chat about Musonda when he comes back in is as a sitting midfielder. Maybe that will work - it worked well with Lewis Toshney back in the day. Still though, it highlights that we are heavy in the centre back position and light in midfield and blunt up front. Will Musonda playing in there give us a solid base? Certainly but he won't give us a range of passing that helps us move the ball forward. Spencer being fit will help there, but I think we need another centre midfielder who can help keep the ball moving - and not in a by the numbers Adam King kind of way. Obviously we can't expect another Hendry type player - but we need a replacement for Tait in January and arguably someone in just now who can substitute for him without forcing us to change the shape when he's not playing particularly well.

Up front, we have bits and pieces but nothing particularly cohesive. Vaughan playing off of Poplatnik looked like it might have been a goer, yet the other obvious number 10 - keatings - still isn't getting a look in. Varian is still a young guy but looks the most complete of the current forwards, yet while he will hover in between the posts more, we won't have someone between the lines who can link midfield and attack more centrally - not without Vaughan. Tait did that job for us through the first part of last season, then Kennedy and Armstrong were both involved with filling in there, and maybe when Connolly is fit again he can help out more in those areas of the pitch but it feels like we have an unbalanced squad. We are able to rotate through several frustrated looking No 9s but are always one injury away from not having any ability to get the ball into them in dangerous positions.

Defensively Dick is ok, but nothing more so far. He certainly doesn't offer the pace Keiran McDonald did at present. He is far less likely to get beyond the wide player in front of him which made it all the more puzzling that we went to a 4-4-2 in the second half. Tumilty is still an impressive player at right back but I still think I'd want Musonda in the middle - he was clearly our best CB last season by some margin. Pair him with A.N. Other when fit, even it means dropping Benedictus.

So yeah, plenty to be frustrated about. Vaughan can transform a team, we all know that and without him I'm not sure our squad building has been as well considered as last season - though inevitably the surgery required on the squad was more extensive than McGlynn would have liked. Zanatta and Connolly have both looked excellent, Berra has done well, Dick has been ok, BRS and Fotheringham has been fairly sub standard and Keatings and Poplatnik haven't offered much, with only Varian looking something like the part up top.

I am slightly worried at this stage, though don't wish to over react.

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I think probably from 4th placed Thistle in the league table downwards is just a sea of teams that will feel they just haven't got going yet this season.

Think it is going to be a tight league again, may be a break away top two of ICT and Kilmarnock if they continue their form then the rest of us just trying to maintain a bit of momentum and victories to avoid the bottom two spots.

 

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This season has the feel of being a write off already and fallover the line in 7th place. 

We've lost players as we always do we haven't done a good enough job of replacing them. Injuries are kicking in already and the loans we have brought in are a bit uninspiring on the whole. 

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I still feel like we need to look at at least a loan move for someone in the final third if not an extra body. Musonda is excellent at centre half but I'm not so sure about him in central midfield. It kind of feels like we'll do it in the hope that it works rather than going out to find an offensive minded player. 

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I think we definitely need to get another ball handler in midfield - someone that can get closer to Varian regularly. We looked one dimensional for large parts on Saturday.

Agreed this looks like a transitional season, hopefully we have enough to steer clear of any nonsense towards the bottom.

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Added that video only to have a laugh at Pars fans going mental when their team lost to Ayr.  Folk having a go at the young lad who filmed it are well out of order. He was actually pretty sensible given the situation. Imagine if this was a young Rover’s fan filming our games and grown adults were having a go at him for his looks. Deary me. 

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Iv said for about two months on here that this season is a rebuild season after losing so many good players. Mid table will be fine for us this season. Its next season and the one after that we need to be pushing for promotion again, regardless of the fake talk of promotion from sim etc this summer. In saying that, we need some of the tait and celtic money put in to the squad to ensure we don't get dragged into a relegation battle this season. We don't have enough creativity in the squad now.

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