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The New Raith Rovers Thread


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1 hour ago, Scary Bear said:

Anyone, with the slightest bit of knowledge of Rovers could have told Murray we were weak up front last season and don’t have enough goals from forward positions. Murray must have known himself that once all our CBs fucked off we would need new ones. The defence is all on him.

Surely he must have been looking ahead to getting signings in for Airdrie with one eye on them being in the Championship? I’m assuming they were fine for defenders and forwards.

Either way, this is where we are. Hopefully Murray can get a couple of decent players in soon, and not just bodies to be squad filler. If not, it’ll be a tough season.

I don’t think we were linked with any new defenders before he left, Cammy Ballantyne apparently wasn’t a Murray signing. We were rumoured to be signing Brody Paterson permanently if we had went up, though Murray obviously decided against that for Raith for whatever reason. Someone mentioned that Scott Brown was due to come to us before Murray left, so it seems like he just took his plans over with him. 

Playing Easton in a midfield two is bizarre. We played him at the tip of a diamond at times last season or advanced in a midfield three. That worked as we had full backs who could bomb forward and a really technically good midfield who controlled the ball in most games. As good as his work rate and tracking back is, the way he plays and the risks he takes make him a liability without a couple of players around or behind him. Murray should know that better than anyone.

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16 minutes ago, SirJimmyofNic said:

Have the board got him working with one hand tied behind his back though and thats the cause of his signing woes, 1st quarter will see where we are

Hopefully Berra going frees up some funds. We cannot afford to wing it until the injured players come back. 

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14 minutes ago, Mr November said:

I don’t think we were linked with any new defenders before he left, Cammy Ballantyne apparently wasn’t a Murray signing. We were rumoured to be signing Brody Paterson permanently if we had went up, though Murray obviously decided against that for Raith for whatever reason. Someone mentioned that Scott Brown was due to come to us before Murray left, so it seems like he just took his plans over with him. 

Playing Easton in a midfield two is bizarre. We played him at the tip of a diamond at times last season or advanced in a midfield three. That worked as we had full backs who could bomb forward and a really technically good midfield who controlled the ball in most games. As good as his work rate and tracking back is, the way he plays and the risks he takes make him a liability without a couple of players around or behind him. Murray should know that better than anyone.

That’s why I think honestly we will get the best of out him when both Ross Matthews and Brad Spencer come back to do the dirty work and let Easton express himself 

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6 minutes ago, RRFC_Liam said:

That’s why I think honestly we will get the best of out him when both Ross Matthews and Brad Spencer come back to do the dirty work and let Easton express himself 

I don't think he's good enough for this level. But, if we ever play a league 1 team with no players again, he'll be just what we need. 

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Seems harsh to point the blame at players who aren't being used correctly. In the same way it seems harsh to point the blame at Murray when the board haven't backed him so far. We've lost alot of top earners at the club this summer, the budget has been cut and Murray has struggled to replace what we had for less due to the state of the market.
4132 can get in the bin. It's an awful tactic and we don't have the players available to make it work. Brown at cb can get in the bin. If you're going to play someone out of position at cb then play dick who is at least an actual defender and use brown in the 1 to protect them instead of stanton who just isn't that type of player. Iv no idea what type of player stanton is though in all honesty because he hasn't actually excelled in any role since he signed for us.
Were a good 3/4 players short of challenging for promotion. I don't think the blame lies entirely at the managers door with that.

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Murray presumably knew the budget when he took the job so no sympathy for him in that department. 

I think if we lose the next two home games he's under severe pressure. You just need to look at Dunfermline last season to see what happens if you let the rot set in. 

Edited by Ro Sham Bo
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2 minutes ago, grumswall said:

Seems harsh to point the blame at players who aren't being used correctly. In the same way it seems harsh to point the blame at Murray when the board haven't backed him so far. We've lost alot of top earners at the club this summer, the budget has been cut and Murray has struggled to replace what we had for less due to the state of the market.
4132 can get in the bin. It's an awful tactic and we don't have the players available to make it work. Brown at cb can get in the bin. If you're going to play someone out of position at cb then play dick who is at least an actual defender and use brown in the 1 to protect them instead of stanton who just isn't that type of player. Iv no idea what type of player stanton is though in all honesty because he hasn't actually excelled in any role since he signed for us.
Were a good 3/4 players short of challenging for promotion. I don't think the blame lies entirely at the managers door with that.

There’s a guy on Facebook on some rovers supporters page who thinks he’s an ITK according to him that sim doesn’t want to spend on players as most of it will be going on paying the scum bag off……. Which I don’t believe but as I said Murray and the board would’ve sat down during contract negotiations and discussed the budget that Murray was happy with or let’s be real he wouldn’t of taken the job 

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The big problem Murray has, with the squad he's built, is that he can't fill gaps without creating others. He's playing his only (fit) natural holding midfielder in central defence, so now that makeshift defence doesn't have a proper protector in front of it. Bringing in Ngwenya means he can try a different shaped square peg in moving Dick across and letting Brown go into midfield, but I'm far from convinced by Liam Dick. He had a shot on the left of a three for the last 25 minutes or so this afternoon and looked less assured than a clearly shattered Nolan and the aforementioned Brown did. 

I agree with those saying that letting Musonda go was a huge error. I said at the time it was a gamble not worth taking (unlike Benedictus), and events since then have absolutely bolstered that argument. Ayr might have offered him more than we did, but you're not telling me that if we really wanted to keep him, we couldn't have made a suitable offer. He was let go. Murray at the time said something along the lines of "if you don't change, you can't improve", but if you do change, you can get a hell of a lot worse. Musonda was a perfect squad player for this level, able to cover a number of positions. In an incredibly scant market, the chances of getting an upgrade were slim and now look impossible. 

Nolan might turn out to be fine, but today he looked every bit like the kind of guy who was brought in to learn from Christophe Berra, not to be the only natural central defender in the squad. He's tall but he's not very well filled out, and he looked very limited with the ball at his feet. To give him credit, he at least seemed to recognise that, and did little more than picking simple sideways passes. He's not played a huge amount of football so hopefully he'll grow into a slightly more expansive passer, but right now we're relying on the guy to play every single minute of the rest of the season. It's neither fair nor realistic. 

Beyond that, though, there are issues that lie elsewhere. Murray has accumulated possibly the best pound-for-pound set of midfield individuals in the division, and has moulded them into a unit that is so much less than the sum of its parts. Stanton, as alluded to above, is a totally inadequate holding midfielder. He's not bringing anything to the table. He doesn't even look like an advanced midfielder who's been asked to play further back, where you'd maybe expect runs and passes that are too risky (a bit like Easton when he's dropped deep), instead with Stanton you just get a whole lot of very little. The guy probably has the highest passing percentage in the squad, because he just shuffles the ball about. There's no penetration or incision. At times, Scott Brown is drifting past him and trying to drill balls into the forwards, just to make things happen. 

Ahead of him, Connolly, Easton and Ross are all working hard enough (Connolly never stops, one of the few to take some credit from today) but it's oh so slow. The ball gets worked out to Ross on the wing. He gets closed down so he knocks it back to Liam Dick. Dick turns it inside to Easton who's dropped off. At this point the entire opposition midfield and defence have stacked up, so Easton sees his options are limited. Connolly peels off on the other flank so Easton sprays it out to him. He's closed down so he knocks it back to Ross Millen. Millen turns it inside to Easton who's dropped off. At this pont... And the cycle repeats until a pass or cross is eventually charged down. It's very predictable, and very easy to counter. And it leaves the striker(s) totally outnumbered and unreachable in the middle. 

With regards to the strikers, I think Connell might turn out to be a good partner for Gullan because he looks more inclined to play between the posts and hang on the shoulder of the last man, but I'm really starting to wonder what Gullan really adds. Again, he's a hard worker, but when he comes deep or goes wide to get involved, he's not as good at it as any of the midfield three, and he's not offering a goal threat if he's 40 yards away with his back turned. I said it on the match thread, but he needs to be kept closer to the goal. I'm sure it's frustrating for him never touching the ball, because of the midfield dynamic detailed above, but he's not helping himself or the team by dropping into his own half just to get involved. If Gullan can focus on playing in that between-the-lines role that Vaughan does so well, with Connell focusing on staying ahead of him, there could be potential there. God knows we need it. With one goal in four games we look every bit reminiscent of the worst (on the field) portions of last season. 

Also I got caught in traffic outside Dundee on the way up, and then caught by the Police road closure south of Aberdeen on the way home, so all in all, today can just get fucked.  

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37 minutes ago, RRFC_Liam said:

There’s a guy on Facebook on some rovers supporters page who thinks he’s an ITK according to him that sim doesn’t want to spend on players as most of it will be going on paying the scum bag off……. 

Sadly as much as I despise “he who shall not be named” he’s entitled to every penny as our board willingly signed a contract with him in good faith. If the 4 had any shred of decency they’d have put their hands in their pockets and paid him themselves but then I guess if they had any shred of decency they’d never have signed him in the first place. 

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6 minutes ago, San Starko Rover said:

Sadly as much as I despise “he who shall not be named” he’s entitled to every penny as our board willingly signed a contract with him in good faith. If the 4 had any shred of decency they’d have put their hands in their pockets and paid him themselves but then I guess if they had any shred of decency they’d never have signed him in the first place. 

This is why we are hamstrung with what we have. And have to deal with this season

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I would recommend giving the K107 show a listen skip to the last 30 mins and it’s giving us insight into Murray’s transfer dealings and he did have players lined up and he did explain what the external factors were that didn’t get them over the line, he did Aldi say it WASN’T down to finances it’s a good listen 

Edited by RRFC_Liam
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Atm, that's what I was alluding to. The board and Murray are both at fault for how the squad is. For one reason or another that's how it is.

I would love to know what gullans actual position is. He's been tried in multiple with us and I'm still non the wiser. There has to be a point where its just accepted that he isn't actually good enough for this level. It's worrying that he is one of our main options up front this season. He was decent enough in l1 but beyond the pars game where we won 5-1 I'm struggling to think of him really being effective at this level. I didn't see the game today so I'm not singling him out for criticism based on that.

I am going to judge Murray after the first quarter and the squad as a whole, but we definitely need to see an improvement ASAP.

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I would recommend giving the K107 show a listen skip to the last 30 mins and it’s giving us insight into Murray’s transfer dealings and he did have players lined up and he did explain what the external factors were that didn’t get them over the line, he did Aldi say it WASN’T down to finances it’s a good listen 
Today's show?
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1 minute ago, grumswall said:

Atm, that's what I was alluding to. The board and Murray are both at fault for how the squad is. For one reason or another that's how it is.

I would love to know what gullans actual position is. He's been tried in multiple with us and I'm still non the wiser. There has to be a point where its just accepted that he isn't actually good enough for this level. It's worrying that he is one of our main options up front this season. He was decent enough in l1 but beyond the pars game where we won 5-1 I'm struggling to think of him really being effective at this level. I didn't see the game today so I'm not singling him out for criticism based on that.

I am going to judge Murray after the first quarter and the squad as a whole, but we definitely need to see an improvement ASAP.

Listen to the K107 news show on play back Murray explains his transfer dealings and why some hasn’t come to fruition 

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1 minute ago, RRFC_Liam said:

I would recommend giving the K107 show a listen skip to the last 30 mins and it’s giving us insight into Murray’s transfer dealings and he did have players lined up and he did explain what the external factors were that didn’t get them over the line it’s a good listen 

Were the external factors anything to do with the fact they didn't want to play for him because he's an idiot? 

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1 minute ago, grumswall said:
2 minutes ago, RRFC_Liam said:
I would recommend giving the K107 show a listen skip to the last 30 mins and it’s giving us insight into Murray’s transfer dealings and he did have players lined up and he did explain what the external factors were that didn’t get them over the line, he did Aldi say it WASN’T down to finances it’s a good listen 

Today's show?

Yes 

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Listen to the K107 news show on play back Murray explains his transfer dealings and why some hasn’t come to fruition 
I'll give it a listen tomorrow. I'd assume it's to do with the cost of living crisis etc on top of red tape for players coming from outwith the UK with a bit of covid thrown in though?

I actually think the signings he has made are decent enough. It's the signings he hasn't made that are our problem. I'll listen tomorrow though.
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