The New Raith Rovers Thread

[RRFC_Liam]

14 minutes ago, Paco said:

Ross Millen is diabolical. I really don’t want to jump on a bandwagon and make a victim of someone but it’s alarming to be going through a season with him as our RB.

He had cross in the 2nd half and it went to a ICT defender and they cleared it up the park and he was walking back…… Walked back while Connolly was busting a gut to get back he’s honestly 1 of the worst RB I’ve seen in a while 

[RRFC_Liam]

15 minutes ago, Scottydog said:

Brown, midfield rock but better than Matthews? Utility man? Jack of some trades and master of none, he's not a patch on Musonda imo.

Ngl I think Matthews Replaces him when he’s back our best midfield 3 would be Spencer, Matthews and Stanton with Easton in the 10 

Edited September 3, 2022 by RRFC_Liam

[CountryBumpkin]

21 minutes ago, Scottydog said:

Some interesting points being made along with some real heads gone stuff too.

However the jury is sitting on Mr Murray though as he needs to have us doing better, much better. 2 wins and 3 defeats is not the form that anyone would have thought we'd start with, it isn't good enough.

We can offer a host of excuses with injuries and new players but IMO his recruitment has been worse than McGlynns.  The failure to recruit an out and out striker to a team that every fan knew needed one is quite bizarre. However the failure to redress the issue at centre half to where we are now is beyond that!  That he signed two midfielders to an already adept midfield squad whilst not addressing those other more important issues is nothing short of criminal.

So far his recruitment:

Brown, midfield rock but better than Matthews? Utility man? Jack of some trades and master of none, he's not a patch on Musonda imo.

Easton, good on his day but has been a bit hot and cold. Still possibly his best signing though.

Nolan, weak, one footed, indecisive, slow (thought wise) and doesn't move the ball well.

O'Riordan, classy for one so young, he must be wishing it was Christmas and he can go home. Probably the best bit of business Murrays done.

Ngenya and Connell, squad fillers at best a complete waste of a loan,

Millen, complete charlatan and a total waste of a wage.

McBride and McNeil, too early to say hopefully they will prove better value than the last 3.

Unless I've miscounted thats 11 gone and 9 in, with the exception of Riley Snow any of the other 10 (9 if we miss out Dario) would be shoo-ins to start in that team. Of the 9 brought in I can think of only two who have done enough to warrant their signing.

It's not all IM's fault though, the BoD are massively culpable for the position the club are in too. 

In defence of Nolan, he's predominantly right footed playing on the left which means he's got to shift his body shape for most of his passes. That isn't his fault, he's being asked to play there. I agree he needs to move the ball on quicker, the same goes for the majority of the team. 

We don't have a lot of two footed players and not many teams do in this country, it's a massive flaw of training for a lot of players since childhood to make them work on their weaker foot. 

[MICMAC]

Who do we reckon this forward is? Experienced, which means he's older. Nadir Ciftci, Marc McNulty?

[baillieinleeds]

6 minutes ago, MICMAC said:

Who do we reckon this forward is? Experienced, which means he's older. Nadir Ciftci, Marc McNulty?

Anybody But Kyle Connell

[foreverarover]

Who do we reckon this forward is? Experienced, which means he's older. Nadir Ciftci, Marc McNulty?

Connor Shields at Motherwell. 25 years old and not exactly setting the Heather on fire.

[baillieinleeds]

1 minute ago, foreverarover said:

18 minutes ago, MICMAC said:

Who do we reckon this forward is? Experienced, which means he's older. Nadir Ciftci, Marc McNulty?

Connor Shields at Motherwell. 25 years old and not exactly setting the Heather on fire.

Or another 18 year old, we need experience 

[Brashy's Boots]

32 minutes ago, MICMAC said:

Who do we reckon this forward is? Experienced, which means he's older. Nadir Ciftci, Marc McNulty?

I think we should expect the unexpected. 

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

8 minutes ago, Brashy's Boots said:

I think we should expect the unexpected. 

[SirJimmyofNic]

The calibre of what hes brought in so far doesn't fill me with confidence on the signing of a striker, he must've been well aware of what we needed defensively and up front when he took the job on, but we'll still be getting the waffle about this fabled striker we hope to sign when its the January window

[raith1974]

56 minutes ago, MICMAC said:

Who do we reckon this forward is? Experienced, which means he's older. Nadir Ciftci, Marc McNulty?

Its got to be someone with height and physicality as IM said he wants someone different. We could also do with a left footed CB.

[Specky Ginger]

A couple of very worrying statistics, without even thinking about the 22 years since we last beat Inverness -

 

We've already lost four league games this season and we're only just into September. It took until Boxing Day for us to suffer our 4th league defeat of last season.

 

The last league goal we scored in front of the South Stand was Matej Poplatník in the 3-3 draw against Queen of the South on the 1st of February.

[Rovers_Lad]

1 hour ago, MICMAC said:

Who do we reckon this forward is? Experienced, which means he's older. Nadir Ciftci, Marc McNulty?

Neither

42 minutes ago, baillieinleeds said:

Or another 18 year old, we need experience 

No

29 minutes ago, Brashy's Boots said:

I think we should expect the unexpected. 

This

[RRFC1989]

In the short time Spencer was on the pitch you can see he’s 100 times the player Scott Brown is.
Think the ‘captain’ needs a wee seat on the bench, offered little and when he did it was to slow the game down.

The same guy who quite obviously fouled the player in the corner then complained when they were taking time. Utter ridiculous game management from a player that should know better. Brown was the only one of the midfield that actually got stuck in yesterday.

[Ro Sham Bo]

I don't know who the forward will be, or what type of forward he'll be but I can pretty much guarantee he'll be no better than what we've already got. 

Just like every other signing Murray has made this season. 

[CountryBumpkin]

31 minutes ago, RRFC1989 said:

The same guy who quite obviously fouled the player in the corner then complained when they were taking time. Utter ridiculous game management from a player that should know better. Brown was the only one of the midfield that actually got stuck in yesterday.

I've never understood the reasons why players just foul in the corner all the time. Just go round them, either go off the pitch and round to face the player in the corner or go in at a different angle. 

As for Brown, yes he got stuck in when we didn't have the ball but when we did he was posted missing a lot of the time. Second half he rarely made himself available for the ball when the defence had it and when he did have the ball, slowed it down. He's keeping Ross Matthews spot in the side warm, given he's versatile maybe he'll be a good right back option. 

[Scary Bear]

11 hours ago, Brashy's Boots said:

I think we should expect the unexpected. 

=Spanish boay.

[Scary Bear]

10 hours ago, Specky Ginger said:

A couple of very worrying statistics, without even thinking about the 22 years since we last beat Inverness -

 

We've already lost four league games this season and we're only just into September. It took until Boxing Day for us to suffer our 4th league defeat of last season.

 

The last league goal we scored in front of the South Stand was Matej Poplatník in the 3-3 draw against Queen of the South on the 1st of February.

Aye, it’s not looking so good. At least we have won a couple of games. That gives me some hope. 

[renton]

2 hours ago, CountryBumpkin said:

I've never understood the reasons why players just foul in the corner all the time. Just go round them, either go off the pitch and round to face the player in the corner or go in at a different angle. 

As for Brown, yes he got stuck in when we didn't have the ball but when we did he was posted missing a lot of the time. Second half he rarely made himself available for the ball when the defence had it and when he did have the ball, slowed it down. He's keeping Ross Matthews spot in the side warm, given he's versatile maybe he'll be a good right back option. 

In fairness, that 4-1-3-2 type formation isn't exactly brilliant if you are asking the one sitting midfielder to dictate play with the game in front of them. I think the idea is to bypass him and go direct but that isn't going to work with our available "forwards"

I would revert to a 4-2-3-1 for next week, get Spencer and Stanton playing in that 2, get Brown in at right back and Millen into the North Sea.

[Raithfan2711]

When I take a step back and look who we’ve brought in, my opinion is Ian Murray can’t possibly be willingly choosing some of these players and is instead been utterly low balled by a budget and is simply trying to pick what he can from scraps.

The 4 injured players who have been out (with 2 of them unlikely to feature hardly at all this year) will no doubt make us more competitive and it feels like he is just trying to keep us afloat until then. All 4 easily start when fit for me.

I just don’t believe a manager with an even remotely competitive budget would choose Ngwenya, Connell and McBride based on their careers to date.

I wonder if the view that Murray willingly let some of last year’s squad go (Musonda in particular) is the case or if he was instead told by the higher ups that the club would not meet the demands of these players which in turn leaves Murray having to find replacements.

Sim’s comments on a ‘marquee’ signing appear to have been untrue right now. To be honest, he shouldn’t have even mentioned it publicly unless it was a done deal as all it has done is give fans false hope of decent investment in the squad this season.

Are we meant to believe that Ian Murray doesn’t want such a player and has instead chosen some of these guys? My guess is whoever we bring in is an unknown, will leave fans initially disappointed, start their time at the Rovers on the back foot and we will just have to hope they hit the ground running before fans completely write them off.

Maybe it is misguided of me to give Murray the benefit of the doubt but I just feel there is more here than meets the eye.