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The New Raith Rovers Thread


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4 minutes ago, Specky Ginger said:

The Arbroath game in a fortnight is rapidly heading into the 'dare not lose'category.

Indeed. We've been fortunate that the teams below us have all failed to pick up a win over the last 3 weeks so we're still in a decent place in terms of avoiding a relegation battle, which is about as good as I think we'll get under Murray.

We have a decent record against the teams below us and you feel we'll need to keep that up to stay out of bother. 

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Football is a results business, and losing more than half of our games is quite bad..  when you think how bad Arbroath and Hamilton are, it's quite stark that we are in a comparable position with regards to losses.

Murray has a huge January window ahead.  I'm not expecting him to find an amazing striker, but I'm expecting some kind of adjustment to how we play.  I think top 4 is gone in all honesty, given how terrible the away form is, but I'm expecting to see some grounds for optimism in the 2nd half of the season.

I'm more than happy to give the manager time, but there is an element of pressure begging to build.

 

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I don’t think the play offs have gone quite just yet, but I’m definitely looking down the way rather than up at the moment. The start of the season was really poor but Murray seemed to have turned it around a few weeks ago. The last couple of games have been really poor. It’s not even the results, it’s the performances in the last two league games. Today was absolutely woeful after we went behind. Murray’s probably lucky there was a relatively small number of Rovers fans who traveled and witnessed how inept it was first hand. 

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It's occurred to me that our last three league games have been against the teams that are currently top three in the table, and we've been outclassed and out-thought in each. Perhaps a bit of a reality check as to where we stand right now.

Also notable that today and to a lesser extent against Queen's Park is one of the first times this season we've had a fairly strong bench of subs available (no disrespect to the youths/apprentices intended when I say that). I'd like to think/hope the manager would be able to use these options to change things up a bit when we're struggling to get back into games, although appreciate this doesn't solve our lack of a striker able to put chances away.

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He needs to change the shape of the team. There is no getting away from the fact we lack some quality in terms of our forwards, but at the same time we aren't creating much in the box for the forwards to attack. Most our goals end up being absolute belters because we don't do anything in the box and moves break down at the edge so guys like Connolly need to be able to lash it in from there.

I'd love it if we were scoring tap ins because it would indicate we were getting players into the box quickly and moving well enough to overwhelm defences.

It's the same trap McGlynn fell in with the 4-2-3-1 shape. It helps you control possession but it relies so heavily on the quality of the guy leading the line that we don't really have. I'd happily have a bit less control and less possession if it meant we were more dangerous in and around the box.

So it's a question of how you get Vaughan and probably Gullan at this point into a two up top. Whether that's trying again with his 4-1-3-2 now that he has a more settled defence or maybe a 4-4-2 diamond? 

That's not to say it's our only issue, you are needing more from guys like Ross and Easton. The former has a great burst of acceleration and strength but rarely has played anywhere near his capabilities. Easton has the talent but tends to fade out of games especially when played out wide.

 

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19 minutes ago, renton said:

He needs to change the shape of the team. There is no getting away from the fact we lack some quality in terms of our forwards, but at the same time we aren't creating much in the box for the forwards to attack. Most our goals end up being absolute belters because we don't do anything in the box and moves break down at the edge so guys like Connolly need to be able to lash it in from there.

I'd love it if we were scoring tap ins because it would indicate we were getting players into the box quickly and moving well enough to overwhelm defences.

It's the same trap McGlynn fell in with the 4-2-3-1 shape. It helps you control possession but it relies so heavily on the quality of the guy leading the line that we don't really have. I'd happily have a bit less control and less possession if it meant we were more dangerous in and around the box.

So it's a question of how you get Vaughan and probably Gullan at this point into a two up top. Whether that's trying again with his 4-1-3-2 now that he has a more settled defence or maybe a 4-4-2 diamond? 

That's not to say it's our only issue, you are needing more from guys like Ross and Easton. The former has a great burst of acceleration and strength but rarely has played anywhere near his capabilities. Easton has the talent but tends to fade out of games especially when played out wide.

 

The problem with any change of shape to get two up front is you will likely have to change the position of our one consistent goal threat at the moment, Aidan Connolly. Anything other than a bog standard 4-4-2 would mean moving Connolly into a more central area where he would be less effective (I know he normally drifts in field anyway but it’s easier to deal with when that’s his starting position).

The 4-1-3-2 at the start of the season was murder, I know we have more players available now but I don’t think that’s the solution based on what we’ve seen of it. The narrow midfield diamond worked for us at times under McGlynn but that was with MacDonald and Tumilty providing width. Ngwenya is a willing runner but his quality from the wide areas is sadly lacking and I don’t think Millen has the pace to provide width on his own, he needs a winger ahead, creating space for him.

Not saying we shouldn’t try something new, I agree with you that we should be looking to find a solution that gets us two up front to counter our lack of out and out number 9 and focal point but it’s easier said than done, there’s not a blindingly obvious solution staring us all in the face but I suppose that’s Murray’s job to solve the conundrum.

For all our lack of cutting edge and focal point up front is our main issue and our defence overall has been fine this season, it shouldn’t be ignored that we have also lost 9 goals in our last 3 games and for the first time, O’Riordan is starting to look like he has a mistake in his game. We need solutions at both ends of the pitch. What a difference a few weeks make…

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