The New Raith Rovers Thread

[McGuigan1978]

I think we need something, but not sure any of the names mentioned would do the job. 

Ugwu was infuriating as many times as he was fine, and while his goals v Dunfermline and Hearts were brilliant, his good moments were pretty fleeting, I was okay with him moving on. 

I’d be okay if we were able to take Gullan back, but again, would he have made a difference today, I’m not so sure.

I thought he and Vaughan looked like they were ideal for each other during the 5-1 win over Dunfermline, which may still be the case, but after he limped off v Livingston in the Scottish Cup, he did nothing after he came back into the side. Four goals and no assists in 18 appearances last term aren’t figures which scream “bring him back”

As it stands, I think we’ll be okay, but without something, be it a better wide player, a more nuanced central midfielder or larger presence up front, I’m not as confident this season about finishing top four. 

Edited July 24, 2021 by McGuigan1978

[grumswall]

I hate zanatta but I agree with what you are saying, he should have scored today and I can’t see us finishing top 4 on what I have seen so far , I hate the 4-4-1-1, think tait does much better at the top of a midfield 3 . We have brought in a lot of players so it will take time as Killie have signed a lot as well and atm aren’t setting the heather on fire. I would have kept ugwu not because he was a great player but he worked for the team and made space for others

I wasn't keen on him signing but hate seems a bit much. Why do you hate him? I don't think we will finish top 4 either. I don't think we will be worried by relegation though and a season of relative mid table obscurity looks fairly likely to me. I don't think that's a bad thing though as we have had quite a large turnover of players this summer. As long as we don't fall in to the same trap as Ayr did after a good first season up, then struggling down the bottom end, then I'll be fairly happy this season.

[Been going too long]

7 minutes ago, grumswall said:

24 minutes ago, Been going too long said:

I hate zanatta but I agree with what you are saying, he should have scored today and I can’t see us finishing top 4 on what I have seen so far , I hate the 4-4-1-1, think tait does much better at the top of a midfield 3 . We have brought in a lot of players so it will take time as Killie have signed a lot as well and atm aren’t setting the heather on fire. I would have kept ugwu not because he was a great player but he worked for the team and made space for others

I wasn't keen on him signing but hate seems a bit much. Why do you hate him? I don't think we will finish top 4 either. I don't think we will be worried by relegation though and a season of relative mid table obscurity looks fairly likely to me. I don't think that's a bad thing though as we have had quite a large turnover of players this summer. As long as we don't fall in to the same trap as Ayr did after a good first season up, then struggling down the bottom end, then I'll be fairly happy this season.

Diving, lazy , weak need I go on , hate is probably a bit strong but he is a waste of a jersey imo . Feel settling for a season like that ruins the good momentum we built up last season. We could be in the top 4 but given our recruitment I’m just not sure

[CALDERON]

Let's be honest, very few teams will pack the box the way Alloa did today.

[basher brash]

Great to be back at San starko! Should  have been 2/3 up at half time but sadly a mixture of crossing and shooting paid to that, Dario Zanatta is so frustrating he gets in to great positions but either he takes to long on the ball or his crossing is abysmal to be honest. Goals will come I’m sure of it but no one else is setting the heather alight in the championship going by other cup results so far so let’s see how this season pans out because it’s to early to judge yet

[McGuigan1978]

I know it’s been discussed on here to a degree already, but I found the reaction to the Zanatta and Connolly signings a little disappointing. 

Aye, neither signing blew me away, but both have impressed in a Raith jersey previously, the latter in the second tier, so I’m not sure why their was so much gnashing of teeth around them. 

Zanatta has admittedly more to prove, but again, he was pretty good for us in the third tier, and think he’s been decent for us so far, albeit in a pretty limited League Cup group. 

Like all signings, they could go either way, but being dead against them seemed a bit much. 

Edited July 24, 2021 by McGuigan1978

[HoustonRover]

Zanatta has all the ability to be successful and McGlynn clearly thinks he has help him untap it. I think Dario is going to be a big player this season.

I also as previously stated fancy Ethon to be the one to lead the line, run the channels and add a presence. You don’t need to be 6’4 to lead the line and I like what I’ve seen.

[Zen Archer (Raconteur)]

52 minutes ago, grumswall said:

Zannata is the definition of a confidence player and he does seem to be growing in confidence

Confidence was dripping from him today, the 10 Alloa young lads at the SM Stand gave him dogs abuse the entire game and credit to the guy he just laughed it off.

[grumswall]

Diving, lazy , weak need I go on , hate is probably a bit strong but he is a waste of a jersey imo . Feel settling for a season like that ruins the good momentum we built up last season. We could be in the top 4 but given our recruitment I’m just not sure

I think some of our fan base need a reality check with that tbh. We aren't throwing money about we don't have on players so mcglynn is obviously looking at specific types of players to suit the way he wants us to play on a budget. It wouldn't be "settling" for a season like that imo. I think this is a transition season after we got the culmination of mcglynns work in building that squad last season. With alot of the more impactul players moving on, mid table isn't settling. It's being realistic about the size of club we are and more importantly the wages we can offer. He's already spoken about missing out on a few of his top targets.

I know it’s been discussed on here to a degree already, but I found the reaction to the Zanatta and Connolly signings a little disappointing. 
Aye, neither signing blew me away, but both have impressed in a Raith jersey previously, the latter in the second tier, so I’m not sure why their was so much gnashing of teeth around them. 
Zanatta has admittedly more to prove, but again, he was pretty good for us in the third tier, and think he’s been decent for us so far, albeit in a pretty limited League Cup group. 
Like all signings, they could go either way, but being dead against them seemed a bit much. 

I wasnt keen on either of them signing but similar to my previous point, they are players who fit a specific role that mcglynn obviously thinks they can do and with a little bit of good management, can do well. I'm happy to back both him and the players in doing so. We were never going to sign players who were the finished article, mcglynn rarely does. It's why he's been so successful with us. He doesn't always get it right though...

[grumswall]

Confidence was dripping from him today, the 10 Alloa young lads at the SM Stand gave him dogs abuse the entire game and credit to the guy he just laughed it off.

Aye, as I said he does seem to be growing in confidence. We can all (most) remember how good a player he was for us. I really want him to succeed and am happy to back him. He hasn't done much wrong and is growing in confidence and in form imo.

Eta
I did always see zannata as being lazy in the past as well but so far he looks like he is working alot harder.

[TxRover]

7 hours ago, renton said:

Tx will be buying the Alloa streams this year to see how his two favourite players are getting on.

Slept in and heard too late.

[Been going too long]

34 minutes ago, McGuigan1978 said:

I know it’s been discussed on here to a degree already, but I found the reaction to the Zanatta and Connolly signings a little disappointing. 

Aye, neither signing blew me away, but both have impressed in a Raith jersey previously, the latter in the second tier, so I’m not sure why their was so much gnashing of teeth around them. 

Zanatta has admittedly more to prove, but again, he was pretty good for us in the third tier, and think he’s been decent for us so far, albeit in a pretty limited League Cup group. 

Like all signings, they could go either way, but being dead against them seemed a bit much. 

Fair enough I hope zanatta proves me wrong and I won’t just eat a slice of humble pie I will eat the lot. But it will take a lot to prove me wrong on him, yeah does a lot right with beating players but his shooting is weak, off target , ditto for his crossing, he wasted so much today but hopefully Mcglynn can get something out of him

[Been going too long]

28 minutes ago, grumswall said:

I think some of our fan base need a reality check with that tbh. We aren't throwing money about we don't have on players so mcglynn is obviously looking at specific types of players to suit the way he wants us to play on a budget. It wouldn't be "settling" for a season like that imo. I think this is a transition season after we got the culmination of mcglynns work in building that squad last season. With alot of the more impactul players moving on, mid table isn't settling. It's being realistic about the size of club we are and more importantly the wages we can offer. He's already spoken about missing out on a few of his top targets. I wasnt keen on either of them signing but similar to my previous point, they are players who fit a specific role that mcglynn obviously thinks they can do and with a little bit of good management, can do well. I'm happy to back both him and the players in doing so. We were never going to sign players who were the finished article, mcglynn rarely does. It's why he's been so successful with us. He doesn't always get it right though...

I don’t think fans wanting to aim for the playoffs is unrealistic or needing a reality check tbh mate, we are one of the bigger clubs in the division and that should be the aim, in the 30 plus years of going we are were we usually are. Has John signed the right squad time will tell? But there are a couple in there I wouldn’t have had. I hope they prove me wrong 

[Ro Sham Bo]

I've no issue with Zanatta in terms of work rate or attitude but in reality he's probably not good enough. He gets into the right areas but he doesn't have the ability to take advantage of these situations. If he could find a man we could have scored a barrowload against both Brechin and Alloa. 

I'm not convinced Poplotnik or Keatings are what we need either. I would have preferred to still have Duku and Ugwu over those two I think. 

[CALDERON]

With the momentum the club has, and the relative continuity in the squad - I don't think aiming for playoffs at least is unreasonable at all.

I was happy enough with the game.  Alloa came for a point, and defending very well to be fair to them.  We moved the ball quickly and mixed our play up a bit, just couldn't break through the last line - and even so we had enough chances to win the game.

I'm happy enough that we are creating good chances and playing well - that's something to build on.  The effort, intensity and work rate were all there in abundance - on another day the goals will be too.

 

[Michael W]

After finishing second last season, another play-off finish really ought to be the aim for this season. 

Not saying it'll be  a total failure if we don't, but a 6th place finish for example would be pretty disappointing. I am however not convinced we will get there at the moment. 

[Enigma]

I don’t believe Zanatta himself believes he’ll score half the shots he takes. Strikes me as a bit of a tick box footballer. Him getting MOTM was baffling. That said I don’t know who deserved it, Bene or Berra probably, strolled through that game.

Another annoyance today was that the clock on the scoreboard seemed to be running a good 4-5 minutes fast in the second half. What’s the point in having one if we can’t even get that right.

Edited July 24, 2021 by Enigma

[Broken Algorithms]

54 minutes ago, McGuigan1978 said:

I know it’s been discussed on here to a degree already, but I found the reaction to the Zanatta and Connolly signings a little disappointing. 

Aye, neither signing blew me away, but both have impressed in a Raith jersey previously, the latter in the second tier, so I’m not sure why their was so much gnashing of teeth around them. 

Zanatta has admittedly more to prove, but again, he was pretty good for us in the third tier, and think he’s been decent for us so far, albeit in a pretty limited League Cup group. 

Like all signings, they could go either way, but being dead against them seemed a bit much. 

Agree wholeheartedly with this. Both have done well enough in the past before but for some reason people were acting like we'd brought back Scott Roberts and Chris Johnstone. It was similar when it was announced we'd brought Berra in on a PCA. People were right on saying he'd not be good enough and that he was past it. With Berra he's far more suited to a team like ourselves compared to a club like Hearts who'll be liable to be playing a higher line (see the Connor Shields goal at Tynecastle for example). There's no reason either Zanatta or Connolly can't kick on and do well for us but it would be a lot more helpful if some fans weren't on their back before we've even kicked a ball in the league. 

Today reminded me that for all I've missed the live experience of matches, there's definitely a small subsection of our support who are dour c***s who slaughter players for very little. The first half we were slicing through the Alloa defence at times and really should have scored. You've then go people screaming at players that they're "fucking stupid" or shite when there's a slight breakdown in play. This isn't unique to ourselves of course: I saw an interview in the Summer with Simon Ferry who commented on it - there's an element in the Scottish game where if a player makes a mistake they'll be shot down and it doesn't do any favours in terms of confidence. 

4 minutes ago, CALDERON said:

With the momentum the club has, and the relative continuity in the squad - I don't think aiming for playoffs at least is unreasonable at all.

I was happy enough with the game.  Alloa came for a point, and defending very well to be fair to them.  We moved the ball quickly and mixed our play up a bit, just couldn't break through the last line - and even so we had enough chances to win the game.

I'm happy enough that we are creating good chances and playing well - that's something to build on.  The effort, intensity and work rate were all there in abundance - on another day the goals will be too.

 

I felt a lot has been made of Hendry, Armstrong and Kieran MacDonald leaving but today showed that we've kept a lot of important figures like Tumilty and Jamie MacDonald. Liam Dick had his best game yet in a Rovers shirt and Christophe Berra looks to have given our defence a new level of confidence. I'm confident that we can make things right and start taking our chances. On another afternoon we'd have won that by a couple of goals. I'm confident we'll come good in terms of the front line. 

[Ro Sham Bo]

Simon Ferry is a moron, like that idiot at East Fife, Denholm.

I'm pretty sure that sort of fan behaviour is common of football fans pretty much everywhere. 

[grumswall]

I don’t believe Zanatta himself believes he’ll score half the shots he takes. Strikes me as a bit of a tick box footballer. Him getting MOTM was baffling. That said I don’t know who deserved it, Bene or Berra probably, strolled through that game.
Another annoyance today was that the clock on the scoreboard seemed to be running a good 4-5 minutes fast in the second half. What’s the point in having one if we can’t even get that right.

That was Davie Hancock messing up the timing of starting the clock for the second half[emoji23] it's not often that happens in fairness.

With regards to our stock being higher after finishing 3rd last season, stock counts for little when you can't offer the wages to match. Players are either at this level because they haven't been good enough in the league above or are trying to make the step back up to ft football. Money dictates at this level, there will be the odd player like hendry who looks beyond his next paycheck, but he has the ability and belief to do that. It isn't the norm.