The New Raith Rovers Thread

[Hank Scorpio]

Easy to see we got beat today. Same boring c***s trotting out the same pish. Have a day off, for f**k sake. 

[Against The Machine]

30 minutes ago, raith1974 said:

He's not a clown, but he is also not good enough for this level. Waste of a wage. We were told throughout preseason players would only be signed if they are better than  what's here. In Connells case it appears we signed him as we had no number 9 and still don't. 

I'd say he's significantly better than our previous second striker, Man Who Doesn't Exist. 

[grumswall]

I'd say he's significantly better than our previous second striker, Man Who Doesn't Exist. 

I'd argue he's the only striker we actually have at the moment.

Get gullan away from that role ASAP and give the guy a chance ffs. (not aimed at you obviously)

[Against The Machine]

33 minutes ago, grumswall said:

I'd argue he's the only striker we actually have at the moment.

Get gullan away from that role ASAP and give the guy a chance ffs. (not aimed at you obviously)

I agree with your diagnosis, but I don't know that I like your solution. Gullan as the sole striker looks isolated and uninvolved unless he drops deep or wide, but I don't think that changes by swapping in Connell. 

From what I've seen of him - which is all of his Rovers' minutes, albeit that's not a huge sample - I don't see that Connell has the skillset to make a difference in that same role. 

I won't bang on about it again, but we need a forward with a different profile. I don't think they necessarily need to be a goalscorer, but they need to be able to hold their own against big centre halfs and bring others into game. Both Gullan and Connell would benefit massively from having that kind of teammate. 

[grumswall]

I agree with your diagnosis, but I don't know that I like your solution. Gullan as the sole striker looks isolated and uninvolved unless he drops deep or wide, but I don't think that changes by swapping in Connell. 
From what I've seen of him - which is all of his Rovers' minutes, albeit that's not a huge sample - I don't see that Connell has the skillset to make a difference in that same role. 
I won't bang on about it again, but we need a forward with a different profile. I don't think they necessarily need to be a goalscorer, but they need to be able to hold their own against big centre halfs and bring others into game. Both Gullan and Connell would benefit massively from having that kind of teammate. 

Yeah I agree with that. I don't think either of them are suited for the role we desperately need filled. Iv never been a massive fan of gullan, but I really can't see any reason to talk badly about him as a player right now. He's doing the best he can while playing a role he isn't suited to. We seen last week how much he improved by being able to drop deeper with someone else there to play ahead of him and we've seen he can be effective in a two during the covid season.
I haven't seen enough of Connel but he largely looks pretty useless beyond freeing gullan up against Hamilton.

[CountryBumpkin]

Having watched the highlights there, I feel Connell was unlucky with his shot against the post. It's clear he's only right footed and took the chance with the outside of his right foot rather than taking a chance on his left. He's had chances to score in almost every game he's played, seems like if he gets one, he'll go on to get a few, but the longer he waits, the more he's going to struggle. As for the rest, Ross has to be hitting the target near the end, no excuses there at all. Nolan, I feel for him, he tried to clear the ball and lost it completely as he turned, letting Lawless in for a free hit on goal. Hopefully he learns from that, I imagine he will. 

Gullan again is doing a thankless task because he's got no support up there for any of the long balls he wins regularly. Instead of greeting for a striker that can do that, perhaps we could just not do that? It's like the definition of madness, keep trying the same thing and expecting a different outcome. 

If we have to go long, it should not be to Gullans head, let him get in behind the defenders and have them turning, get Connolly or Ross, neither of whom are quick, to be closer to him to support any balls he gets into feet and have Easton finding the space made by those players runs. Or better still, keep it on the ground and move it quickly, get between the lines and make teams commit

[grumswall]

Gullan isn't fast enough to be running in behind defenders. He's probably slower than Ross is. He shouldn't be playing as a lone striker. It doesn't matter what system you put him in, he isn't suited to playing up front on his own. He should never be the focal point of the attack. He plays best when he can play off of someone else who can create some space for him.

[TxRover]

6 hours ago, CountryBumpkin said:

If we have to go long, it should not be to Gullans head, let him get in behind the defenders and have them turning, get Connolly or Ross, neither of whom are quick, to be closer to him to support any balls he gets into feet and have Easton finding the space made by those players runs. Or better still, keep it on the ground and move it quickly, get between the lines and make teams commit

 

5 hours ago, grumswall said:

Gullan isn't fast enough to be running in behind defenders. He's probably slower than Ross is. He shouldn't be playing as a lone striker. It doesn't matter what system you put him in, he isn't suited to playing up front on his own. He should never be the focal point of the attack. He plays best when he can play off of someone else who can create some space for him.

Honestly, our speed merchant is Mitchell. The problem is if you slot Mitchell into the lineup, you still want a big physical forward as the second attacker, not Gullan. With Gullan paired with Mitchell, we’d still be lacking the physical presence many crave.

I do wish I understood what, besides determination and effort, IM sees in Coulson.

[CALDERON]

1 hour ago, TxRover said:

 

Honestly, our speed merchant is Mitchell. The problem is if you slot Mitchell into the lineup, you still want a big physical forward as the second attacker, not Gullan. With Gullan paired with Mitchell, we’d still be lacking the physical presence many crave.

I do wish I understood what, besides determination and effort, IM sees in Coulson.

Probably determination and effort.  And the fact there isn't really anything else on the bench.  

[foreverarover]

After watching the highlights the defending at both goals is laughable. Inside your own six yard box if you get a chance to put laces through the ball and clear it that's what should be happening. What the hell was Nolan thinking of. We are a striker away from being a decent team which is encouraging though.

[Ro Sham Bo]

1 hour ago, foreverarover said:

After watching the highlights the defending at both goals is laughable. Inside your own six yard box if you get a chance to put laces through the ball and clear it that's what should be happening. What the hell was Nolan thinking of. We are a striker away from being a decent team which is encouraging though.

It won't happen but we could really do with another centre back as well. The fact is Nolan and O' Riordan could make blunders like that every week and not get dropped because there is nobody to replace them. 

[grumswall]

It won't happen but we could really do with another centre back as well. The fact is Nolan and O' Riordan could make blunders like that every week and not get dropped because there is nobody to replace them. 

Lang should be back relatively soon but even at that, going with 3 natural cbs in your squad isnt ideal.

[raith1974]

We need a striker, winger and defender, however we will probably bring in a striker and even then it will most likely be a loan.

Those goals conceded yesterday were shocking. Millen should have put his boot through the ball and Nolan shows a lack of experience. 

[raith1974]

1 hour ago, grumswall said:

2 hours ago, Ro Sham Bo said:

It won't happen but we could really do with another centre back as well. The fact is Nolan and O' Riordan could make blunders like that every week and not get dropped because there is nobody to replace them. 

Lang should be back relatively soon but even at that, going with 3 natural cbs in your squad isnt ideal.

Lang will be lucky to be back before the New Year hardly soon.

[CALDERON]

15 hours ago, raith1974 said:

He's not a clown, but he is also not good enough for this level. Waste of a wage. We were told throughout preseason players would only be signed if they are better than  what's here. In Connells case it appears we signed him as we had no number 9 and still don't. 

What strikers, who are currently available,  is Connell worse than?

[McGuigan1978]

I went into that yesterday expecting the worst to be honest, so to lose 2-1 and have chances to get something from the game is actually reasonably encouraging, albeit Partick Thistle had opportunities that they spurned as well. 

We feel like a decent, but ultimately incomplete team, and unless a few more come in, we’ll probably end up bumbling along in sixth or something for the bulk of the season.

I do think that from the games against Dundee and Partick, we don’t need to fear anyone, but by the same token, there looks like there’s not too much between a whole bunch of clubs, and it would be frustrating if we weren't challenging for top four. 

Talking about frustrating, I was getting exasperated at the use of subs yesterday. Just because you can make a huge array of changes now, doesn’t mean you have to, and with each additional change and system tweak, we got weaker and weaker, and seemed to lose the wee bit of momentum we’d built up. 

I’ve no idea what formation we ended up with, but it looked like a 2-5-3 and was all a bit of a guddle and just killed the game for us. 

Hopefully the law of averages kicks in for us next week against our bogey team, it has to at some point, right? 

[Enigma]

12 minutes ago, McGuigan1978 said:

Talking about frustrating, I was getting exasperated at the use of subs yesterday. Just because you can make a huge array of changes now, doesn’t mean you have to, 

To flip that on it’s head, now that you can make five subs why wouldn’t you try to take advantage of that rule. Granted we don’t have the squad size or depth to do it right now but in rugby these days you have players who are “starters” and “finishers”. I think we’re going to see that sort of concept come into football more now. Certainly the days of making just two like for like subs bang on the 70 minute mark are gone, or at least going.

[raith1974]

2 hours ago, CALDERON said:

What strikers, who are currently available,  is Connell worse than?

How do you or I know who is available. That's a matter for managers and football clubs. One things for sure Connell is not a Championship striker if he was Killie would have played him last season. A pointless signing and certainly no better than Mitchell. My god I sound like TX.

[Ro Sham Bo]

I have also channelled my inner TxRover and agree that Mitchell would be equally capable of carrying out the non goalscoring forward role that Connell performs. 

An absolute waste of a loan signing and the definition of a signing just for the sake of it. 

[CALDERON]

14 minutes ago, raith1974 said:

How do you or I know who is available. That's a matter for managers and football clubs. One things for sure Connell is not a Championship striker if he was Killie would have played him last season. A pointless signing and certainly no better than Mitchell. My god I sound like TX.

I meant available for selection at the moment (basically excluding Vaughan).  Also worth asking since you are privvy to boardroom info around finances it seems.