Clocks back Rovers v Stranraer

[Hank Scorpio]

McGlynn is certainly more qualified to say whether he’s guff than you or I.

I’d agree with you about how poor he’s been but then he’s mostly been used as a right wing back.
I can’t recall him being used as a centre back at all recently.

Which makes it puzzling that he got a new deal in the summer if McGlynn is reluctant to play him in his natural position.

He can’t header the ball properly. That’s the same whether he plays full back or centre half. And it’s definitely worse when he is playing centre half as the ball is constantly dropping to an on-rushing midfielder. McGlynn not playing him is the correct decision for me, based on what I’ve seen of him.

Folk crying out for Tait are mad, as well. Based on what, other than the Falkirk cup game?

[TxRover]

44 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Folk crying out for Tait are mad, as well. Based on what, other than the Falkirk cup game?

 

Because as an attacking mid, in place of Armstrong or Dingwall for instance, I’d love to see his energy. Have either of those two done anything of note either!

[Scary Bear]

9 hours ago, Hank Scorpio said:

 

He can’t header the ball properly. That’s the same whether he plays full back or centre half. And it’s definitely worse when he is playing centre half as the ball is constantly dropping to an on-rushing midfielder. McGlynn not playing him is the correct decision for me, based on what I’ve seen of him.

Folk crying out for Tait are mad, as well. Based on what, other than the Falkirk cup game?

 

On McKay, i’m not completely sold on him being a good player either. He’s proven time and time again he’s no right back, however McGlynn keeps playing him there (not to mention the emergency forward incident). However he had played Centre Back BM (before McGlynn) and he did okay without being anything to write home about. However, if he’s as bad as you say, why has McGlynn not loaned him out or tried to get rid?

On Tait, he looked excellent against Falkirk in the cup, yet when we have a spate of injuries he still doesn’t get a look in. Why play him in one game where he does well and then have him bench-warming again? That, for me is mad, or rather poor management of players. If I was that player i’d be unhappy about that.

Then there’s the likes of Bowie, who was excellent at the start of the season and looks a player. He’s had a bit of game time. Jack Smith also seems to be in favour but he hasn’t done much yet.

For me, watching from the stand (only at Starks’s Park, obviously), it’s a wee bit inconsistent.

McGlynn was good for us first time around, but I don’t want to be pissing about in League 1 forever, but that seems to be where we are at. Without Vaughan and Hendry you can already see the results dropping away. Might as well try and bring youth players through and see if they can stake a claim for being a first team regular.

Edited November 7, 2019 by Scary Bear

[kev23]

Because as an attacking mid, in place of Armstrong or Dingwall for instance, I’d love to see his energy. Have either of those two done anything of note either!

GET BRIAN AND OSEI ON!!

[Hank Scorpio]

“Can’t be any worse” is always a good excuse. And for avoidance of doubt - they definitely can.

[Paco]

We lost on Saturday so all the cliches are coming out - play the young boys, y we no go part time, etc.

We’re consistent, if nothing else.

[Ro Sham Bo]

Victoria and Allan still out for this match.

Victoria sounds as though he might be ready next weekend and Allan is progressing but there is "no timescale" on his return.

 

[TxRover]

20 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

“Can’t be any worse” is always a good excuse. And for avoidance of doubt - they definitely can.

And I specifically said “...either of those two done anything of note either”, referring to Armstrong and Dingwall. Simply noting a similar, or perhaps lessor, scale of accomplishment is NOT suggesting they can’t be any worse. It is suggesting the opportunity might be worthwhile...as is the note that we need to develop a little depth here and, opponents record wise, this is the string of games to try it in.

If we keep pounding the same old group at everybody, and slipping slowly further behind, we gain nothing in team development and set ourselves up for playoff disappointment, if we get that far.

[R.R.FC]

Last week was the first time we had fielded the same 11 in back to back games since August. That was a different starting line up 8 games in a row. Every player in our squad has had minutes. We are in early November and we have already used 24 players. I don’t think ‘pounding the same old group’ is a criticism that can be levelled at us this season.

If anything I think we would benefit from being able to field a settled starting 11 week after week. Unfortunately injuries have robbed us of that chance so far.

McGlynn has shown with Bowie and to a lesser extent Smith that if the youngsters are good enough he will give them time. The average age of our midfield and strikers against Peterhead and East Fife was 21. I rate Tait from what I’ve see but McGlynn sees him every day and the reason he isn’t picking him won’t be anything other than he hasn’t shown, either in training or games, that he is better than those ahead of him.

[Ro Sham Bo]

I thought Tait looked quite promising also, but a better option at this stage than Spencer or Matthews? I'm not so sure.

When Spencer is suspended I would probably we give him a chance then rather than move Miller out of the right back position, right enough.

[Scottydog]

Re, dropping Armstrong and Gullan, both put in near Flanaganesque performances last week , which would be more than reason enough to bench them both.

[TxRover]

6 hours ago, R.R.FC said:

Last week was the first time we had fielded the same 11 in back to back games since August. That was a different starting line up 8 games in a row. Every player in our squad has had minutes.

Not really. McKay, Watson, Tait haven’t had minutes, and there is surely a reason that JMcG has them out there. God knows we need to get them some play...hell, Mendy got shipped out to get experience. The fact that JMcG hasn’t shipped them out suggests that he feels they can play in some capacity at this level. Let’s let them.

[R.R.FC]

8 minutes ago, TxRover said:

Not really. McKay, Watson, Tait haven’t had minutes, and there is surely a reason that JMcG has them out there. God knows we need to get them some play...hell, Mendy got shipped out to get experience. The fact that JMcG hasn’t shipped them out suggests that he feels they can play in some capacity at this level. Let’s let them.

Yes they have. They’ve all started games for us this season. Watson is out of his depth and has been pretty much every time he has played. Any shouts to recall him to the team ahead of Miller are absolutely wild.

Tait is a 17 year old kid. As noted above, he isn’t currently better than Matthews, Spencer or Hendry which is why his time has been limited. There is plenty time for him to get games and develop. At 17 this season is far from make or break for him. He’s a had a couple of starts and minutes off the bench, that is the perfect amount of game time for his development at this stage. He doesn’t need to be starting 30 plus games a season right now at his age.

McKay, quite simply, isn’t as good as Bene, Davo or S. Anderson and he hasn’t performed recently when given a chance.

He would probably benefit from a loan spell away but we can’t just loan Tait, Watson and McKay out because they aren’t starting games. Not unless we want to run with only 2 or 3 players on the bench and no defensive cover. That’s why he hasn’t ‘shipped them out.’

We would all love the starting line up to be full of players that have come through our youth team (and on occasions this season a number of players in the team have). However, not every youth player is going to be good enough and unfortunately that means some young players will be nothing more than squad filler. 

Given McGlynn’s background as a youth coach and experience of developing young players at us (both on loan and our own) I’d be inclined to trust his judgement and the way he is handling those 3 is to the benefit of Raith Rovers.

Ultimately what is to the benefit of Raith Rovers may be different to what benefits the individual players, for example, I have no interest in us making our defence considerably worse by playing someone like Watson just to give him minutes when the clear facts are he will never be good enough for us. McGlynn has shown if they are good enough they will play.

[TxRover]

Miller is being played out of position...
 

Playing Watson on the edge is a reasonable decision with our preferred back three, as they provide solid support and guidance. With Davo out, this cuts both ways.

McKay needs playing at CB, now is the obvious time.

Spencer is about to be suspended and also has a nicked knee. Tait has shown potential as an attacking mid, the role Spencer has pretty much been filling.

Smith is back from injury, and is seeing little opportunity because we are favoring Gullan (bye-bye in Jan) and Baird (possibly also gone in Jan), why?

Jan is closing in, and we need to know what we have,  not be guessing and assuming. There will be an opportunity for a loan or two, and possibly a player...it would behoove us to know what we need most.

[CALDERON]

Watson is nowhere near good enough yet, Mckay hasn't done anywhere near enough with his chances and we haven't seen alot of Tait at all. 

 

[Ro Sham Bo]

Miller is being played out of position...
 
Playing Watson on the edge is a reasonable decision with our preferred back three, as they provide solid support and guidance. With Davo out, this cuts both ways.
McKay needs playing at CB, now is the obvious time.
Spencer is about to be suspended and also has a nicked knee. Tait has shown potential as an attacking mid, the role Spencer has pretty much been filling.
Smith is back from injury, and is seeing little opportunity because we are favoring Gullan (bye-bye in Jan) and Baird (possibly also gone in Jan), why?
Jan is closing in, and we need to know what we have,  not be guessing and assuming. There will be an opportunity for a loan or two, and possibly a player...it would behoove us to know what we need most.

Out of position or not, every time I've seen Miller play in the middle he's had little impact on the match. He's a much better proposition on the right of a back 4 or 5.

Based on what I've seen of Smith, like Tait, he's also shown promise but I think Gullan is better than him at this stage. If Smith could manage to go a month without being injured that woukd also help his development massively.

[Broken Algorithms]

2 hours ago, CALDERON said:

Watson is nowhere near good enough yet, Mckay hasn't done anywhere near enough with his chances and we haven't seen alot of Tait at all. 

Watson is a lost cause as far as I'm concerned. He'll be out the senior game within the next few years. He might pull a Mark Whatley and return later on, but that game at Bayview where East Fife ended their 30 years of hurt ruined him. 

McKay was excellent in the season we got relegated, but since then he's well down the pecking order and has had plenty of howlers. He's pretty awful at heading the ball away. 

As for Tait, I've not seen enough to comment. 

[TxRover]

Gullan has looked more like a Rock Hammer than The Hammer. I agree we haven’t seen much of Tait, so I like to...and at home versus the lower half of the table is as good a spot as any.

McKay fits into CB, let’s see if he can regain that form with Davo out. If he can’t, then we’ll know.

Let’s see Watson in as a wide right back and move Miller into the midfield with Spencer and allow GAndo to move to attacking mid If we don’t put Tait there. Stranraer and Forfar are the games to use right now to learn something.

[grumswall]

Miller is a rb. He's shown alot more there than he has at cm for us, where we've lost the midfield battle nearly everytime he's played there. It would be very surprising to see Watson stay beyond his current contract and I'd be surprised if mckay did aswell. Tait has looked like he has the technical ability so at 17 he needs to compliment that with hard work and if he's good enough he will get game time. I would start tait in cm ahead of moving Miller there but realistically he isn't ready to be playing every week.

[Jilted John]

Have the people calling for Dave McKay to get a start actually seen him play? I don’t like slating young players but neither he or Watson are going to be good enough and I suspect both will leave at the end of the season.

I don’t see us playing a back three tomorrow against a team who will almost certainly have ten men behind the ball.