Raith Rovers vs Partick Thistle

[grumswall]

I didn't think there was much between the teams today. We took our chances and thistle didn't. In saying that, if we hadn't sat in so much I don't think we would have conceded two today. Can't comment on either of thistles penalty shouts but ours was a stonewaller. Sneddon got away with one when he handled the ball outside his area after fumbling it. He also made a great save from tumilty. Foster was absolutely on darios line second half. I honestly wasn't too happy with him signing but he has well and truly proved me wrong. He's enjoying his football and it shows. Long may it continue.

[grumswall]

I think we are plenty good enough to reach the play offs. However, without like for like options on the bench we won't trouble the top of the league.

The problem is we do have like for like replacements on the bench. We don't have someone a bit different to change a game.

[pantene proV]

Nah, when Varian or Dario get subbed we have nothing to offer up top. We need a striker.

[Broken Algorithms]

1 minute ago, grumswall said:

He's enjoying his football and it shows. Long may it continue.

It was tremendous to watch him in the final 10 minutes before he was subbed off. While he was quieter, he knew that he'd got his goal and was walking about with Thistle players having resorted to giving him sly kicks about the park. He's probably a contender for player of the month, but today it was fantastic to see him walk about with a big smile on his face. 

[Raith Against The Machine]

BRS is a really interesting one. At times he's looked really very good, and I agree that it tends to be when he starts rather than when he comes off the bench. 

The weakest part of his game, to me, seems to be his awareness, and how he plugs into the wider midfield battle. He tends to win his one-on-ones and I love his drive when he's got the ball at his feet, but he's caught in possession quite a bit.

It's obviously a much higher level, but the third goal at Parkhead comes through him waiting on a pass from Tumilty that Turnbull nips in and steals. I think a more experienced player at this level anticipates that and either moves towards the ball or gets their body in the way to block the runner. 

Given that, it doesn't help when he's being pitched into these scrappy backs to the wall battles, where nobody's where they should be and everyone's diving into challenges. It's much harder to get your foot on the ball and pick a pass. 

He's got the right attitude though, and I do think he brings something else to the midfield. I agree we need something else in that midfield, but I'd say that it's in addition to BRS rather than in place of him. 

I think it's very clear that the first priority is someone else to play through the middle. Either as the 10 or the 9. Tait looks uncomfortable in Vaughan's shoes, and right now neither Varian or Poplatnik look like getting five goals this season rather than the 15+ you'd be hoping for. 

But this is a match thread, so a quick point on Thistle. If you put any one of MacDonald, Tumilty, Berra or Benedictus into that back line, I think Thistle win that fairly comfortably. They've got the midfield and the goals, but it's built on sand with that defence. (And if we're doing swaps, give us a Brian Graham or even a Zac Rudden and we'd sail into the playoffs.)

[keyser_soze]

Yes ours was a stonewall pen Bene couldn't have got out of the way for their claim, Thistle for had a lot of the ball but were wasteful with it, was delighted to go 3 up but then WHF ? 2 poor goals to concede, however 3 points is all that matter and another 3 on Wednesday puts us right in the mix for the top 4.

 

For me Dylan Tait was a waste of a shirt today, shat out of a couple of challenges and just seems to be waiting on his move to hibs, great player when he was our man , just seems to be a different guy now ?

 

 

[Raith Against The Machine]

1 minute ago, keyser_soze said:

For me Dylan Tait was a waste of a shirt today, shat out of a couple of challenges and just seems to be waiting on his move to hibs, great player when he was our man , just seems to be a different guy now ?

I don't think that's fair. At one point he literally threw himself head first into a tackle. He's not putting any less effort in, if anything [cliche] he's trying too hard. [/cliche] 

I think he's missing Vaughan more than anyone else. There's more of an onus on him to get the ball into the striker rather than having that link inbetween. In essence, he is that link now, and it's not easy. 

It would've been interesting if he'd been able to play that role in the early games against lower league sides where it might've been a kinder baptism, but obviously we still had Vaughan at that point. 

[Hank Scorpio]

First time back to Starks since the Falkirk 1-1 game for me. Enjoyed it thoroughly, great atmosphere at times.

Funny game, today. I thought we were pretty lucky to be 1-0 up, and exceptionally lucky to be 2-0 up, but ultimately deserved to be 3-0 up, then had the nerve jangling end, as seems to be our want. Zanatta excellent again, signing of the season for us. Strong and confident and a total handful for any Championship full back. Well and truly shut up both Ayr and Partick fans, as well as the many doubters within our own support. Benedictus obviously got two goals but he was solid defensively alongside Berra again. I’m keen to see a bit of Lang at some point but short of an injury to either Berra or Benedictus it’s hard to see him getting a look in. Like everyone else I wasn’t particularly enthused to see him stepping up to take the penalty but he’s confident and actually took it really well. Sheddon had shown his quality with the save from Tumilty a while before and he went the right way with the penalty so it speaks volumes for the quality of the strike that it still evaded him.

A wee word on the officials - all three of them were shocking, but particularly the home side linesman and the referee. Rare to see so many simply incorrect decisions in one game. Thistle had two, for my money’s worth, good shouts for penalties turned down. The one where Sneddon fumbled the ball and then scooped it back from outside his area was utterly blatant, with the linesman standing looking right at it no more than 15 yards away. Ricky Foster losing the rag with Zanatta and getting in his face was enjoyable. He’s a right wee p***k.

Actually don’t think the minor collapse is such a bad thing. Shows we can get through it even if it happens. Obviously, I’d rather it didn’t happen, but we may, and I hope that we have, exorcised some demons today. Win on Wednesday and we will be flying.

Edited September 26, 2021 by Hank Scorpio

[Ebanda's Handyman Services]

For all the good the railway side assistant did he might as well have stuck his flag up his arse.

I think Musonda will become a better option at DM than BRS and we need an upgrade on Varian and Poplatnik if we're going to look capable of going up.

[keyser_soze]

13 minutes ago, Raith Against The Machine said:

I don't think that's fair. At one point he literally threw himself head first into a tackle. He's not putting any less effort in, if anything [cliche] he's trying too hard. [/cliche] 

I think he's missing Vaughan more than anyone else. There's more of an onus on him to get the ball into the striker rather than having that link inbetween. In essence, he is that link now, and it's not easy. 

It would've been interesting if he'd been able to play that role in the early games against lower league sides where it might've been a kinder baptism, but obviously we still had Vaughan at that point. 

Fair point, for me he just hasn't been at the races the last couple of games, if that's down to him not linking up with Lewis then fair do's

[Scary Bear]

43 minutes ago, pantene proV said:

Nah, when Varian or Dario get subbed we have nothing to offer up top. We need a striker.

I agree. I suppose we had to use our subs, what with a game against Dunfermline on Wednesday, but it didn’t work well for us. I wonder if we’d have seen the game out or even got a fourth goal if we had just stuck with the starting eleven.

If we had kept Dario on there would would have been a chance of him getting injured seen as that Partick player had lost the plot.

[TxRover]

 

2 hours ago, grumswall said:

2 hours ago, Ro Sham Bo said:

BRS might be decent enough playing from the start but he's absolutely no use coming on as a sub. Young Mitchell also struggled badly when he came on. 
The drop off when we make some subs is quite worrying. 

I don't rate brs but he did break up the game by generally being clumsy and just getting in everyone's way.

2 hours ago, SirJimmyofNic said:

BRS to me looks just another Mendy

BRS is just keeping Frankie’s spot warm, dinna worry!

[Been going too long]

Just now, TxRover said:

 

BRS is just keeping Frankie’s spot warm, dinna worry!

I think your right Tx 

[TxRover]

1 hour ago, Ebanda's Handyman Services said:

For all the good the railway side assistant did he might as well have stuck his flag up his arse.

I think Musonda will become a better option at DM than BRS and we need an upgrade on Varian and Poplatnik if we're going to look capable of going up.

It is entirely possible that the club is playing this year to consolidate Championship level play before spending more to push for promotion in a year or two. My prediction is no new striker before January, and then just replacements for Pop or Varian, if they leave.

With regard to subs, Pop was a good choice as a more defensively friendly forward, as his consolidating and passing late showed good awareness of the importance of possession and wasting time.

Edited September 26, 2021 by TxRover

[R.R.FC]

Tait certainly hasn’t been at his best in recent weeks but he has still shown flashes of his quality. Caught on the ball too often today but he still played a couple of excellent passes, particularly one through ball to Zanatta (I think) in the first half.

I think he is suffering a bit from increased expectations too. At the start of the season, he was a promising young player looking to make himself a fixture in the team after being in and out last season. Now he has been signed by one of the best teams in the country for 6 figures and expected to be a key player for us. Fingers crossed he can get back to his best soon.

[TxRover]

3 hours ago, Ro Sham Bo said:

Young Mitchell also struggled badly when he came on. 

Not sure I buy that. I was watching the match and he was aggressive and involved for the 10-15 minutes he got. He wasn’t stunning, but his attempted through pass was a brilliant try that was only stopped by a last second lunge by the Partick defender.

[Hank Scorpio]

I completely forgot about that incident in the first half where it looked like Berra had a tap in on the line that eventually got cleared. McGlynn is saying in his interview that the video analysis shows that the ball is over the line. Be interested to see what happened in the highlights. What did it look like from the Thistle end?

[Raith Against The Machine]

2 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I completely forgot about that incident in the first half where it looked like Berra had a tap in on the line that eventually got cleared. McGlynn is saying in his interview that the video analysis shows that the ball is over the line. Be interested to see what happened in the highlights. What did it look like from the Thistle end?

I think scoring from the subsequent corner really took the sting out of that. 

[foreverarover]

The problem is we do have like for like replacements on the bench. We don't have someone a bit different to change a game.

Imo we have 3 subs on the bench who are game ready. Ythe rest are way below what is required imo.

[Roath Raver]

12 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

I completely forgot about that incident in the first half where it looked like Berra had a tap in on the line that eventually got cleared. McGlynn is saying in his interview that the video analysis shows that the ball is over the line. Be interested to see what happened in the highlights. What did it look like from the Thistle end?

Berra kicks it off the inside of the post and it goes onto the goalies shin then away in the footage. Very hard to tell.