Raith v Livi

Our last three games have been against teams that stubbornly sat in to hit us on the break. I will reserve judgement till we play a team where we score first and they need to come at us too. Getting that first goal is really important.

The most disappointing start to a league campaign possible yesterday, for me. Raith aren't a better side than us, IMO, but we showed ourselves up by resorting to long balls and not playing it enough on the deck and utilising our two best creative players, Pittman and Hippo. In fairness, we hit the crossbar twice yesterday, Cuthbert made a terrific save from Mullen from both a half-volley inside the box then from a free kick, White missed an excellent opportunity from a Buchanan cutback during the first half then Buchanan himself fluffed his lines second half in the box. Our strikers aren't bollocks; concerning for me is that Buchanan has only scored once all season, in the the friendly game at Stenny. Truth be told, he hasn't looked close to scoring save for his opportunity yesterday and a few half chances against Clyde. That to me says the system isn't playing to his strengths, and whilst it's a team game, we've not exactly looked potent at any stage so far, having a striker up front who scored 20-odd goals for a team nearly relegated is someone we should be building around.

Didn't like the style of play we had on the go yesterday, missed the first goal so I can't comment on the supposed period where we were on top for the first 5 or 10 minutes, but as soon as we started chasing the game Raith just sat back and it was a similar story to the Clyde games - total struggle to score. Gibbons and Pittman are two excellent young players but a) I don't think Gibbons is fully physically ready to play the sitting role in midfield role on his own and b) Pittman should be further up the field because his creativity could be the key against defences who are dug in. Poor planning on a club level that wages have been put towards players for other positions when CM is soft as shit at times, couldn't help but wonder at times yesterday that that Faria guy would've just shored up the midfield and gave us a degree of control there.

Circumstances outwith Burchill's control to put Gallagher and Cole straight in to the fray when they've essentially had no game time between them this season, hopefully the inury to Longridge isn't serious because Gary Glen at LWB/LM will be a recipe for disaster against a team like Queens. I still think we've to see our strongest XI this season, be it due to injuries or perhaps Faria will sign, but the defence was all over the shop yesterday, the midfield was never in it and the delivery was poor throughout. Hopefully a learning curve for a lot of the boys yesterday and hopefully tempers the expectations of fans to a degree.

EDIT: Forgot to add, the abuse of White makes no sense. His hold up play has come on leaps and bounds and he looks at times the only player willing to make things happen. Other players adopt a pedestrian pace at times when it comes to us breaking forward on the counter but White always looks to get it going at a really decent pace. Underrated player, and even with his status as a deity to some on here (myself included) there is a lot more to his game than just being a traditional striker, hopefully our system is tweaked by Burchill to get the best out of him and Buchanan.

Afro wrote:The most disappointing start to a league campaign possible yesterday, for me. Raith aren't a better side than us, IMO, but we showed ourselves up by resorting to long balls and not playing it enough on the deck and utilising our two best creative players, Pittman and Hippo. In fairness, we hit the crossbar twice yesterday, Cuthbert made a terrific save from Mullen from both a half-volley inside the box then from a free kick, White missed an excellent opportunity from a Buchanan cutback during the first half then Buchanan himself fluffed his lines second half in the box. Our strikers aren't bollocks; concerning for me is that Buchanan has only scored once all season, in the the friendly game at Stenny. Truth be told, he hasn't looked close to scoring save for his opportunity yesterday and a few half chances against Clyde. That to me says the system isn't playing to his strengths, and whilst it's a team game, we've not exactly looked potent at any stage so far, having a striker up front who scored 20-odd goals for a team nearly relegated is someone we should be building around.

Didn't like the style of play we had on the go yesterday, missed the first goal so I can't comment on the supposed period where we were on top for the first 5 or 10 minutes, but as soon as we started chasing the game Raith just sat back and it was a similar story to the Clyde games - total struggle to score. Gibbons and Pittman are two excellent young players but a) I don't think Gibbons is fully physically ready to play the sitting role in midfield role on his own and b) Pittman should be further up the field because his creativity could be the key against defences who are dug in. Poor planning on a club level that wages have been put towards players for other positions when CM is soft as shit at times, couldn't help but wonder at times yesterday that that Faria guy would've just shored up the midfield and gave us a degree of control there.

Circumstances outwith Burchill's control to put Gallagher and Cole straight in to the fray when they've essentially had no game time between them this season, hopefully the inury to Longridge isn't serious because Gary Glen at LWB/LM will be a recipe for disaster against a team like Queens. I still think we've to see our strongest XI this season, be it due to injuries or perhaps Faria will sign, but the defence was all over the shop yesterday, the midfield was never in it and the delivery was poor throughout. Hopefully a learning curve for a lot of the boys yesterday and hopefully tempers the expectations of fans to a degree.

EDIT: Forgot to add, the abuse of White makes no sense. His hold up play has come on leaps and bounds and he looks at times the only player willing to make things happen. Other players adopt a pedestrian pace at times when it comes to us breaking forward on the counter but White always looks to get it going at a really decent pace. Underrated player, and even with his status as a deity to some on here (myself included) there is a lot more to his game than just being a traditional striker, hopefully our system is tweaked by Burchill to get the best out of him and Buchanan.

Very good post mate, it sums up really well where we are at this present moment in time.

Liviforever wrote:In our last two games we've looked more threatening when Sheerin came on, he's linked up well with White and Glen in our last two games too.

Wonder what deliveries Buchanan got playing for Alloa, because you can't say he's not a goal scorer when he finished 3rd top n the league playing for the 2nd bottom team.

most likely better than he will get in our team, have to agree with Afro saying we are not playing to the strikers strengths .
Hippo on the left would be a major step in the right direction.

Liviforever wrote:  I blame Bertie, wasn't enough negativity from him to balance it out.

I have to hold my hands up... When you posted about how good our record is at Starks Park I thought about telling you off for setting us up for disaster...as you know I didn't do it, a terrible miss on my part, you set it up beautifully for me and I missed the target!

Very poor performance if you take into account that Raith are a honking side. They stuck men behind the ball and hit us on the counter. We were outnumbered in midfield and having Pittman doing the donkey work in the three games so far has meant his creativity has been limited. When you consider we had Kyle or even O'Brien to do that near the end of last season, it calls out that we need Cole playing in that holding midfield role to break up the play and allow Pittman and (to an extent) Gibbons to push further forward.

I think Burchill is the master of his own downfall in that he's trying to accomodate all of these attack-minded players we have. He needs to find that balance that worked superbly from April onwards last season. From what I've noticed so far, Buchanan and White are not going to be successful as a partneship although I don't want to jump to conclusions considering they've only played three competitive games together. White and Mullen? Yes. Buchanan on his own? Perhaps. Sheerin and White? Plenty of potential. Also, I think Mullen is wasted on the wing. He's much more of a threat when he's played in the middle. Take the cup final and Falkirk at home for perfect examples.

Tougher game against Queens on Saturday and the game will be won in the midfield. Drop White or Buchanan if that means Pitts gets to play behind the lone stroker and we can dominate the game more.

Interestingly the QoS game is the first game where the opposition are unlikely to defend in depth where White and Buchanan could play as an attacking partnership. Including the friendlies they never played at the same time against Real Sociedad or Motherwell.

Breaking down teams that defend in depth has been a constant problem pretty much since McNulty left. Would be worth seeing how they get on in a more open game.

I believe Gordon is suspended for one more game which is a pain.

Hate us playing a lone striker, White normally gets a sore neck watch the ball go whizzing over his head all game. Buchanan would prob fit in better playing that role but I'd rather start Sheerin and White up front as they have linked up in games when he comes on as sub.

The White flick on to Mullen from a throw in actually works quite well; even when he doesn't get the ball his height and presents often leads the opposition player into making a mistake.

Buchanan has the speed and ball control; just wish his shooting was better - maybe its a confidence thing.

Sheerin might be best used for half a game perhaps replacing Mullen after he's gone and run himself into the ground again

Liviforever wrote:Hate us playing a lone striker, White normally gets a sore neck watch the ball go whizzing over his head all game. Buchanan would prob fit in better playing that role but I'd rather start Sheerin and White up front as they have linked up in games when he comes on as sub.

To me, this depends on who we're playing e.g from last season: Alloa in the cup final, Falkirk, Raith and Queens. We played one up front (usually Mullen), packed the midfield and hit these teams on the counter. I agree there have been times when we should've played two up front and also agree that White isn't as effective as a lone striker. As I've already mentioned, it really just depends on who the opposition are.

LiviCub wrote:

Liviforever wrote:Hate us playing a lone striker, White normally gets a sore neck watch the ball go whizzing over his head all game. Buchanan would prob fit in better playing that role but I'd rather start Sheerin and White up front as they have linked up in games when he comes on as sub.

To me, this depends on who we're playing e.g from last season: Alloa in the cup final, Falkirk, Raith and Queens. We played one up front (usually Mullen), packed the midfield and hit these teams on the counter. I agree there have been times when we should've played two up front and also agree that White isn't as effective as a lone striker. As I've already mentioned, it really just depends on who the opposition are.

Hadn't noticed we played one up front against Queens, seemed to work against them then. White came on as sub in those last few games and did have an impact on the game too so maybe you're on to something.


I think Burchill has to just get his best team figured out though and stop playing everyone to keep them all happy, it's not just up front he's doing it, Gallagher is being put in a RB to accommodate Sives, and it let him bring on Neill later on the see out the game when we got ourselves in front against Clyde, he needs to pick our best two at CB and up front and leave the others out. Still feels like pre season where everyone is getting a shot at coming on.