Raith Away

[Arabs4ever]

Does anyone actually think the academy system now is producing better football players than the days of s signings? Back in the day the kids signed with the professional clubs could play with their boys team where they were booted up and down the park by the lesser players but it taught them how to take a tackle, how to avoid a bad tackle, how to tackle back. All this possession play rubbish now means they rarely get tackled in the youths, then make the step up and find out there are players who will crunch them and they don't have the time they were afforded in the youth games, my opinion is that's why so many nowadays struggle to make the step up. Boys and youth football should be about getting the players ready and able to step up to the next level the current system certainly doesn't do that and we only really find out if players are ready when they have been sent out on loan, the good ones and the quick learners will thrive the ones set in to the way the youth teams play will not. Also we have probably all heard stories of the academy players strutting about school like Billy Bigballs, back in the day anyone behaving like that would have been put in their place by their school mates and team mates but now they are all cocooned together thinking they have made it. Sorry rant over.

Everything mentioned is what is wrong with the current setup. All this tick box exercise is precisely that. We were awarded some academy status when Goldie came in. He saw another opportunity and went for it. Proof in my eyes that they are all reading from a prepared script. If he had a good product turning out quality players he would have stuck around but he was found out much like Asghar and his other cronies.

[Arabs4ever]

The back five stay.

I'd go Cudjoe Sibbald Meekinson Wotherspoon

Moult Fotheringham

[shedka]

I wouldn’t start with same side , needs serious re think about our forward play or lack of

They'll come good, it was overall a good performance imo, just need to take chances Sat, get the first goal

[ARAbCHNID]

Back to the Walton/Hamilton incident. Watching it from home you didn't get to see (the filming is always sh!te at Stark's) that Walton got halved but the footage from the other angle showed how bad it was. Walton deserves a medal for not retaliating, it says a lot for him. But all the poor guy got was the egalitarian yellow. The incident required good refereeing which was never going to happen. The habitual yellow on yellow was scandalous.

But then as per several posts, where were Walton's mates when it happened, they should have been all over Don Robertson. Jack Hamilton came on at 60 mins & was there an agenda to get torn in, he looks like a bit of a hammer thrower. Iain Murray's maybe not daft. The incident happened on 70 mins & as has been suggested it seemed to raise the spirit of the home team.

We by contrast are a bunch of Weary Willies, sauntering about, where's the urgency, it's bad body language. Instead of running over to take the corners, both(?) just wander over like they're not that interested. Throw ins? Yawn. No buzz whatsoever.

We play them again on Sat 30th March unless wee Jonathan, Faddy & Leanne prefer the Friday and you know this, I hope we ****ing annihilate them. They did us, get the ****ers.

[japanarab]

Everything mentioned is what is wrong with the current setup. All this tick box exercise is precisely that. We were awarded some academy status when Goldie came in. He saw another opportunity and went for it. Proof in my eyes that they are all reading from a prepared script. If he had a good product turning out quality players he would have stuck around but he was found out much like Asghar and his other cronies.

If you check a few other teams’ boards you’ll find a lot of similar comments. All this possession type football is boring as feck. As good as Man City can be a lot of their games are boring as f*ck to watch and end up like a training game. Every man and their dog is trying to be Pep. Hilarious when jobsworth defenders are fannying about trying to play passes around the box from goal kicks which end up in chaos or goals conceded. If this is what our up and coming coaches are learning at Largs or wherever then we’re fecked. Hopefully this fad will fade out and maybe a style like Liverpool’s will prevail.

[TerryTheTerror]

Does anyone actually think the academy system now is producing better football players than the days of s signings? Back in the day the kids signed with the professional clubs could play with their boys team where they were booted up and down the park by the lesser players but it taught them how to take a tackle, how to avoid a bad tackle, how to tackle back. All this possession play rubbish now means they rarely get tackled in the youths, then make the step up and find out there are players who will crunch them and they don't have the time they were afforded in the youth games, my opinion is that's why so many nowadays struggle to make the step up. Boys and youth football should be about getting the players ready and able to step up to the next level the current system certainly doesn't do that and we only really find out if players are ready when they have been sent out on loan, the good ones and the quick learners will thrive the ones set in to the way the youth teams play will not. Also we have probably all heard stories of the academy players strutting about school like Billy Bigballs, back in the day anyone behaving like that would have been put in their place by their school mates and team mates but now they are all cocooned together thinking they have made it. Sorry rant over.

Are you seriously suggesting we should be making sure our younger players get the **** kicked out of them?

Do I think the current system is working better than 40 years ago? From a player's perspective I'd say it probably is, yes. That was no way to treat people, especially young lads. Like it or not, social attitudes have changed.

I think you are looking back with rose tinted spectacles. Did any more young players make it back then? Were there fewer big head arseholes? I don't have statistics but my feelings is no.

[Stoke_Arab]

I thought we played well especially first half but it's the old cliche isn't it, you need to take your chances when in the ascendancy. (Watt especially guilty again)

Second half, due to our points superiority it was obvious Murray was going to change things to try and get the win. So what do we do, change things to try to get the win! The pressure was all on them. If we had come away with a point everyone would have been ok with that, maybe not ecstatic but ok.

I'm afraid JG completely blew that with the subs.

[Stoke_Arab]

Regarding the Academy I've been questioning things for quite a while. Inability to develop a really good striker for one.

I think the criticisms being made in the last 24 hours are about the type of players we're producing.
Just for example if you put Glass Mochrie Meekison MacLeod on the pitch together they'll try to play football the right way but they all have one thing in common, they're 'nice' accomplished footballers coached in a modern style that lacks bite and the physicality that will bully opponents.

From what I've seen though, would agree that Meekison should replace Watt for a period, he looks capable of unlocking the puzzle that's holding us back in the final 3rd.

[Stoke_Arab]

Let's look at his subs again

He's brought Grieve on for Moult and Mochrie for Wotherspoon.

Whichever way you look at it that weakened our attack.
So instead of playing a weakened attack chasing the game he could have brought on defensive players to shore up the point.

Ok you can't legislate for a wonder strike but .....maybe Tillson or the new lad might have been in front of Brown when he stepped up.

There's been a couple of occasions when JG has got his subs right but Friday wasn't one of them.

[shedka]

Agree stoke but you know if he had made subs that looked negative, even with the draw he'd have got stick for it

However we'd all have preferred the draw, still it's a wonder goal out of nothing, it's not as if we were under the cosh or they'd been creating, it was literally 75/76 min where they finally got into our box won a corner, followed by a free kick and another corner after it deflected off the wall, and then the goal out of nowhere

Probably the best we've played on plastic for awhile, it's a different game altogether, took us 15-20 to adapt to the weird bounces but once we did wet looked a better side than them