R.R.FC

Yeah, Rudden was absolutely required. He’s looked an upgrade on Gullan anyway but with Gullan wanting more minute and the opportunity of a decent move, we had to replace him. No complaints on the Rudden signing. Turner looks a pointless signing however. Been very poor so far and with Stanton returning soon and being a better player, I don’t see where he fits in with the midfield options we already have. Seems like a waste of probably quite a sizeable wage which would have been better allocated to centre back/full back. I said before the game I’d have played Matthews alongside Brown and still stand by that. Felt really sorry for Brown having to be a one man midfield trying to stem the tide. Desperation to have as many attacking players on the pitch actually hampers us going forward. Give us a solid base to try and control the game and win second balls and we might actually then be able to give the forward players the platform to play. The 4-1-3-2 showed imperfections even when Stanton was fit but he could just about paper the cracks, without him it is a bit of a mess. I get Hamilton and Vaughan are the two attacking players in form right now but Vaughan can easily play as a 10 in a 4-2-3-1 with a much more solid midfield behind. I actually think we have the midfield and attacking options to play a narrow midfield diamond, most players could play some position of that formation but we simply don’t have the full backs to provide the width needed and attacking quality to play that or a 5 at the back (unless it was literally a flat back 5). So we are hamstrung into always playing something with wide midfielder while they’re all off form. Said it before but 2 full backs have to be top priority alongside a centre back in the summer. The problem with Stanton coming back now is he isn’t coming back into the same team so it’s not just going to magically make things better. We have numerous players off form and clearly lacking confidence. I was hopeful from Murray’s interview last week we were going ‘back to basics’ tonight but unfortunately we seen the same shortcomings once again. He still has enough credit in the bank after the start of the season for me and who knows, if by some miracle we beat Dundee United in a couple of weeks we could be top again but seeing the same defeat to Airdrie 3 times is a damning reflection on the tactical ability of any manager.

Could just copy and paste whatever I wrote from any of the previous Airdrie games. Comfortably beaten and it is a concern Murray can’t seem to work out McCabe at all. Well deserved win for Airdrie, didn’t have to play brilliantly but got their goal early and then killed the game and nullified us completely. Great desire across their team, lost count the amount of blocks they got in on the edge of the box. Think we only forced two comfortable saves from Rae. Some world class levels of time wasting as well, I wish we were capable of killing games off as professionally as that when we take a lead! Good support in terms of numbers for a Friday night game on the TV, best Airdrie support I can remember. There was no lack of effort from us, plenty of endeavour we are just a team low on confidence. So many players off form at the moment (Byrne, Turner, Easton, Mullin, Smith and Connolly) or just not good enough for where we want to get (Dick/Millen) it is hard to see where things turn around. The singing section was an improvement on previous games but only very sporadic and not great. Early goal and poor performance will do that though. Positives are I thought that was Dabrowski’s best game since Tannadice, couple of decent saves and punches from corners. Watson got 90 minutes and showed bits of why he’ll be important once he gets back up to speed. Also, it is hopefully the last game we play without Sam Stanton.

Yeah the opening page of the document introducing the figures mentioned that we were ‘well on our way to a profitable first year under the new ownership’ so I believe the forecast with prize money etc is for us to turn some sort of profit by the end of the season. Be interesting to know league position that is based on, I would imagine 4th place. Quite a turnaround from last year where I believe we had an over £300k loss even with a Scottish Cup Quarter Final at Ibrox. Challenge for the new board, as they have said themselves is to keep the growth going both on and off the park. I believe they still have plenty ideas for off the park growth. Real challenge is maintaining as much of the increased crowds as possible even if results drop off, as we’ve seen it recent weeks. Also, it’s much easier to be open and transparent when it’s all good news. Over £600k increased revenue is the first 6 months is outstanding and they are quite rightly making this big news. The key is maintaining that transparency even if the news isn’t as good. However, the new owners have been good to their word so far so I am cautiously (as has to be the way after many years supporting the Rovers) optimistic for the future.

That numbers pack is really fantastic work. The headline figures are obviously excellent but just the way it’s put together is very professional and easy to digest. Hopefully will be circulated with the wider fan base at a later date as it really is very positive news. Also has the footballing operation financial figures backing up what Murray said in his open goal interview a couple of weeks ago that there has only been a very small increase in the playing budget this season. ‘Fife Gretna’ rumours well wide of the mark, thankfully.

I think bits of all of the above are true. I don’t think we’ll really know for certain if we’ve been ‘found out’ until Sam Stanton returns. His unique ability and energy made the slightly strange 4-1-3-2 formation work. Without him it doesn’t. Obviously you can’t have the whole team built around the availability of one player which is a clear failing. We’ve had loads of injuries elsewhere this season and been able to cope. But with Stanton we’ve chopped and changed formation and players since his injury without success. We haven’t been strong defensively all season and have never won a league game by more than a goal and our vulnerability from set pieces that we saw last season has emerged again so there is a mix of us not being as good as our results showed and teams spotting potential weaknesses which lends weight to the ‘we’ve been worked out argument.’ However, to say we’ve been found out would suggest we’ve played the exact same way in the last 6/7 games as we did when we were 14 unbeaten and that’s not true. We’ve been constantly making changes to both formation and personnel trying to find the solution to a big Sam Stanton shaped hole in the middle of our team.

What’s the story with Lee Ashcroft? There were a few rumours it was pretty much a done deal for him to join us on loan a few weeks ago. However, he’s obviously started the last few games due to injuries. Not sure how long Lamie and Portales are out for or what the plan is for Astley but is there any chance Ashcroft still goes out on loan? Or has he played himself into being kept on as a squad option for the rest of the season?

Yeah, the Turner signing only really made sense if Stanton was out for a significant period of time in my opinion. We’ve definitely not seen the best of him yet but I do think he has plenty to offer so can see why Murray went for him. However, the squad would be much better balanced with genuine competition/improvement at full back than Turner given the options we already have in midfield. I think we still have the budget for a centre back so I don’t think it has affected that (hopefully anyway!). As always we probably have to wait until our business is concluded to know for sure (we may still add a centre back and full back) but it does seem an unnecessary signing at the moment.

The hard thing for Murray is there are so many key players off form at the moment. Byrne and Easton were two of our standout players up until 5-6 weeks ago. Likewise Euan Murray was excellent up until he started struggling with injuries. Do you drop them for players that aren’t as good but possibly in better form? Or keep playing them in the hope they play themselves into form? He has done the latter with Byrne and the former with Easton and neither have worked. Saturday needs to be a line in the sand where we say that’s as bad as it gets and go back to basics. Murray’s interview was encouraging from that perspective even mentioning two big centre backs (although it should be noted we lost 5 goals in 2 home games against Partick and Arbroath with two proper centre backs so it isn’t some silver bullet that will fix everything). For the Airdrie game, I would go with: Dabrowski Millen Watson Murray Dick Matthews Brown Mullin Vaughan Easton Hamilton If Dabrowski isn’t fit then McNeil has to play but I think he is, just needs games to get his confidence and rhythm back. In defence, Millen, Dick and Murray don’t deserve to play on recent form but I really don’t think playing both McGill and Hannah at full back improves anything. We need a settled back 4 and on paper that is our best defence, let’s try and keep it for a few weeks and see if things improve. Full backs and at least one centre back need to be top of the shopping list in the summer for me though. And if Euan Murray doesn’t return to form, Corr should get a chance, albeit I think Corr is currently becoming a better player in everyone’s eyes with each week he doesn’t play. In midfield, I really like Byrne but I think this is a good opportunity to give Matthews a run and see where he’s at. Byrne and Brown haven’t worked in 2 games against Airdrie so would mix it up here and Brown and Matthews should give us plenty dig and a bit more stability in there. The attacking 3 behind the striker is hardest position. Vaughan must start but hopefully Stanton is fit for some time off the bench. The wide positions we have nobody in form. Callum Smith and Josh Mullin have the excuse of being out of position in recent weeks. Easton doesn’t deserve to start, he’s been really poor since Tannadice and I thought he was dreadful off the bench on Saturday but ultimately we know how good he can be. We need to find a way of getting him back to his best. Mullin and Connolly is a coin toss for me. Connolly looks like he’s really missed pre season, nowhere near his best all season. I like Mullin, even just for his delivery and workrate he adds a lot to the team but I appreciate I’m probably in minority and can’t say he has done enough at any point to guarantee himself a start. Up front it has to be Hamilton who is in great form. However, if he is any less than 100% after the weekend I would obviously play Rudden. I thought Rudden looked promising but frustrating in equal measure on Saturday. Really bright start but then kind of faded out of things and a bit frantic on the ball but to be expected given he’d just joined. Looks like he will definitely offer us something. I appreciate nobody is reading all of that but unfortunately, there isn’t one simple fix to our issues right now. Murray has tried big changes, now I think he needs to go back to basics, simplify things and try to get a settled line up. Some consistency in formation and line up will hopefully eventually lead to consistency in performances and results.

I think it’s the same formation as last week with Murray replacing Brown in defence and Brown replacing Turner in midfield. Could be wrong though but I would prefer that to Vaughan playing deeper in midfield again. Turner played well against Queens Park but was pretty poor last week so don’t think he can have too many complaints dropping out, such is the competition for places. Great options off the bench.

So you admit he has changed tactics then? I didn’t say you had to agree with the changes, you stated he hadn’t changed tactics apart from one game all season which was completely wrong. The Livi game was a very obvious change of tactics which is why I find it surprising you said he hadn’t changed anything when he had literally made a very big, obvious change to formation in the last game. We’re into semantics between Airdrie and QP in terms of 4-4-2/4-2-3-1/4-1-3-2 but swapping Brown for Turner alongside Byrne fundamentally changes the tactics and the way we play even if not the formation because they are totally different players. I agree the changes we’ve made when chasing games haven’t worked recently and I said as much in the post you have quoted. However, to say he hasn’t changed tactics was completely wrong, he quite clearly has. He’s changed things each of the last 3 weeks to find a solution. Performances have improved incrementally on the last 3 weeks (wasn’t hard to improve on the Airdrie performance tbf). Like I said Murray does things that frustrate me and he shouldn’t be immune from criticism but I just feel some of it is over the top for a manager that has us 2nd in the league on a points total that would have had us comfortably clear at the top of the league most seasons.

Am I right in thinking that leaves Ross Matthews as the only player currently in the squad (with Ross and Arnott out on loan) that Ian Murray hasn’t signed or given a new contract to in his time at the club? All the best to Gullan, seemed like a really nice guy and had some big moments for us. Think it suits all parties for him to move on and hopefully he does well.

Sorry but that’s just not true at all. We have literally started with a different formation in each of our last 3 games not to mention the formation changes in game (which admittedly haven’t worked the last few weeks). Murray isn’t immune from criticism and he probably has made a few mistakes in recent weeks but he has quite clearly changed tactics to try and find a solution to our recent dip in form. I think what we actually need is some consistency in terms of formation and team selection and things will start to pick up again when we have the rhythm. It’s not been possible due to injuries but there seems a bit of light at the end of the tunnel on that. Performances are also slowly improving again.

Yeah all about opinions but for me, any formation including two upfront has to be Vaughan and Hamilton. Signs of them starting to develop a really good partnership, thought they were both excellent last week.

Yeah I would like to see one in this week (and we may well do) but if not I’m not really fussed if it’s early next week to meet the January deadline or a couple of weeks down the line. Would be nice to win the Trust Trophy so the Airdrie game isn’t a free hit but it’s not going to make our season a success or failure, the league form will and I do think it’s important we have someone in for Dundee United (assuming Watson isn’t fit). Obviously the longer they have to work with the team the better but O’Reilly turned up at short notice and kept a clean sheet on his debut. Using the Ashcroft example. If he is our first choice and Dundee have told us there is potential he will go out on loan at the beginning of February once they get a couple of injuries, surely we would be better waiting to bring in the required quality rather than getting a second/third choice next week just to say we have a centre back? The problem obviously is if we wait on Ashcroft and then Dundee change their mind/he goes elsewhere. However, that’s what Potter and the scouting team are paid for and they will be having constant conversations with other clubs, people often think because nobody is signed that nothing is happening or being done and that is definitely not the case. Pretty much every signing made since Potter came to the club has been a success so I think they have earned a little bit of trust and patience over the next couple of weeks till we see what business is done.

Is the deadline for loan signings from other Scottish clubs still the end of February? Seem to remember that used to be the case. If so, we really shouldn’t be pushing the panic button on signings yet. I think we would all love to see a centre back in for Saturday but if not, we then have 3 weeks until our next league game better to take our time and get the right player in rather than rush and make a mistake. Does look like Ashcroft seems unlikely now though unless Dundee get another centre back in and a few injuries return. I’d be happy with Rudden in to replace Gullan. I like Gullan, he seems like a really nice guy and has contributed some big moments for us but he has struggled with injuries and I’m still not sure his best position. He’s effectively 4th choice striker as if Hamilton or Vaughan were injured I am sure Murray would play Smith up front instead. Rudden seems to have a bit more physicality than Gullan so would be a decent option. I can’t see him joining us however as he could be first choice elsewhere (the Pars for example) but I think with us he would be clear second choice behind Vaughan and Hamilton who are starting to develop a good partnership.

Just for you and a certain Rovers supporting Texan… A goal against every 150 minutes for Masson. Obviously with this hefty caveat of playing around 300 minutes and any significant playing time being against lower league opposition.

There has been a lot of talk about our defensive issues and a few complaints about Scott Brown playing there ahead of ‘proper’ centre backs so I thought I’d have a look at the figures between each players appearances at centre back. This is only games they have started as a centre back so doesn’t include any last 5 minutes where Brown may have been midfield but then dropped into a 3 or anything like that. Euan Murray - GA every 71 minutes. Dan O’Reilly - GA every 70 minutes. Keith Watson - GA every 70 minutes. Scott Brown - GA every 74 minutes. Dylan Corr - GA every 65 minutes. Couple of things to note are before Murray’s injury which I believe he took into the Partick game and he has been struggling with since, he was averaging a goal against every 93 minutes, it has been every 44 minutes since. Likewise Scott Brown, after the game against Ayr, many of us said it was time to end the experiment of midfielders in defence but before that game he had only conceded a goal against every 110 minutes. Not much in it but he remains our best ‘centre back’ for goals conceded per minute. The main point for me looking through that though, is that it doesn’t really matter who we play as centre back, we concede a goal every 65-74 minutes. It’s remarkably consistent across 5 different players. That to me suggests it isn’t just a problem in the centre of the defence but something the whole team needs to resolve, whether that be getting better at stopping the crosses at source or the centre of midfield providing more protection as well as just our general preference to attack and perhaps needing to seek a better overall balance going forward.

The last few games are disappointing (The Arbroath and Ayr games were embarrassing given the circumstances and would’ve been concerned poor for most Rovers teams in recent years) but perspective is needed. Losing away to 4th place Airdrie or against a Queens Park side with a new manager where we still had enough chances to get something from the game can happen. If somebody had told us all at the start of season we’d be level on points with Dundee United after 21 games with 44 points having surpassed last seasons entire points total we’d all have taken it in a heartbeat. We’ve underperformed in the last few games but for us to have fans complaining at this stage about potentially losing touch with United at the top (whilst still being 8 points clear of a decent Partick Thistle side) shows how much we overperformed earlier in the season. You take the rough with the smooth. I’d have been delighted with the season Partick Thistle are having so to be in our position after 21 games is outstanding. Some Rovers fans have got carried away with our outstanding form at the start of the season, as if that was going to be sustainable or the expectation for the rest of the season. Yes, we have a larger budget than normal (I’m still not sure it’s hugely greater than McGlynn had in 21/22) but it’s still massively less than Dundee United so we shouldn’t be measures against them. Budget wise we also won’t be hugely different to a lot of the bigger sides in the league, we have no divine right to expect to win every week, our side isn’t massively better than anyone else. We got ourselves in a great position but it was only after after 16 games there was/is a long, long way to go. Let’s not lose sight of the fact as frustrating as it may be, whether we finish 1 point or 21 points behind Dundee United, if we finish 2nd it’s an excellent season. Anyone who thinks otherwise is deluded in my opinion.

I’ve been quite critical of the team in recent weeks, we’ve been well off it and I thought the Ayr and Arbroath performances were awful. However, I genuinely thought we were better today, it wasn’t an awful performance and I don’t think we deserved to get beat. We obviously weren’t brilliant but Queens Park were clinical we weren’t. Goals we lost were poor (first was an excellent finish tbf) but what you expect when you have makeshift back 4. The only player playing in his natural position was Liam Dick and I thought he was woeful, struggled to find his own man all day. However, we still created enough opportunities to get something from the game. A combination of poor finishing (particularly from Hamilton) a bit of a bad luck and some excellent goalkeeping from Ferrie kept us out. I said after the Arbroath game there was no chance we win the league, I expect most fans will agree now but 2nd would be an excellent season and something to build on whether we go up or not. We carried a lot of luck earlier in the season, some wee things are now going against us, it happens and you can see the wave of confidence that was carrying us through games has gone at the moment but I’m honestly less frustrated today than after the Ayr/Arbroath games. Caveat being Queens Park are obviously one of the poorest teams in the league. However, credit to them for a huge result, they worked hard were well organised and showed a level of game management that they lacked and had cost them in previous games. I thought they rode their luck a bit and probably fortunate to get the 3 points in my opinion but given how the previous two games between the sides went, I can’t really begrudge them getting the breaks today.

The issue I have with the talk of the Premier League being boring or not enjoyable because we’ll lose more games than we win is that it suggests that’s guaranteed not to be the case in the Championship. Since the turn of the millennium we have had as many relegations (3) from the Championship as we have top 4 finishes. We’ve only finished in the top half of this league 4 times in our last 23 seasons. There is obviously hope things are looking up under the new owners and it’s not one season or bust so it’s definitely not a disaster if we don’t go up this season but that has to be the aim eventually. There are more than enough examples of similar size clubs going up to the Premier League and having success and also plenty examples that we can have disastrous seasons at Championship or even League One level so even if we failed it would be going some to beat our worst seasons in the last 20/25 years!

One of Fagan Walcott’s only games for Dundee was against us in the Covid season. We won the game 3-1 but he looked a class act and strolled the game. Strong, quick and decent on the ball. It was also Timmy Abraham’s debut for us and at the time we didn’t realise quite how poor he’d turn out to be so there is that caveat. However, I’m pretty sure he is incredibly injury prone…

Very good signing. The obvious downside is it suggests Sam Stanton is possibly out for quite a while but if that’s the case, it is as good a replacement as we could possibly get.

Helps dispel the ‘Fife Gretna’ chat if nothing else! I wouldn’t have offered him any more than a deal to the end of the season so glad we’ve held our ground on that. I think he’s a decent Championship centre half, nothing more, nothing less. We’ve conceded 9 goals in his 7 appearances and only kept 1 clean sheet (other factors too obviously) but it’s hardly like we’ve been rock solid and he’s irreplaceable. If the plan is to run with what we have then I’m concerned because he added something to the squad. However, if the funds were to be used to bring in someone like Lee Ashcroft or an upgrade at left back then I’m fine with it.

It’s always hard to do an 11 based on the overall performances of the season as you have limited viewing of other sides so end up picking based on reports or fan views elsewhere rather than what you’ve actually seen. My 11 based on actual performances against the Rovers, in full knowledge many of these would not actually be in the running for the ‘team of the season’ (looking at you Francis Amartey) would be: McKenna (QP) Megwa (Airdrie) Fordyce (Airdrie) Gallagher (Dundee United) McMann (Dundee United) Spong (QP) McInroy (Partick Thistle) Chalmers (Ayr) Crawford (Morton) Amartey (Ayr) Moult (Dundee United) There definitely seems a shortage of decent left backs in this league, Strapp appears the standout but hasn’t played against us yet this season. Honourable mentions to Anton Dowds, Billy McKay, Ewan Otoo, Craig Sibbald and Ruari Paton who have all impressed me. From the Rovers, I would say Easton, Stanton, Vaughan and Byrne would all be in with a shout. Euan Murray started very well but his form has dropped off a bit recently due to him managing various knocks.

I thought it was a 3 at the back the last 10-15 minutes after McGill came on. Back 3 of Millen, Brown and O’Reilly. Could be wrong because I was only watching on a stream but certainly how it appeared with how high McGill played. Im not totally sold on the 3 at the back as a permanent move. We were excellent against the Pars using it and it’s worked chasing games but the element of surprise has helped in those cases. Also, despite it working, on paper I don’t think we have a squad particularly well suited to playing 3 at the back. When we had Tumilty and MacDonald it made perfect sense but I don’t think we have any natural wing backs in the squad. I don’t see Murray making the switch yet, I think it will be tweaks rather than wholesale changes needed at this stage IMO. However, I think moving Easton inside as the most attacking of a midfield 3 whilst Stanton is out is a good shout and definitely worth a shot. Different qualities obviously but he could add a lot in that role. I also think Smith is better off the left than through the middle.