Raith Against The Machine Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 I'm glad I didn't travel today, looked like one of those games that's absolutely no fun to be at. Dominated by the other side, and even when we had good spells it didn't culminate in more than a couple of corners. It was an easy choice not to go, because the problems are entirely self-evident. If you don't have strong enough forwards, you're not going to score goals, and if you don't have enough natural defenders, you're going to see errors in timing, positioning and basic defending. I'm sure that's all totally apparent to Ian Murray too, but it is starting to become a bit of a worry that we just won't be able to adequately address those issues. You can't magic up footballers from nowhere, and the closer we get to the end of the window the more desperate everyone's going to get to bring in what quality there is out there. It really doesn't help that we've got glaring issues in two areas of the park. I also have some sympathy with Ian Murray because the injured players we've got are obviously taking up a fair bit of budget, and they will come back in to contention at some stage, and you don't want to be overloaded at that point. But, we've now been knocked out of one competition and we'll be about a quarter of the way into the league season before we get anyone back, going by the latest prognosis. To put us on an even keel, we really need two arrivals at an absolute minimum. A natural centre half who can come in with the expectation of playing 90 minutes every week, immediately, and a forward who can compete with Jamie Gullan as the "goalscorer" in the side. Are we going to get both of those before Saturday? No. Are we going to get either by the end of the summer window? Only time will tell, but it's not impossible that we don't. The damage was done before today. We shouldn't have been going into a game at Pittodrie needing a win when you look at the fixtures that went before. Losing comfortably to Aberdeen isn't really an issue, but we saw the continuation of a pattern. We don't look clinical up front and we look fragile at the back. You can have the best midfield in the division (and we honestly might, on its day) but if you can't put your chances away and you're liable to lose one at the back, you're going to throw away a huge number of points. For the nerds out there, does this Rovers team currently not look like the absolute definition of one that'll underperform its xG? And finally, has anyone heard a whisper of what Jamie MacDonald's issue was today? Someone on Premier Sports definitely said "injured", but I'm hoping he's maybe just felt under the weather this morning. If that's long-term too, we're in trouble. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Been going too long Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 15 minutes ago, foreverarover said: The fact we failed to qualify from that group is laughable and even more so when the team we would have replaced in the draw go to Ibrox in the next round. It is a kick in the teeth to miss out on that payday but what do I know I’m just a bed wetter 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALDERON Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 (edited) As has been said, nothing new today. The harsh reality is that we have one fit centre half, no centre forwards, and a shit tonne of midfielders. Some nice football, with no end product, and a comfortable defeat is exactly what we should have seen today, and did. The squad is performing pretty much exactly as it should, given its current construct. That is the concerning thing. We haven't underperformed, teams who don't have any real strikers don't score enough goals. Its more worrying than the defensive issue, for me, and that itself is fucking scary. Edited July 24, 2022 by CALDERON 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers1992/1993 Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 And yet, we are 2-0 down. Away to the team that’s likely to finish 3rd or 4th in the premiership. I’ll take that. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paco Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 I think we’re in a bit of trouble. We were fine today, losing at Pittodrie isn’t the reason we’re out the cup, but I’m mostly concerned that we’ve seen that game before, for half of last season - playing OK, conceding stupid goals, struggling to create proper openings at the other end. Momentum is big in football and today definitely pointed at last season overlapping into this one for me. Obviously we need signings and they might yet transform us. At this stage though it’s a hell of a lot to ask for new players regardless of who they are to slot in and immediately transform a struggling team. I think at a minimum we can expect a slow start to the league season. We clearly need a good centre back to sign immediately. Stanton isn’t good enough. The four of Zanatta/Ross/Connolly/Gullan are all good enough players but for whatever reason have very little cutting edge as a 4. I’m still not entirely sure where Dylan Easton fits into this squad. Millen seems pretty similar to Liam Dick. None of these things need to define our season and some can be solved quite simply by making a couple of signings. But we’ve been saying that for a long while now. All hope isn’t lost but all signs to me point to this being at best a transition season. At worst… well, let’s see who comes in before making bold claims. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Archer (Raconteur) Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael W Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 24 minutes ago, foreverarover said: The fact we failed to qualify from that group is laughable and even more so when the team we would have replaced in the draw go to Ibrox in the next round. Agreed. Peterhead and two League Two sides, the latter whom we couldn't beat in 90mins. The failure to progress from a generous group like that stings. Opportunity missed. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottydog Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 5 minutes ago, Rovers1992/1993 said: Away to the team that’s likely to finish 3rd or 4th in the premiership. I’ll take that. I've got my doubts on that one. Anyway on the subject of getting some bodies in, I see Jack Hamilton has gone on loan at Hartlepool, that's a blow for us as I'd heard he was a signing target. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALDERON Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 4 minutes ago, Paco said: I think we’re in a bit of trouble. We were fine today, losing at Pittodrie isn’t the reason we’re out the cup, but I’m mostly concerned that we’ve seen that game before, for half of last season - playing OK, conceding stupid goals, struggling to create proper openings at the other end. Momentum is big in football and today definitely pointed at last season overlapping into this one for me. Obviously we need signings and they might yet transform us. At this stage though it’s a hell of a lot to ask for new players regardless of who they are to slot in and immediately transform a struggling team. I think at a minimum we can expect a slow start to the league season. We clearly need a good centre back to sign immediately. Stanton isn’t good enough. The four of Zanatta/Ross/Connolly/Gullan are all good enough players but for whatever reason have very little cutting edge as a 4. I’m still not entirely sure where Dylan Easton fits into this squad. Millen seems pretty similar to Liam Dick. None of these things need to define our season and some can be solved quite simply by making a couple of signings. But we’ve been saying that for a long while now. All hope isn’t lost but all signs to me point to this being at best a transition season. At worst… well, let’s see who comes in before making bold claims. Also wonder how much budget is actually available, considering the volume of midfield players, as well as the multi year deals that the likes of Gullan, Ross (and Stanton I think?) are on. Added to that development fee paid to Aberdeen last year, as well as the obvious you know who. I dont have an intimate knowledge of the clubs finances, but they aren't very good, so you can't imagine we have much spending power. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael W Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 5 minutes ago, CALDERON said: Also wonder how much budget is actually available, considering the volume of midfield players, as well as the multi year deals that the likes of Gullan, Ross (and Stanton I think?) are on. Added to that development fee paid to Aberdeen last year, as well as the obvious you know who. I dont have an intimate knowledge of the clubs finances, but they aren't very good, so you can't imagine we have much spending power. Dear Leader assured us concerns that the Goodwillie saga would cause us budgetary problems was "fake news" and was also at pains to point out how excellent our new sponsorship deal was compared with the last one. The conclusion I'm drawing at the minute, is that those remarks are bollocks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro Sham Bo Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 17 minutes ago, Rovers1992/1993 said: Away to the team that’s likely to finish 3rd or 4th in the premiership. I’ll take that. Nonsense. They'll be doing well to be in the top 6 with some of the dross in their squad. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baillieinleeds Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 17 minutes ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said: He’d be brilliant. But he’s too far away from his business unfortunately 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro Sham Bo Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 12 minutes ago, Michael W said: Agreed. Peterhead and two League Two sides, the latter whom we couldn't beat in 90mins. The failure to progress from a generous group like that stings. Opportunity missed. Yeah. Even with the deficiencies in our squad, two narrow wins against league 2 clubs shouldn't have been beyond us. Really frustrating to miss out on qualification and I hope Murray is more bothered about it privately than he lets on publicly. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro Sham Bo Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 2 minutes ago, baillieinleeds said: He’d be brilliant. But he’s too far away from his business unfortunately He's not good enough for the championship. Why do you think Cove are getting rid? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael W Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 (edited) Rory McAllister was worth a punt at this level about 10 years ago. No-one went there as he's part-time and was on a very good wage (both in and out of football, seemingly). In addition to being part-time, he's now 35 and I don't realistically see how he's going to cut it at this level now. Edited July 24, 2022 by Michael W 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RRFC_Liam Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 27 minutes ago, Zen Archer (Raconteur) said: A few years ago I would’ve taken him but not sure he can play our style and also he might want to stay part time and doesn’t want to relocate 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheScarf Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 He’ll sign for Banks O’Dee or Inverurie Locos. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broken Algorithms Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 A wee bit of transfer talk but it's much the same as before. Can only imagine it's frustrating from Murray's perspective too. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RRFC_Liam Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 Murray has done his post match interview and he said that the signings that were supposed to happen there was external factors out of his and the clubs control….. so maybe we can cut the guy some slack but he did say that he hopes 1 or 2 is in within the next 48-72hrs 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raith_Raver Posted July 24, 2022 Share Posted July 24, 2022 3 hours ago, Raith_Raver said: You can only shite with the arse you've got.... BTW I'm worried about Thomson in goal. Thomson did well. I thought Zanatta was ok too. I too thought 2-0 at half time was harsh, and the goal right after half time knocked the heart out of us, allowing Aberdeen to strut about the rest of the game. We're not going to meet anyone like Aberdeen in the league so I don't see anyone outplaying us. However, that defence was so easily outpaced so often, any team with quick forwards will have noticed. PS - Hartley GTF 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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