Raith Against The Machine

We've just had our best chance of the game, and it all came from Connor O'Riordan carrying the ball out of defence for the first time. He looks like he's growing into the game. We'll definitely need a more senior centre half to come in though, it's not fair - or feasible - to rely on these two for the whole season.

We're really missing a Brad Spencer or a Regan Hendry who'll come and take the ball of the centre halfs and get things moving. We must've completed about three times as many passes as Dundee, but they're all just across the back line, with the occasional knock into a backwards-facing Brown or Stanton who can only return it to the defence. Don't get me wrong, we've not been absolutely abysmal, but there are still a couple of fundamental issues that make this Rovers side dysfunctional to a fair degree.

I'm a bigger fan of the "tippy tappy pish" than most, but I'd suggest that it's maybe okay to give it a rest for a couple of weeks at least until our defence gets to know each other's names. Nolan in particular really doesn't look comfortable with it.

You won't believe this of our two centre halfs, with <20 games between them, who met yesterday... but that was a miscommunication in defence.

I think the easiest/most accurate way to classify it is a 4-4-1-1. Flat back four, Nolan left and O'Riordan right in the centre. Nwengya left wing, Connolly right wing. Stanton and Brown in the middle, Ross playing in the hole behind Gullan. I don't hate it, but it doesn't address the isolation that we've seen with Gullan too often already in Murray's time in charge.

"We need more defenders? More defenders, huh? Well, here you go then, here are ALL OF OUR DEFENDERS!"

All being equal, I think the move should be O'Riordan in for Stanton, with Brown pushing forward, but fitness and familiarity will obviously factor in. It's a real shame that Nolan and O'Riordan don't have someone more senior alongside them to learn from, but I'm much happier with a natural central defender - even at 18 - in there instead of a midfielder who's filling in.

Crewe Alexandra's mascot looks awfy peely wally. Could do with seeing a vet.

This is key. We had the absolute epitome of the kind of player raith1974 is talking about, until a week and a half ago. Even if the summer market was awash with experienced, higher level centre halfs, we didn't need another one. And just having a quick look at who's come in to the Championship over the summer, I'm not seeing anyone who fits that bill anyway, so it's not like we've missed out. In terms of players who might fit that archetype, I can only really think of Kirk Broadfoot, Liam Fontaine and Efe Ambrose? One went to the Lowland League, one to League One and the other remains unemployed. They've all got their faults, too, I'm not convinced any of them are up to Championship football any more. It's all well and good saying "we need a leader at the back, an experienced older head" but it's a bit like "we need a 20 goal a season striker". Everybody wants one, but they're few and far between.

Doesn't quite "confirm", but does say it's very likely. Also says he's a "few [players] away" from being completely happy with the squad. He's looking for at least one more forward, which I think we all knew we needed, presumably in addition to whoever comes in tomorrow.

Will we get excited about the prospect of Connor Patrick O'Riordan instead? Who inexplicably isn't Irish.

You could drive down the road and be killed instantly by another driver smashing into you, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't still wear your seatbelt and look before you pull out of junctions.

This is honking patter, by the way.

I know Dundee were a little embarrassed because they were just beaten by a side missing three centre halfs, but there's good news for them; we've only got two.

Other than the notice posted on the website and club social media, presumably?

Lang is the furthest back of our four long term injuries, I think he's expected back by Christmas time. It's too early to tell on Nolan, but there's potential there.

Okay, what the f**k was going on here? This is the freekick for the second goal. It's a very tame, very simple chipped ball from just inside Cove's half, that the Rovers have time to prepare for. The angle isn't wide enough to see their starting positions, but this is the state of play before the first ball. Stanton (yellow) is caught totally flat footed, not only under the ball but also too far away to even pressure the man. Liam Dick (red) isn't even in the same fucking region!? Somehow he's gone off to the touchline to go and cover the man out there, totally neglecting the fact that he's leaving an opponent completely free on the edge of the box. Incredibly predictably, the ball is flicked on. At that point, Nolan (blue) has no choice but to try and get in the way, but that means leaving Megginson completely free, and he gets an easy pass for an easy finish. Again, just to be clear, this isn't a quick break. It's not even a quick free kick. The Rovers actually have every man behind the ball when it's taken, and still manage to have Millen and Brown both covering Leighton McIntosh at the back post, Nolan marking Megginson and absolutely nobody on the third man (apologies, I can't see who it is). Liam Dick has to take the most criticism because - for f**k - but more than one person in a Rovers jersey needs to be going absolutely fucking tonto as that's being set up there. It's beyond basic.

Want at the game but what your saying of Nolan is pretty much MacKay that we released? No, I wouldn't say so. Obviously it's incredibly early days, but I wasn't reminded of Dave McKay at any point during the game. He looked to me like a guy who hasn't played a lot of football recently, who's been dropped into a team where he doesn't know anyone, at incredibly short notice... which is what he is. He didn't do anything wrong, and as I say, he wasn't trying things he couldn't accomplish. At times that meant he knocked headers out of play when he might've risked a teammate in midfield, but that kind of pragmatism is probably what's needed in his situation. I'm keen to see how he gets on. My concern isn't so much about Nolan as an individual, it's about how much we already rely on him to be not only a solid Championship defender, but a leader.

Watched Murray's interview there and I think it's a very fair, accurate appraisal of the game. It obviously pales in comparison to his responsibility to put it right, but it's nice that the manager isn't trying to shy away from things we all saw with our own eyes. Also, a word for Davie on the interview. Being in-house media has its limitations but I thought those questions struck a good balance between being fair whilst also reflecting what we'd all just seen. Far from the simpering softball stuff you see from some other club's media.

The big problem Murray has, with the squad he's built, is that he can't fill gaps without creating others. He's playing his only (fit) natural holding midfielder in central defence, so now that makeshift defence doesn't have a proper protector in front of it. Bringing in Ngwenya means he can try a different shaped square peg in moving Dick across and letting Brown go into midfield, but I'm far from convinced by Liam Dick. He had a shot on the left of a three for the last 25 minutes or so this afternoon and looked less assured than a clearly shattered Nolan and the aforementioned Brown did. I agree with those saying that letting Musonda go was a huge error. I said at the time it was a gamble not worth taking (unlike Benedictus), and events since then have absolutely bolstered that argument. Ayr might have offered him more than we did, but you're not telling me that if we really wanted to keep him, we couldn't have made a suitable offer. He was let go. Murray at the time said something along the lines of "if you don't change, you can't improve", but if you do change, you can get a hell of a lot worse. Musonda was a perfect squad player for this level, able to cover a number of positions. In an incredibly scant market, the chances of getting an upgrade were slim and now look impossible. Nolan might turn out to be fine, but today he looked every bit like the kind of guy who was brought in to learn from Christophe Berra, not to be the only natural central defender in the squad. He's tall but he's not very well filled out, and he looked very limited with the ball at his feet. To give him credit, he at least seemed to recognise that, and did little more than picking simple sideways passes. He's not played a huge amount of football so hopefully he'll grow into a slightly more expansive passer, but right now we're relying on the guy to play every single minute of the rest of the season. It's neither fair nor realistic. Beyond that, though, there are issues that lie elsewhere. Murray has accumulated possibly the best pound-for-pound set of midfield individuals in the division, and has moulded them into a unit that is so much less than the sum of its parts. Stanton, as alluded to above, is a totally inadequate holding midfielder. He's not bringing anything to the table. He doesn't even look like an advanced midfielder who's been asked to play further back, where you'd maybe expect runs and passes that are too risky (a bit like Easton when he's dropped deep), instead with Stanton you just get a whole lot of very little. The guy probably has the highest passing percentage in the squad, because he just shuffles the ball about. There's no penetration or incision. At times, Scott Brown is drifting past him and trying to drill balls into the forwards, just to make things happen. Ahead of him, Connolly, Easton and Ross are all working hard enough (Connolly never stops, one of the few to take some credit from today) but it's oh so slow. The ball gets worked out to Ross on the wing. He gets closed down so he knocks it back to Liam Dick. Dick turns it inside to Easton who's dropped off. At this point the entire opposition midfield and defence have stacked up, so Easton sees his options are limited. Connolly peels off on the other flank so Easton sprays it out to him. He's closed down so he knocks it back to Ross Millen. Millen turns it inside to Easton who's dropped off. At this pont... And the cycle repeats until a pass or cross is eventually charged down. It's very predictable, and very easy to counter. And it leaves the striker(s) totally outnumbered and unreachable in the middle. With regards to the strikers, I think Connell might turn out to be a good partner for Gullan because he looks more inclined to play between the posts and hang on the shoulder of the last man, but I'm really starting to wonder what Gullan really adds. Again, he's a hard worker, but when he comes deep or goes wide to get involved, he's not as good at it as any of the midfield three, and he's not offering a goal threat if he's 40 yards away with his back turned. I said it on the match thread, but he needs to be kept closer to the goal. I'm sure it's frustrating for him never touching the ball, because of the midfield dynamic detailed above, but he's not helping himself or the team by dropping into his own half just to get involved. If Gullan can focus on playing in that between-the-lines role that Vaughan does so well, with Connell focusing on staying ahead of him, there could be potential there. God knows we need it. With one goal in four games we look every bit reminiscent of the worst (on the field) portions of last season. Also I got caught in traffic outside Dundee on the way up, and then caught by the Police road closure south of Aberdeen on the way home, so all in all, today can just get fucked.

Connell might well be fine, but we need to find a way to give our strikers chances. He had one today that he wasted, but you can't only give him one (and Gullan nothing) and expect results. You've got Connolly, Ross and Easton across that midfield and you can't create chances? As Renton says, that's a systemic issue.

Also, we don't play the kind of football that really requires or rewards hard work, not on the evidence of the season so far. We're not pressing or getting in behind, we're building slowly from deep and watching teams sit in in front of us.

Murray's big thing was "nobody will out work us". Well, I don't know if Cove have outworked us, but they've been more streetwise by an order of magnitudes, and they're winning this comfortably.

Someone needs to take £20 off Gullan every time he crosses the halfway line going backwards. He's the number 9 and half his touches come 60 yards from goal. He's working hard and he's nowhere near the biggest culprit for this defeat, but we've got absolutely no goal threat.