Raith Against The Machine

He got half of his first team minutes with us Dave McKay'ing it out at right back because Jason Thomson was injured. I've no idea what he did that justified his move to Rangers, let alone all his subsequent moves. Despite Drysdale not standing in his way and letting him go for a bag of bibs and a shot of Mark Warburton's BMX, we're probably racking up a sizable income based on the solidarity/passport payments for each of these mad transfers he keeps getting.

It's also good for him that he's continuing to rinse tens of thousands of pounds out of a host of clubs across Europe despite being absolutely chronic.

"What's happening with transfers this week?" but with a frowny face?

If it was a proper "f**k you, I'm off" I don't think we'd have seen quite such an effusive statement to go with the announcement.

If Adam Masson starts on Saturday, will he be younger than Colin Wilson was when he was pitched into a derby at East End in central defence?

Has someone got a cardboard cutout of Tam Lang? I don't think we could put it into the defence, but I'd like to stare into his eyes and feel like everything's going to be okay.

To go back to this point from Sunday, it's now intensified ten-fold. It's now not just a gamble to bring in a young defender, it's an absolute pre-requisite that we find a leader at the back, and they don't exactly grow on trees. Liam Dick didn't set the heather alight last year and isn't an organiser, I haven't seen a huge amount of Ross Millen but he doesn't strike me as a leader either, and Scott Brown isn't even a fucking defender! We need to find an experienced, dominant, consistent and fit centre half. Four days before the season starts. Oh, and another one of just about any ilk to play alongside him. And another stiker. Oh and mind Jamie MacDonald's injured too, to whatever mystery degree.

Hey Ian, how many centre halfs have we got?

Hahahahaha! Going into the first game of the season with zero (0) senior central defenders. Just incredible stuff.

You're not alone, mine hasn't come through yet either. Ian Murray quoted 48 to 72 hours for some progress on a new signing in his post-match on Sunday, so I think I'll set up a big 24 style digital clock to start running from 5pm this afternoon... Slightly more seriously, see this new arrival that was scuppered by Covid - does anyone have any more information on the parameters there? Is it a case of the new player self-isolating so the deal can't be finalised, or something beyond that? Short of being able to attend a medical, I'm coming up short on reasons why Covid would prevent a new signing.

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.

On the balance of play we don't deserve to be 2-0 down, but if you don't have enough defenders or forwards then you're always liable to score less and concede more.

I know there's nothing he can do about that one, but I feel like every game Robbie Thomson plays in he concedes one from outside the box.

Jamie Gullan has been more involved in the box already this afternoon than he was against either Stirling Albion or Dumbarton. Looks better for it, too. Maybe needs to learn that he's better off not peeling wide or dropping deep all the time.

He's made an attempt for the ball. It wasn't a very good attempt, but he made one.

I'm stunned to see that our central defence is struggling.

My main concern at the moment is that glaring hole in the defence, mostly because at this stage in the game you'd have to assume we'll be relying on loan players. It's notoriously difficult to get good, reliable centre halfs in on loan. It's not that they don't exist, but you only need to look at Ross Graham at Dunfermline last season to see how easy it is for confidence to be shot and for players with bags of potential to offer basically nothing. Bringing in a young striker on loan is fine. It's a total gamble, but we've seen 18 or 19 year olds at this level have really good seasons. I'd love to be surprised, but I don't think we're going to get any more "Wow, what a signing!" reactions from this point on. Those options just don't seem to be out there. At best, I think we'll be getting arrivals who could go either way, and that's fine, but it's a huge risk. Not to go back to a well-worn topic, but I think letting Musonda go was and is a mistake. Purely because he's a known quantity. I think Murray's introduced too much risk into this squad with the gaps he's having to fill in such a sparse market. Can you midfield your way to a playoff place? At this point, I'm not so sure.

I wasn't confident before, but I'm terrified now.

Makes sense. Can't have you guys going down there today when you'll need to be back tomorrow morning to cover the new signings before the bus leaves for Aberdeen...

I really like it!

Sunday's going to be interesting. If nothing else, it's the first time Murray's Rovers side will go into a game (including friendlies) against a team that isn't from a lower level. They've been very hot and cold in the games where you'd expect them to dominate the ball. Are they better as a counter attacking side?

That was brutal.

Gullan looks absolutely shattered, too.