Just what's going wrong at Doncaster Rovers right now?

A horror run of just one victory in their last 14 league outings has seen Grant McCann's side sink down to second-bottom in the table. Here, the Free Press delves a little deeper into the situation ahead of the hectic festive schedule.

Too many errors

Regardless of what formation or personnel a team employs, no manager can legislate for players making individual mistakes at critical junctures in matches.

With Rovers, errors have been far too commonplace amid this wretched run of form. Against Plymouth last weekend a loose pass close to their own penalty area was picked off by the opposition and it allowed the visitors a quickfire equaliser early on. That set the tone for the rest of the afternoon and Rovers simply wilted. They shipped five but it could have been even worse. Rovers now have the leakiest defence in the division with 35 goals shipped already. They only conceded 50 in the whole of last season.

Against Cardiff more costly mistakes were pounced on. The same versus Stockport. As obvious as it sounds, cutting these out is vital if they are to keep themselves in games.

Cohesion - or lack of it

Last season McCann often chopped and changed his side. It was rare that he would go unchanged from one game to another. His belief was that a 'horses for courses' approach was the way forward and it's hard to argue against that as it ended with Rovers lifting the League Two title.

He's stuck to that mantra this season, but the results simply haven't been as favourable. One prime example came in the aforementioned defeat down at Cardiff. Rovers lined up with a change of shape - three centre-halves and four central midfielders started - and although they ultimately lost the game (another of those pesky individual errors), their performance was largely praised. Yet flash forward to the Plymouth game and the set-up was changed back to a more traditional 4-2-3-1 set-up and players such as Ben Close and Charlie Crew were dropped, despite having impressed in the Welsh capital. Some supporters have wondered out loud whether the unpredictable nature of team selection - especially considering Rovers have an empty treatment room - is hindering the side amid this poor run of results.

Another head-scratcher against Argyle was the absence from the squad of four loanees, which leads us to the transfer dealings....

Lack of impact by summer signings

Rovers made ten signings after promotion, with five of them arriving on permanent deals. Yet as we approach the halfway point of the campaign it's hard to make a valid case that any of the quintet have put their stamp on the team.

Matty Pearson, with 11 league starts, is the most-used of the five but he has mostly had to bide his time. In terms of the rest, it makes grim reading. Glenn Middleton has just eight league starts (from a possible 21), Brandon Hanlan and Sean Grehan six apiece and Robbie Gotts just three.

It's also a mixed bag in terms of the loan arrivals. Thimothee Lo-Tutala's struggles have been well-publicised, even after a short spell out of the team. Connor O'Riordan has arguably been the stand-out performer but his levels dropped in recent weeks before he was left out against Plymouth. Charlie Crew is another who has had a stop-start time of it. The immediate future of the latter two is uncertain amid January break clauses that their parent clubs have up their sleeves. As for the other two loanees, Toyosi Olusanya and Damola Ajayi, it seems inevitable that they'll be leaving in the New Year after barely any impact from either.

The caveat to all of this

McCann.

The manager has shown before that you write him off at your peril.

Two years ago Rovers entered the midway point of the season in a rut not too dissimilar to now. It continued well into January but some canny signings coincided with a once-in-a-generation winning run and totally propelled the team from strugglers to play-off contenders.

It was a similar story at the back-end of 2024. McCann was under pressure from some quarters as the team floundered in pursuit of automatic promotion. Yet another profitable January window saw them put together a fine run in the second half of the season and ultimately they achieved their goal and claimed top spot.

The Northern Irishman seemed as low as he ever has been following the loss to Plymouth, saying: "For me it's important that I go away, have a look at myself and reflect because at this moment in time I'm not doing enough. It's as simple as that. I'm not doing enough to get this team to look strong, to look resolute."

He'll be perplexed more than anyone at how the season is unfolding, especially after a solid opening month.

McCann still has ample credit in the bank with large swathes of the fanbase, and so he should. His three full seasons in charge (across both spells in the dugout) have seen Rovers finish 1st, 5th and 6th and his message, especially during the tough times, is always 'judge me at the end of the season'.

But he'll be acutely aware how football works. Results are king.

Rovers and McCann need them to start going their way - and fast.