airdrieman Posted August 4, 2020 Share Posted August 4, 2020 (edited) On 03/08/2020 at 09:09, Tory Boy said: Although on paper its a squad of 21 a few of them are young players you wouldn't expect to be getting much game time. I wouldn't be surprised if at least couple of them were sent out on loan for a bit of experience. Burke and Moore went out on loan last season and Pyott was also supposed to before he got injured. I can't see any of the reserve players playing much if at all (although if they do and they're good enough to make a positive impact then great) so I think they'll probably all be sent out on loan at one point or another. On 03/08/2020 at 09:30, Brian Carrigan said: This looks like an annoyingly decent team from the outside looking in. Love your defence. I think at this point in order to field a team of 11 we’d have to stick a goalie outfield. Anyway, just wondering if there’s been any real insight into Robert yet? Are you lot training? Not sure how hybrid teams work re: furlough etc I think most fans will be cautiously optimistic (excited?) about the season ahead, with the caveat that a lot of our signings are unknown quantities - Robert, Sabatini, Mbayo, Ritchie and even O'Reilly to an extent. We've got two good goalies, a very solid defence and Gallagher and Carrick are two decent forwards. Still think we're a couple of additions away though from being fully satisfied or content with our squad. We need another forward - only Gallagher is a consistent and proven goalscorer at this level and we need at least one other midfielder even with yesterday's addition of Sabatini. I'm pleased with our business so far though even if we've no idea what to expect from most of our signings. Certainly if Robert (and Sabatini and the two West Ham boys who are allegedly coming in) are as good as are being made out to be, then we'll certainly be in for a very exciting season. Edited August 4, 2020 by airdrieman 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamonds are Forever Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 16 hours ago, waysider said: I’m well aware that other signings may improve things but I’m worried about the direction we are going in. Apart from Currie, none of the signings have yet broken through. I doubt if many fans have heard of any of them. Hopefully, some of them will fulfil their stated potential but some of them won’t. It is very dangerous putting out a team full of youngsters with minimum experience in this brutal league. We don’t have enough experience particularly in midfield. I fear this season may lead to further disappointment for the long suffering Airdrie fans. As I said above, I know more players can still come in but unless we achieve a better balance it looks like a long hard season. I hope I’m wrong. It would be, but I don't think those fears are founded at all based on our current squad. We could literally put out a good starting 11 from players that we had last season when we finished 3rd. We have more continuity from last season to this season than any time in recent memory. There's also no way Murray is going to risk his managerial career by having a full team of untried youngsters. I think the club have realised that bringing in talented midfielders and attackers will only work amongst a solid experienced squad which is why they have kept the likes of Hutton, Crighton, Forydce, Carrick and Gallagher. In addition to younger 'known quantities' like McCann, McDonald, McKay and Kerr. Even with Roy, Thomson and O'Reilly we know pretty much what we are getting. It seems like there is a good team spirit and hopefully that means the new guys will be incorporated into that. With Partick and Falkirk in the league it would be a mammoth task to win the league with our usual signing policy. Falkirk were rotten for a lot of last season and still finished 5 points ahead of us. Given the numerous false dawns we have had I'm a bit wary and understand anyone who is a bit sceptical. But the only way we will get out this league is trying something a bit different. Given the players we've kept from last season at worst we should be finishing around the same position as last season even if we didn't play any of the new guys, but there is a chance these players could add the quality needed to allow us to challenge. My bottom line is always that it has to be in our budget, if we can afford it then I'm all for it. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tory Boy Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 (edited) 17 hours ago, waysider said: I’m well aware that other signings may improve things but I’m worried about the direction we are going in. Apart from Currie, none of the signings have yet broken through. I doubt if many fans have heard of any of them. Hopefully, some of them will fulfil their stated potential but some of them won’t. It is very dangerous putting out a team full of youngsters with minimum experience in this brutal league. We don’t have enough experience particularly in midfield. I fear this season may lead to further disappointment for the long suffering Airdrie fans. As I said above, I know more players can still come in but unless we achieve a better balance it looks like a long hard season. I hope I’m wrong. I don't get the team full of youngsters with minimum experience. We've kept the nucleus of the team that were challenging for the title last season. Nearly all the regulars from last season are still there. Obviously Miller & Smith are gone and to a lesser extent the likes of Roberts & Weddburn who drifted in and out of the side. The rest of the guys who we've got rid off only played a handful of games. You could nearly put out a full team who played 20+ games last season. Fair enough we've brought in a number of young (and hopefully promising) players but there is only a couple of positions to fill. Anyone else that gets a game on top of that is because they've displaced a regular from last season. Edited August 5, 2020 by Tory Boy 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tory Boy Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 7 minutes ago, Diamonds are Forever said: It would be, but I don't think those fears are founded at all based on our current squad. We could literally put out a good starting 11 from players that we had last season when we finished 3rd. We have more continuity from last season to this season than any time in recent memory. There's also no way Murray is going to risk his managerial career by having a full team of untried youngsters. I think the club have realised that bringing in talented midfielders and attackers will only work amongst a solid experienced squad which is why they have kept the likes of Hutton, Crighton, Forydce, Carrick and Gallagher. In addition to younger 'known quantities' like McCann, McDonald, McKay and Kerr. Even with Roy, Thomson and O'Reilly we know pretty much what we are getting. It seems like there is a good team spirit and hopefully that means the new guys will be incorporated into that. With Partick and Falkirk in the league it would be a mammoth task to win the league with our usual signing policy. Falkirk were rotten for a lot of last season and still finished 5 points ahead of us. Given the numerous false dawns we have had I'm a bit wary and understand anyone who is a bit sceptical. But the only way we will get out this league is trying something a bit different. Given the players we've kept from last season at worst we should be finishing around the same position as last season even if we didn't play any of the new guys, but there is a chance these players could add the quality needed to allow us to challenge. My bottom line is always that it has to be in our budget, if we can afford it then I'm all for it. Beat me to it. haha 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyDD Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 34 minutes ago, Tory Boy said: I don't get the team full of youngsters with minimum experience. We've kept the nucleus of the team that were challenging for the title last season. Nearly all the regulars from last season are still there. Obviously Miller & Smith are gone and to a lesser extent the likes of Roberts & Weddburn who drifted in and out of the side. The rest of the guys who we've got rid off only played a handful of games. You could nearly put out a full team who played 20+ games last season. Fair enough we've brought in a number of young (and hopefully promising) players but there is only a couple of positions to fill. Anyone else that gets a game on top of that is because they're displaced a regular from last season. Think this is a key point; most of not all of these new signings are going to have to be better than what we already have to get a game ahead of the players still with us from last season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tulloch Gorum Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Good thing is they know that they can get a chance to do that at Airdrie. Both Hutton and McCann were brought in as backup, took their chance when it came and Murray trusted them to establish themselves as first XI regulars. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
waysider Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 I accept we have experienced players in goal and central defence. Neither full back is experienced although McCann in particular was good last year. We have 2 experienced forwards and that is it in terms of experience. Remember too that players get injured. The midfield was terrible last year but on signings so far I bet that nobody has heard of many of them before. The fact that you are foreign doesn’t necessarily make you a good player. So on the basis of this I would say that we are likely to have a team the majority of whom have everything to prove. I accept that the signings aren’t finished but from comment from people ITK future signings look like being youngsters as well. I’ve probably become a cynic but I’ve been disappointed so often I’m not getting over excited. As I said before, I hope I’m wrong. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr November Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 1 hour ago, waysider said: I accept we have experienced players in goal and central defence. Neither full back is experienced although McCann in particular was good last year. We have 2 experienced forwards and that is it in terms of experience. Remember too that players get injured. The midfield was terrible last year but on signings so far I bet that nobody has heard of many of them before. The fact that you are foreign doesn’t necessarily make you a good player. So on the basis of this I would say that we are likely to have a team the majority of whom have everything to prove. I accept that the signings aren’t finished but from comment from people ITK future signings look like being youngsters as well. I’ve probably become a cynic but I’ve been disappointed so often I’m not getting over excited. As I said before, I hope I’m wrong. Last seasons midfield was generally quite experienced though. Nat Wedderburn’s played in League One and the leagues above before and Kieran Millar had been in this league for five or six years and while not necessarily experienced Kurtis Roberts is 25. Despite that experience the midfield was our main complaint last season, mainly due to a real lack of creativity and ability to control games. I think most fans are excited about the unknown rather than because we think these new signings will be great players. They may well turn out to be rubbish but signing unknown foreign players is always going yo be more interesting than signing players from other League One teams. Ideally we would sign an experienced midfielder who is good on the ball and has the ability to control a game and drive the team forward. Unfortunately there’s not too many players like that at this level and Falkirk and Thistle will always be able to outbid us, let alone teams in the league above. Rather than settle for the same average midfield, the club have gambled on a few unknown players who might be able to improve the team. I’ve got more confidence in the current regime than previous ones given that we’re taking a few gambles while having a mainly settled squad rather than filling the team with young, unproven players. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_H Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 I think there's probably a good enough squad now to make a go of things, but my concerns are still midfield and up front. Wondering when these West Ham loanees are happening! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Obviously these young lads are unknown and there's no guarantee of how good they'll be but recruitment since Millar came in as DoF has generally been excellent in my opinion. While there were a few last season that might have been underwhelming there were a lot more who done well. Outside of the players of unknown ability, I think Currie is an excellent addition and I expect him to be the first choice goalie, and O'Reilly looked excellent at the start of last season. We've still got the core of a team that done well last season so I'm fairly confident of us at least finishing in the playoff spots and hopefully challenging for the title. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb_diamond Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 (edited) I suppose the way to think about it is that these two lads have had game time (albeit limited) and contract offers from clubs milllleeesss above our level. In the pyramid of the football world we should have no chance at having them under any normal circumstances and neither of them would sign for Thistle or Falkirk in a month of Sundays. We have them due to a cosiness with an agent. I see that as a positive. Edited August 5, 2020 by cb_diamond 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamond10 Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 Yeah I agree, recruitment has widely been a success under Miller and Murray. I think there’s probably more research into the players we sign with various scouts/networks in place then ever before. So I think we are fairly safe in who we are getting and how they fit into the team. Noticed someone saying Murray likes to have a bigger squad. I think that has worked well so far as whenever someone has been suspended/injured it isn’t a disaster someone else has filled in pretty comfortably. For example Kerr filling in for Crighton nearer the end of last season. Pretty happy with the business so far having said that still think we are missing an experienced midfielder and a striker that will add more goals. Would like to think we could challenge for the title but playoffs would be ok as an absolute minimum. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr November Posted August 5, 2020 Share Posted August 5, 2020 On 24/07/2020 at 16:39, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said: Might be nothing in it, but our 20 man squad is using numbers up to 25 as it stands with 12, 13, 16, 18 and 21 vacant. 13 unlikely to be used meaning there are four vacant numbers to be filled, suggesting there are still four vacant spaces in the squad to be filled. I'd expect three midfielders and a forward if this is the case. Looks like Sabatini and Ritchie have taken 12 and 13, so still potentially three players left if they’re filling out all the numbers. A 25 man squad seems massive at a time when most clubs are running with smaller squads, though I guess even that is much smaller than last season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
++Ammo - Airdrie++ Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 If we're to expect another 3 players then I would really like to see a striker as one of them as well tbh. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mybitchunderprotest Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 Striker will be next. If we're to expect another 3 players then I would really like to see a striker as one of them as well tbh.Our ITK poster seems to think that's what will happen. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Reed Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 Would like to see Colin Cameron back, seemed to do better when he joined us. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tory Boy Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 CB Diamond won't like the ITK patter but we have 2 more players to come in. The previously mentioned forward from West Ham. He's apparently big and fast. He'll be at the club in September. The other player is a left sided midfielder who can also play at full back. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G_H Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 Time for some baseless speculation based on West Ham's squads then. I'm going to assume it won't be anyone from their first team squad, as astonishing as it would be to beat Celtic to Ajeti. Here are my best guesses Forwards https://www.whufc.com/teams/development-squad/squad/oladapo-afolayan Mid/LB https://www.whufc.com/teams/development-squad/squad/bernardo-rosa 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoalForAirdrie Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 1 hour ago, G_H said: Time for some baseless speculation based on West Ham's squads then. I'm going to assume it won't be anyone from their first team squad, as astonishing as it would be to beat Celtic to Ajeti. Here are my best guesses Forwards https://www.whufc.com/teams/development-squad/squad/oladapo-afolayan Mid/LB https://www.whufc.com/teams/development-squad/squad/bernardo-rosa Airdrie signing a Brazilian. Never thought I’d see the day 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cb_diamond Posted August 7, 2020 Share Posted August 7, 2020 6 hours ago, Tory Boy said: CB Diamond won't like the ITK patter but we have 2 more players to come in. The previously mentioned forward from West Ham. He's apparently big and fast. He'll be at the club in September. The other player is a left sided midfielder who can also play at full back. I don't like this... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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