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The Official Airdrieonians Thread - 2019/20 and beyond


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Our current squad is weaker than the one we had last season. No doubt about it. If other teams round us have improved their squad then we could struggle, although there's still time to add players. Hopefully not the trialists we played at the weekend though. They're simply not good enough if we want to be challenging at the end of the season. 

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1 hour ago, Glenmavis Diamond said:

Our current squad is weaker than the one we had last season. No doubt about it. If other teams round us have improved their squad then we could struggle, although there's still time to add players. Hopefully not the trialists we played at the weekend though. They're simply not good enough if we want to be challenging at the end of the season. 

Back 4 definitely, the rest don't seem to have strenghed any positions, think the people that  are advising the trialists need looked at, 

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2 hours ago, Glenmavis Diamond said:

Our current squad is weaker than the one we had last season. No doubt about it. If other teams round us have improved their squad then we could struggle, although there's still time to add players. Hopefully not the trialists we played at the weekend though. They're simply not good enough if we want to be challenging at the end of the season. 

Is it weaker, I remember struggling twice at home to Albion R overs preseason last year and funnily enough it made no difference to the season,    

 

from last season we have lost Kyle MacDona!d.....another player that split opinion.....is Wardrop better...Yes

Leon McCann......    Good player...had  a poor season until league resumed...  Got his move....is Ri co better.....No

Sean Crighton...... Was slated on here most of the season.......Is  Kerr better......Yes

Griffin Sabatini.......Great VT, in reality a limited football player........is Agnew better.......Yes

Paul McKay.......  Another scapegoat and slated most of the season.......is Watson better......Yes

Dale Carrick......  Good player, legs gone,  never finished a game.......is Easton better......would think so

 

Ally Roy........  Local hero, shite footballer with no heart.......is Allan better......  No worse....

 

Complete over reaction to the weekend football frenzy at Broadwood......

 

We are well short on numbers with Frizzell and Pyott injured and Robert apparently on trial..

 

all players must be signed to play in the Cup group stages,  would expect 3 or 4 of the trialist s to sign whether we like it or not....

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3 hours ago, Kenny_m said:

There's was always the concern that Agnew's legs have gone and a lot of EF fans seemed to think that but too early to be writing anyone off yet.

I'm been totally unimpressed with Quitongo but we'll see when the real action starts.

If Agnew is shot,  he will be The biggest bust since Joe Hamil!

Edited by Passionate
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1 hour ago, Passionate said:

Is it weaker, I remember struggling twice at home to Albion R overs preseason last year and funnily enough it made no difference to the season,    

 

from last season we have lost Kyle MacDona!d.....another player that split opinion.....is Wardrop better...Yes

Leon McCann......    Good player...had  a poor season until league resumed...  Got his move....is Ri co better.....No

Sean Crighton...... Was slated on here most of the season.......Is  Kerr better......Yes

Griffin Sabatini.......Great VT, in reality a limited football player........is Agnew better.......Yes

Paul McKay.......  Another scapegoat and slated most of the season.......is Watson better......Yes

Dale Carrick......  Good player, legs gone,  never finished a game.......is Easton better......would think so

 

Ally Roy........  Local hero, shite footballer with no heart.......is Allan better......  No worse....

 

Complete over reaction to the weekend football frenzy at Broadwood......

 

We are well short on numbers with Frizzell and Pyott injured and Robert apparently on trial..

 

all players must be signed to play in the Cup group stages,  would expect 3 or 4 of the trialist s to sign whether we like it or not....

Yeah the over-reaction on here and social media has been amusing. Like I’ve said previously, the performance and results of friendlies really don’t matter a jot. 
 

I think we’re stronger in every position now than when we started last season too, apart from at left-back (which I don’t think is too detrimental) and upfront. The latter of which does need addressed in fairness. Useless judging Agnew or any other player based on these games too given they’re played at about the same intensity and have the same importance as the walking football. 

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45 minutes ago, airdrieman said:

Yeah the over-reaction on here and social media has been amusing. Like I’ve said previously, the performance and results of friendlies really don’t matter a jot. 
 

I think we’re stronger in every position now than when we started last season too, apart from at left-back (which I don’t think is too detrimental) and upfront. The latter of which does need addressed in fairness. Useless judging Agnew or any other player based on these games too given they’re played at about the same intensity and have the same importance as the walking football. 

Given our left back is being played as a wing back. It does matter. Rico doesn't look capable of beating his man and outing a decent cross in. As a wingback he will be expected to do that. As for front line, it was not axing last year and is weaker this year. So far anyway. If we don't strengthen further than I worry. And signing any of the trialists from the weekend is not strengthening. It's making up numbers and nothing else. 

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7 hours ago, Glenmavis Diamond said:

Given our left back is being played as a wing back. It does matter. Rico doesn't look capable of beating his man and outing a decent cross in. As a wingback he will be expected to do that. As for front line, it was not axing last year and is weaker this year. So far anyway. If we don't strengthen further than I worry. And signing any of the trialists from the weekend is not strengthening. It's making up numbers and nothing else. 

Whether we are better or weaker than last season remains open to debate until the squad is finalised and season commences but:

Cove for example, who i thought had better players than us last season, look to be miles ahead of us this year and to me look  favourites bearing in mind their midfield could be Fyvie (FA cup winner) Draper (Scottish cup winner) Vigurs (nearly 200 premier league games) plus Jamie Masson & Blair Yule. Any of these would get in our side.

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Will be interesting to see if Murray persists with 352 for every League Cup game. He certainly did for both friendlies but I'd like to see us try something different as well. 352 worked well at the end of last season but there's no guarantees it remains the best formation for us when we've got such a different squad.

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1 hour ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

Will be interesting to see if Murray persists with 352 for every League Cup game. He certainly did for both friendlies but I'd like to see us try something different as well. 352 worked well at the end of last season but there's no guarantees it remains the best formation for us when we've got such a different squad.

I’d agree with you - both in the sense that I’m not massively keen on 3-5-2 (although that seems to be the way the game is going at the moment) and in the sense that it’s good to have an alternative plan.

That being said, I think we’re limited in what else we can do for a few reasons (mostly around midfield to front)…

1) We have no wide players…at all really. If you discount the wing backs, Frizzell could maybe play there (although he seems to be a no.10), could Easton? I’m not so sure. It just doesn’t seem like we’ve got any midfield width.

2) The central midfielders we’ve signed don’t lend themselves to a two-man midfield. Agnew wouldn’t likely have the legs for that and McCabe wouldn’t be creative enough, I’d imagine.

3) We don’t really have anyone that could play a lone striker role. Gal runs himself into the ground and has got better at the hold-up play, but it’s really not his game. For that reason, I think he needs a strike partner.

The above, to me, certainly suggests that 4-4-2 and 4-2-3-1 will either be out the window or pretty ineffective. It looks to me like we’ve recruited to be 3-5-2.

For what it’s worth, I’d agree with the assertion that, as usual, there’s been a major overreaction to the NL Cup. I wouldn’t even be too concerned by the upcoming League Cup games either. The squad isn’t finished, no one will be close to full fitness and it will take time for the new players (of which there are many) to settle and gel.

I’d also say that I don’t think we’re weaker than last season, with the exception of McCann who, as Airdrieman says doesn’t exactly play in a vital area of the pitch. I would also say that, with the exception of Cove (who were already strong and have improved their squad), I wouldn’t say any other team in the league looks much stronger than they were last season (bar Dumbarton) and none of them look much further ahead of us, if at all.

As ever, we just need to chill and wait for the season proper to start - it will be a tight and competitive league as ever.

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3 hours ago, Kenny_m said:

Whether we are better or weaker than last season remains open to debate until the squad is finalised and season commences but:

Cove for example, who i thought had better players than us last season, look to be miles ahead of us this year and to me look  favourites bearing in mind their midfield could be Fyvie (FA cup winner) Draper (Scottish cup winner) Vigurs (nearly 200 premier league games) plus Jamie Masson & Blair Yule. Any of these would get in our side.

This. Coves midfield is miles better than ours. Their front line too. They were good last year and have improved their squad.we can't say the same. Who would you say is our best signing so far? Easton for me and he does look good, but is he enough? The rest of the signings so far are pretty meh. Agnew would've been great 3 or more years ago but his best years are behind him now. 

Keeping Kerr and Fordyce is huge, but we've not added enough quality yet. Yes, that could change in the coming weeks but if it doesn't I see no reason to believe we will improve on last season. Which was almost single handedly down to getting Turner in on loan. 

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54 minutes ago, Glenmavis Diamond said:

This. Coves midfield is miles better than ours. Their front line too. They were good last year and have improved their squad.we can't say the same. Who would you say is our best signing so far? Easton for me and he does look good, but is he enough? The rest of the signings so far are pretty meh. Agnew would've been great 3 or more years ago but his best years are behind him now. 

Keeping Kerr and Fordyce is huge, but we've not added enough quality yet. Yes, that could change in the coming weeks but if it doesn't I see no reason to believe we will improve on last season. Which was almost single handedly down to getting Turner in on loan. 

Yet the manager does not seem to see this, going by what was on view over the weekend it will be a long season, 

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4 minutes ago, ShineOnYouCrazyDiamonds said:

We were 4th last year at longer odds. Expected Falkirk to be listed as favourites once again if I'm honest.

Cove look to be worthy favourites to me. Falkirk fans seem completely underwhelmed with their squad to date.

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The bookies have it roughly where I have at the moment, although I can very easily see us disappointing and Dumbarton doing a bit better than the odds they've been given.

I'd lump us/east fife/montrose/dumbarton into the same sort of mix based on squads right now.

Edited by G_H
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36 minutes ago, Kenny_m said:

Cove look to be worthy favourites to me. Falkirk fans seem completely underwhelmed with their squad to date.

We've kept almost our whole squad together and with the addition of Vigurs and Draper should have some extra quality and experience. Our midfield is looking very promising and we have goals in Mitch. Our best kept secret is probably our left back Harry Milne who missed a big chunk of last season with an injury. I'd put him just behind Mitch as MVP/first name on the teamsheet. Another striker would be welcome but we are not alone in that quest!

With new recruits you never know how good they are actually going to be so there's still uncertainty on this front as with all other clubs. Airdrie will be competing near the top too. I'm sure you'll recruit a few others before the season starts. Another astute loanee signing  like Turner would help the cause!

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28 minutes ago, Eric the half a b said:

Who from the weekend is signing ♦️

The completely inexperienced 18 year old is your answer. Just the first team signing we needed to put our nerves to rest.

Worst...transfer...window...ever

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