LA-Don

Schmeichel is going to Chelsea, courtois going to Madrid with hazard.

Decent game but we are certainly weak in attack and had very few chances. Cosgrove played a decent hour, 2 chances and scored 1. Still a big target man and limited. May had a 1/2 chance from shinnie’s header but honking first touch, and did little else. Center mid looks pretty strong with Ferguson, Forrester, Gleeson, Ball, and even Campbell all looking tidy plus Shinnie who was left back today. Not opposed to Shinnie staying there after seeing the midfield today. Wide mid is a concern as we’re relying on inconsistent confidence players. Both GMS and Wright looked good in patches today but drifted in and out the game. Devlin looked solid too, good to see the new guys look the part.

I’d agree with that, set piece guy too. Assume he’s on the penalties now??

Shitty defending by McKenna and Shinnie on the goal, both should have won the ball easily. Definitely played at preseason pace, pretty slow at times. I’d say it’s a 4-1-4-1 with Ball holding behind Forrester and Ferguson, and Ball has looked ok. Really like the look of Ferguson, does not look or play like an 18 year old. Cosgrove has played reasonably well too, has done a good job linking up and a nice header.

Impressed by Ferguson so far, Forrester looks a tidy player too.

I think we lucked out with McKenna. He wasn’t strong at Ayr and was thrown in at the deep end here after being horsed by Motherwell. For the first x games he never put a foot wrong and the rest is history. Wright needs to do likewise. Between form or a lack of and injury he’ll get his chance this year. I’m curious to what happens with McGinn, turned 31 and is he as good or in decline too? Regardless, if he’s not sent on loan, this is the year for Wright or he becomes the next Peter Pawlett.

Haha, though of you this morning but didn't say anything. Sadly I see Woodman costing a similar amount in the future. What's shitty about the market is that Lewis is as good or better than both in my eyes but would we ever get that amount of money...

That's an interesting spin on it but starter or sub it doesn't matter. It's time on the field that needs to be taken by someone else. Here's my take - You are 100% right, we need a right back to compete with, push, even replace Shay. He has peaked and is getting worse. We need a left back, Considine is ahead of Shay in terms of decline and is a back up central defender/left back at best. And yes, we obviously need a striker. So that's 3. Stewart - 28 appearances - replaced by youth (Ross?) OConnor - 38 appearances - replaced by existing (Ball/Reynolds/Campbell/right back signing) Arneson - 21 appearances - replaced by Devlin McLean - 37 appearances - replaced by Gleeson Christie - 32 appearances - replaced by Forrester Rooney - 35 appearances - SIGNING NEEDED Rogers - 3 appearances - replaced by youth (Craddock?) Maynard - 20 appearances - replaced by youth (Anderson) Stockley/Storey - x appearances - replaced by Cosgrove Tansey/Nwakali - x appearances - replaced by Ferguson (although I'd keep Tansey as back up) I'd see Wright playing more as back up and to push GMS and McGinn, although ideally if we signed players I'd send Wright out on loan to get regular minutes. Saying that I still think all 3 are too inconsistent and a signing would help. I'd also like Campbell to get the experience backing up in central midfield. That, to me, is a balance of youth and experience. To be a solid team expected to do well in league and cups, we are 4-5 good players short.

Not sure who is healthy but considine and Reynolds out. Maybe... Lewis Logan- Devlin - McKenna - Shinnie Ball-Gleeson Wright - Forrester - GMS May McGinn injury doubt Saying that, pretty sure cosgrove will start.... plus possibly Ferguson, just don’t know the extent of the injuries. And I could see is going 4-4-2 this year with May and Cosgrove up top....

Yes the window opened at the beginning of the month but we knew the situation we’d be in months ago, give or take a player or two. While I don’t expect us to have a final squad by now, we do not appear to be in a good situation. We have EIGHT experienced Aberdeen players, 4 more in McKenna, Ball, Cosgrove, and Wright who are 22 or younger, and 4 new signings, one who hasn’t played in a year and one an 18 year old. That is 16 players, a number who are injured, and includes one goalkeeper. For the supposed second best team in Scotland, that is an absolute shambles given the season starts next week. Am I expecting too much from a professional organization with high ambitions?

I’m not concerned about the actuality of Rooney leaving, it’s the fact that it’s another experienced player leaving and our season starts next week. We’ve lost/punted Stewart, OConnor, Arneson, McLean, Christie, Rooney, Rogers, and Maynard, six of those playing regularly. We’ve added Devlin who hasn’t played in a year and who is already carrying an injury, Forrester and Gleeson who I think will do well, and an 18 year old Ferguson. Of the recruits last year GMS is greatly inconsistent and a step or two down from Hayes, and May has so far failed to produce his St Johnstone form. Add Cosgrove to that, a youngster who doesn’t look like ever scoring. Fuck knows what happened to Tansey. Please share specifics of what we should be optimistic about. We have three big games coming up, multiple injuries in a tiny squad, and losing Rooney just makes our squad even lighter.

You don’t think we have a right to be worried, and express it? Are you happy with the current squad with the season starting very soon?

And that’s the shite I don’t want to hear. He’s our player and we don’t sell until it’s suits us. That didn’t appear to happen.....unless we were offered a good transfer see but ‘good’ is certainly subjective.

We've arguably lost our 3 best/most influential players in the last 12 months in Hayes, McLean, and Rooney. For all Rooney's flaws he scored goals and it's no coincidence last year was more of a struggle in attack - we scored 18 less goals in the league with no Hayes and Rooney playing less (not the only reason but significant.) GMS is not as good as Hayes, no clue if Ferguson or Forrester will be as influential as McLean, and Rooney's goals have to come from somewhere - May and/or Cosgrove do not look like the answer so far. The club's wage bill must be SIGNIFICANTLY less with all the players gone, surely we should expect more than a forward and right sided defender to come in? I know silence and no news kills us all but this is not good stuff right now, especially with Burnley NEXT WEEK!

Do you really see rangers doing business with McInnes/Aberdeen given what happened with DM?

He’s the type of player our squad needs, cheap, and backs up multiple positions. We cannot afford a back up for each position so he serves a purpose. He’s also young and can improve, plus I recall him being decent post split last season. However, and I’m beating a dead horse. We still need to sign 3-4 quality players and if it doesn’t happen and Ball is expected to be more than he is then DM is certainly the one who should get the abuse, not Ball.

Natural scorer yes, but he thrived on the service of Hayes and McGinn, and I suppose McLean and Christie too. He's also getting slower and doesn't fit with the current squad and talents.......although do we even have 11 players now??

That’s stating the obvious. It’s the quality that is of great concern. Louis Moult and I’ll be happy. Cosgrove doesn’t look like getting goals, May has been average at best, we need a forward that scares other teams and scores goals.

Here’s how I see it, not totally like for like but you may see where I’m coming from - Gone are Woodman and Rogers - we need a replacement Arneson - replaced by Devlin OConnor - replaced by Gleeson Ball - provides cover at holding mid, right back, even central defense - need a replacement McLean - replaced by Forrester Maynard - replaced by Cosgrove Christie - Stewart - Youth replaces the youth that left Expect Tansey gone and replaced by Ferguson Sadly it doesn’t appear we are improving the squad but simply trying to find adequate replacements. Considine needs replaced, we need a threatening and goal scoring striker, and I think we need a quality wide player as what we have isn’t consistent enough.

I’m sticking with what I said earlier. Ball is a squad filler provided we sign 3-4 quality starting players. If that doesn’t happen and we’re more reliant on Ball as a regular player then it’s majorly underwhelming.

No clue about the keeper although we need one, but I’d take Ball back as a sub/back up. He can play multiple positions and a decent guy to be sitting on the bench. However, we still need 3-4 quality players who will be starting/pushing for a starting position to creat the necessary competition for playing time. Neither are that.

You would certainly hope McInnes has already done the scouting (well, the scouts at least) and we have a list of capable strikers. Although I'd be ok with McGinn up top and we sign a midfielder who can play right /left/center like Christie did. However, we do need a main forward who actually looks a scoring threat. I am certainly hoping that it's down to the world cup and signings will come sooner rather than later, but it's getting increasingly concerning that we're less than 2 weeks away from the start of the season and our squad is very weak. At present we're relying on Lewis not getting injured, Reynolds and Considine who are limited to say the least, Devlin who hasn't played in a year, two new unproven signings in the middle of the park (although I think they'll do well), no experienced back up in central midfield, GMS/McGinn/Wright wide who are not consistent, and 2 or 3 forwards that scare nobody. Obviously we are relying on youth too - are they playing on merit or because we have nobody else? Geez.....

Don’t know why people are slamming Var. It gives the ref another look, nobody awards anything but him. Slam the ref if you have an issue.

Would assume a fee is involved if true, especially since we’re struggling to afford a decent forward given DMs recent comments.

That doesn’t make sense to me. If we didn’t rate Rogers we’d have released him. As for Ward or Woodman permanently, what are you smoking? That will never happen. Both are regarded highly enough to play at a higher level and earn way more than we can offer. We couldn’t even attract McGeough or Marquis!