Summer 2023 Transfer Window Thread

[OrlandoDon]

I don’t know McGrath enough but I saw him as a 10 and potentially playing off one forward. A different look, be that with the big guy, miovski, or even with sokler. We’re also very reliant on clarkson, I also saw McGrath as the man when clarkson is injured/rested. The other player we are overly reliant on is shinnie, a midfield without Rama or shinnie is very lightweight unless it’s one coming in today. Hopefully.

I get that it’s a quick assessment, I just think it’s timing. One month into the season and folks seem to have turned negative and critical. We’re still in Europe and it’s an exciting season ahead to me. I’ve seen enough positives in the team and new signings to be optimistic. Yes, ruby has made mistakes, but I still think he’s a good player and a step or two above ash Taylor.
I didn’t want Robson as manager but I think he’s brought some intrigue and optimism, even seen in the 3-1 loss to Celtic. I’m not ready to be overly critical yet.

[OrlandoDon]

Any chatter here? Unexpected super signing imminent? Charlie on the beach in a black trench coat??? 

[Jute]

[Elgindon]

Suggestions of a European midfielder incoming(Daily record live : ?)and possibly another???

[Slim]

Danish defender?

https://insidefutbol.com/2023/09/01/aberdeen-have-loan-deal-in-place-for-danish-star/619266/

[redordead]

3 minutes ago, Slim said:

Danish defender?

https://insidefutbol.com/2023/09/01/aberdeen-have-loan-deal-in-place-for-danish-star/619266/

It'll be six at the back this weekend

[OrlandoDon]

Gartenmann, another central defender? A little strange. If that’s it we are certainly lightweight in center mid.

[RicoS321]

With only Rubezic, MacDonald, Williams, Dadia, Milne and Devlin that could play there, I was concerned we were a bit light in the right centre defence role.

[Jute]

Confirmed by club.

Another right sided centre back is really odd. Guessing club have decided one of the right sided defenders signed is not up to scratch. 
 

Supposedly another still to come. 

[Jute]

Departure this time. 
 

Good riddance. 

[tlg1903]

18 minutes ago, Jute said:

Confirmed by club.

Another right sided centre back is really odd. Guessing club have decided one of the right sided defenders signed is not up to scratch. 
 

Supposedly another still to come. 

Scott burns just tweeted we are done for tonight.  

[tlg1903]

5 minutes ago, Jute said:

Departure this time. 
 

Good riddance. 

Given the loan takes him up to the end of his deal I suspect we are paying still paying some of his wage.  

[Jute]

18 minutes ago, tlg1903 said:

Scott burns just tweeted we are done for tonight.  

Just seen that. Very surprised no defensive midfielder in if that’s the case. 

[scotfree]

Oh, dear...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[OrlandoDon]

34 minutes ago, RicoS321 said:

With only Rubezic, MacDonald, Williams, Dadia, Milne and Devlin that could play there, I was concerned we were a bit light in the right centre defence role.

Let’s be fair. Or dadia is supposedly a right back, wing back, or holding mid, Milne was/is a central midfielder first, and devlin a right back/wing back. For a back 3 it’s 3 from ruby, Williams, Macdonald, gartenmann, and Jensen. I guess with Stewart gone it’s not too much overkill. With this guy signed though it also makes me wonder if there is more to Macdonald’s health given he didn’t play last night.

Lastly, Polvara Milne or dadia, even Barron, do not overly fill me with confidence replacing Rama. 

[Reekie_Red]

I presume Helens valuation of Baccus and our top dollar were miles apart. Shame, we could've done with a Rama replacement who is proven in this league 

[Panda]

Aberdeen have signed 13 players this summer, a year after Jim Goodwin promised we'd never need a window like that again.

Are we weaker than last season? At the moment, it's hard to argue against it.

Pollock goes straight into that team. Scales maybe but let's see how Jensen turns out and I thought he looked okay on Thursday. Ramadani is replaceable, but unfortunately we don't appear to have replaced him. 

Ross McCrorie also gets into that team. Maybe Devlin takes his place at RWB but I'd have loved him in midfield on Thursday.

We'll see how it goes in the next few months but we need McGarry, Jensen and Gartenmann to all turn out to be great, MacDonald to find consistent fitness, Duk to come back from this extended pre-season he appears to be on, and Barron needs to step up because we're short in midfield.

I'm not sure either where McGrath fits into a 3-5-2. All these defenders suggest we're not going four at the back any time soon.

Over to you Robson.

[RicoS321]

29 minutes ago, Panda said:

Aberdeen have signed 13 players this summer, a year after Jim Goodwin promised we'd never need a window like that again.

That was a fairly stupid thing for Goodwin to say. I hope Robson doesn't repeat those words. Everything points to us having to do a fair bit in January in order not to have to do the same again next summer. 

If we can get seven out of the thirteen to be decent, that'd be an achievement. 

[OrlandoDon]

37 minutes ago, Panda said:

Aberdeen have signed 13 players this summer, a year after Jim Goodwin promised we'd never need a window like that again.

Are we weaker than last season? At the moment, it's hard to argue against it.

Pollock goes straight into that team. Scales maybe but let's see how Jensen turns out and I thought he looked okay on Thursday. Ramadani is replaceable, but unfortunately we don't appear to have replaced him. 

Ross McCrorie also gets into that team. Maybe Devlin takes his place at RWB but I'd have loved him in midfield on Thursday.

We'll see how it goes in the next few months but we need McGarry, Jensen and Gartenmann to all turn out to be great, MacDonald to find consistent fitness, Duk to come back from this extended pre-season he appears to be on, and Barron needs to step up because we're short in midfield.

I'm not sure either where McGrath fits into a 3-5-2. All these defenders suggest we're not going four at the back any time soon.

Over to you Robson.

Honestly, had we signed Baccus I’d have been somewhat happy with the window. Very few loan players has to surely please many. It’s also one window, don’t expect all our problems solved at once. Willing to give the group a chance.

we’re married to 3-5-2 hence the approach to the window, pretty much to cater to duk. Don’t like that but is what it is. Width comes from the wing backs, not a fan but again is what it is.

pollock and scales weren’t ours, Stewart pish. Seen enough from ruby to suggest he’ll be a decent squad player and do ok alongside a solid Macdonald. Think a lot has been asked of him the last month. Jensen is an internationalist and a decent background, high hopes. 
devlin is a good replacement at rob/rwb for mccrorie. No clue of gartenmann. Not sure what Williams offers.
We were weak on the left last year, aging Hayes, inconsistent loaner coulson, average McKenzie. Heard enough to suggest Mcgarry, another internationalist, is an upgrade. 
Happy with the signing of McGrath, gives us creativity and flair in there. However, I totally feel with three at the back it should be clarkson or McGrath with two workers in a central 3. If we’d kept Rama we’re good there.

gueye and Sokler give us options up top, we’re not going to run miovski and duk to death like last year. Plus gueye give us a clear different approach.

big concerns with a lightweight midfield. Rama not replaced and shinnie will get suspended. Gets worse if shinnie gets injured. Hoping that or Dadia is the plan and gives us the engine/bite we’re presently lacking.

Edited September 2, 2023 by OrlandoDon

[Panda]

24 minutes ago, OrlandoDon said:

Seen enough from ruby to suggest he’ll be a decent squad player and do ok alongside a solid Macdonald. Think a lot has been asked of him the last month.

This is an important point. He's a young lad, has made a step up, has played some big games already, and is being slaughtered for a few mistakes.

I hope all these defenders signing is Robson wanting to look after him, and Mackenzie, and let them learn from more experienced heads in the coming months.

[OrlandoDon]

15 minutes ago, Panda said:

This is an important point. He's a young lad, has made a step up, has played some big games already, and is being slaughtered for a few mistakes.

I hope all these defenders signing is Robson wanting to look after him, and Mackenzie, and let them learn from more experienced heads in the coming months.

Yup. 23 yr old who had a serious knee injury that put him out for a year too. I think he’ll play the pollock role well, but currently asked to be the leader in the middle with an out of position right back next to him, plus no consistency on the other side, arguably it’s been mostly an out of position left back, and missing our main holding mid to protect him.
Interested to see how our defense plays out once everyone is fit.

Edited September 2, 2023 by OrlandoDon

[RicoS321]

6 hours ago, OrlandoDon said:

Yup. 23 yr old who had a serious knee injury that put him out for a year too. I think he’ll play the pollock role well, but currently asked to be the leader in the middle with an out of position right back next to him, plus no consistency on the other side, arguably it’s been mostly an out of position left back, and missing our main holding mid to protect him.
Interested to see how our defense plays out once everyone is fit.

Definitely this. I think Rubezic will be fine if played correctly and consistently, I'm just a little concerned that Robson doesn't see it. He's moved Rubezic central a few times this season already. The point about him only being 23 is an interesting one. I guess our signings, in defence, are usually expected to be up to speed when we get them (Scales wasn't quite last season, although that might have just been a Goodwin thing). If experience was an issue, and I think you and Panda are right, then it's all the more bewildering that Rubezic hasn't been given a consistent run. It's really frustrating that we get pumped in Europe when seemingly not playing out best setup. Anyway, the new guy doesn't really solve the problem unless he can either play centrally, or we're intending resting Rubezic regularly. In my mind, him being here makes it even more likely that we persist with Rubezic centrally! It could work if Robson allows Rubezic to be ahead of the other two , but I don't think he will. Rubezic's biggest issue is that his peripheral awareness is pish (which is why he also seems best at kicking it the way he's facing) and he doesn't cover left and right very well. 

Anyway, it was an interesting window. I've heard numerous people suggest that it was a good window because we got thirteen players in. Certainly there is credit due to the recruitment staff for an impressive quantity. However, by only having one number eight (and Robson wedded to one formation), all the good work risks being completely undone. No matter how good the other signings are, they won't make up for a missing midfield. We tried bypassing it the other night and that didn't work. I'm struggling to think how we get round the issue in a 3-5-2. I guess we play 3-4-1-2 with two sitting. I always think that's better in a back four (4-2-3-1). The question is who the two sitting are. Out of the options, I'd probably try and play Barron into some form there. He's been good in a two before, I'm not convinced that the others ever have. There's no way on earth that we're competing successfully in three competitions with that midfield though unless we move a player from another position or we intend killing Shinnie through exhaustion.

 

[Reekie_Red]

On 02/09/2023 at 12:29, Panda said:

He's a young lad, has made a step up, has played some big games already, and is being slaughtered for a few mistakes.

I don't buy the penalty he gave away vs Hacken. I've watched the replay of it probably half a dozen times now, and he wins the ball every time before Sadiq goes down. Rubi is a bit rough around the edges, but as mentioned earlier he is a good couple of levels above what we saw from Ash Taylor 

[RicoS321]

11 minutes ago, Reekie_Red said:

I don't buy the penalty he gave away vs Hacken. I've watched the replay of it probably half a dozen times now, and he wins the ball every time before Sadiq goes down. Rubi is a bit rough around the edges, but as mentioned earlier he is a good couple of levels above what we saw from Ash Taylor 

No he isn't. Taylor under McInnes (especially second spell) was better than anything we've seen from Rubezic to date. He is very similar to Taylor in his first few games for us so far. Positionally suspect, meaning he dives in when he shouldn't and terrible with the ball. We turned Taylor into a very serviceable SPFL defender. We will more than likely do the same with a Rubezic once he's in a settled position. He has enough attributes to make him a decent player. I didn't get a good view of the penalty, but he was too far off the man initially and allowed him to run at him. It looked to me like he dived in to prevent the player getting a shot and I'm surprised he wasn't sent off. In his defence, it was late in a game that we were chasing and everyone was out of position, so I wouldn't read much into the incident - I don't think it'll be indicative of him as a player either way.

[Slim]

Bavidge didn’t go out on loan then?