Kmcalpin

JGR gets my vote although Hodge wasn't far behind. Moormann was a contender until his red card. I thought about Paulsen as he had some very good saves and distribution was excellent but his aerial ability, or rather lack of, let him down a bit.

Time will tell but AJ will assume it was down to poor defending; he has to. We have a new defence which will take time to settle in so thats an important factor. Our defence will not be the biggest in the Premiership and will be tested aerially and we certainly can't rely on Paulsen in that regard. Still we can take hope from the manner of the defeat last night and from Freiburg's goals. In some situations, a Borgolfsson / Palmer Houlden partnership would cause our rivals some headaches. Whilst I really like our "new" style of play, good old fashioned physicality still has its place as Julian Schuster showed last night. One thing that has concerned me this season so far in the 4 games that I've seen, is our inability to close down attacks and crosses from the flanks. Now, that could be attributed to several factors including not having a settled midfield nor 2 fit proper full backs. Again, time will tell.

A wonderful night of European football and one I'll remember and cherish for years to come. Freiburg were the best team I've seen at Fir Park since the 1960s (I wasn't at the Dortmund game). Although clearly well off their normal standards, they were a joy to watch. They had technical ability in spades, and were much faster, fitter and stronger than us. It was men against boys. Even if they are well below their normal standard, like tonight, they'd easily beat any team in Scotland. I would have taken a 3-0 defeat at 7.30 and was overjoyed to see us score an early, well worked goal. What a moment that was. A 3-1 reverse was a decent outcome in the end. I thought they were so good, and completely dominated the game. Given that its very difficult to assess just how good or bad we were. I thought the referee was very poor and inconsistent and said to my cousin early in the first half that he had a red card in him. Fortunately it was only one. Freiburg were lucky to win the penalty as there was a clear handball in the build up just in front of us. But thats neither here nor there in the great scheme of things. I thought our most impressive spell was after Moormann was sent off. We dug in and limited Freiburg's clear cut chances. I do like the look of Hodge and Palmer-Houlden. It was also great to see SOD on the pitch again. My main worry was just how poor we were at defending set pieces for example at 2 of the goals. Domestic opponents will have been taking notes of that. AJ commented on that and it needs some soul searching in various quarters to address. A final word about our fans. There's been much criticism of the Bois behaviour but I was proud that a few of those around me tonight showed a sporting side when they applauded Freiburg players off the pitch.

Yes, very much so. Whilst we'll never be at Freiburg's level, there are valuable lessons to be learnt tonight by the players and management including Nick Daws. It was notable that despite our opponents superior technical ability, 2 of their goals came from brute force and superior physicality. You simply can't beat a big physical defence, when push comes to shove. We don't have a big team height wise and that needs to be recognised and acted upon. Yes, the new boy up front looked good despite working on scraps.

Ah yes, so he is.

No Vogt in squad?

He's in the official squad, so I'd think so.

Do we?

Irrespective of who we eventually sign it appears that we're in the market for an "Elijah Just replacement"/attacking midfielder.

This season is shaping up to be even worse than last season , if thats possible.

Seb Palmer-Houlden?

I suspect a few, including Mikey Booth, will go out on loan and that will increase leeway for a couple of signings. BBC and Rancid reporting that we're hoping to secure a loan deal for Bobby Wales, but that Dundee is likely to beat us off. New signing teaser on X.

Not sure about that. As it stands, and that may change in the next few weeks, we have 2 left backs in Longelo and Williams. Do we need a dedicated 3rd one? If both are injured then SOD and JK can also play there.

100% agree Denny. We do need competition for starting places, but I do understand that can lead to some unhappy players, if they're being left out. Its a fine balancing act. Put simply, many of our fringe players are not good enough. Some are Championship standard, whilst others are League One or two standard. I would put RCC in that category. I agree about Ross and Wilson. Ross started out well about 4 years ago but never really progressed and when I've seen him of late looks to be out of his depth. He's now 20 and although previous managers must have seen something in him he just hasn't cut it. Its sad but a harsh part of footballing life. Ewan Wilson? doesn't seem to fit in with our style of play. Again after an impressive start, he's never kicked on and didn't impress whilst on loan at Starks Park. Both these lads will probably end up in League one or two. Booth and McAllister are different and may well benefit from a spell out on loan. From the little I've seen of McAllister before this season I was impressed but then again he was playing alongside seasoned pros. Whyte is a bit different and he looks as though he could slot into the first team this season if he's partnered with seasoned pros.

Thanks for that insight David. I suppose thats what sports science is all about. So, what we're saying is that whilst a manager takes the actual decisions on team selection and and substitutions, the opinions he is presented with by other staff can, in some circumstances (like a squad limited by injuries), pretty well dictate what team he actually puts on the park. For example, "Player A has a minor strain and we recommend he plays no more than 20 minutes". So, whilst ordinary fans like me naively assume that the manager has free rein to pick the team the reality might be totally different.

Mybe a paper exercise, but our submitted list for Thursday's game is a little more optimistic as it includes Sods, Williams, Thor and Ap Stam. Priestman and Sparrow also on it as well Hodge. How fit some of these players are is another matter entirely of course. Still its a step in the right direction.

Yes, some players didn't do themselves or the club any favours. There's been plenty of talk about incomings but a few need to be shipped out either on loan, to mitigate wage costs or to gain experience; or permanently.

For me, the positives of this tie are the cash generated through the gate and possibly German TV money; seeing a team like Freiburg at Fir Park; and giving the players more experience. Results wise being realistic, its a case of damage limitation and AJ knows that.

I think you're being a tad harsh. He's a young inexperienced manager with a Scandinavian background (cups don't mean very much). A baptism of fire for him due to the plethora of injuries but I think he's been let down by his back room team here. They've been in post for some time, know the players very well, and would know the pitfalls of playing at Ochilview. I suppose its possible though that they warned him about over rotation and treating Stenny too lightly only to be ignored. Questions do need to be asked though.

I watched today's highlights and taken together with the Helsinki game last Thursday, I'm concerned that we seem to be very vulnerable down the 2 flanks.

We're now several games into the new season and its clear that the squad has deficiencies. The good news is that we have to rectify them. We desperately need another attacking midfielder and striker. Maybe another left back if Longelo moves on. Loan move for Mikey Booth and maybe Ewan Wilson, if he can't be offloaded. I wouldn't lose any sleep if RCC found a new club as he's just not doing the business. We almost have a strong enough strating 11 but the fringe players are not impressing.

Very true. Despite assurances from the top to the contrary, JBA's departure caused huge disruption and that has hit us very hard. I should have it said it before but congratulations to Stenny. It was their cup final and they wanted and very badly to win it. It was their day in the sun and good luck to them. Its unlikely they will repeat it.

Some good points being on here and on P &B. I understand the problems the manager is facing and expected a degree of squad rotation but today was just too extreme. When I saw the starting line up I expected a very difficult tie on a poor surface. In short AJ, and his management team, took a huge gamble and it backfired. We treated Stenny with disrespect and it cost us. Now AJ and his management team may have learnt some lessons today, but I have to ask did his assistant manager and coaches, who knew our youngsters very well, not advise him beforehand? The likes of Mikey Booth is clearly not ready for first team football and thats been apparent this season already. He's been hung out to dry. Luca Ross and Ewan Wilson are probably League One or Two standard and are not going to make it. Again who has been advising AJ? Most on here could have told him that weeks ago. In short we may have a strong starting 11, almost, but the fringe players are just not cutting it for various reasons. Hopefully a few will leave, either permanently or on loan, as soon as Freiburg knock us out of the Conference League. Hopefully AJ has learnt a hard lesson that domestic Cups are important to Scots fans and he won't repeat today's mistakes.

"We" treated Stenhousemuir and our fans with disrespect and paid the price.

A costly miscalculation from AJ today.