joewarkfanclub

There is nothing wrong with having the opinion that the League Cup should be a higher priority than a European tie. Im torn on that, as Id love to see us win another trophy in my lifetime, and I actually agree with you that we only have 2 realistic shots at that every season. Its the ignoring the circumstances that the manager and the players have found themselves due to the turnover of staff at the club over the summer that I have an issue with. I dont think Alfred didnt want to win the league cup. He was just in a difficult situation with fixtures and injuries.

Glad we took advantage of the opportunity to postpone the game. The players have been full on since the start of the season with 2 games a week, plenty travel and precious little time on the training ground. The break will hopefully allow some of the injuries to ease / be managed and give Alfred a few more days to get some of his ideas across. Hopefully Dundee United will agree to the midweek game being moved. Makes sense for both clubs. Despite having had a very decent start to the season, I dont think we will see the best of Alfred / this squad until the window is closed and the fixtures start to settle down come October.

Ive tried really hard not to bite on your posts recently, but you are either tone deaf or purposely trolling and I fear its the former rather than the latter. Football is no longer played in the 80s when the boys pissed off to the pub or the bookies after training. They are highly tuned professional athletes pushing their bodies to the limit on a weekly basis. Physical load is an actual thing, otherwise clubs wouldnt be employing sports scientists to monitor and take care of players to try and prevent injury. Unfortunately this only goes so far and cant take into account contact injuries which we appear to have had a number of this season. The manager was on a hiding to nothing with the Stenny game. He could play a full team, risk further injury, risk losing more players for weeks of the league season and get a hiding off Freiburg home and away. Or he could play some of the young boys, hope we squeek thru and manage the load. It didnt come off for him, and I maybe wouldnt have played as many of the young boys, but that was his judgement. If he had followed your judgement instead of the sports scientists, there is a high liklihood we would still be in the league cup, but every chance we would now be without a fair number of our best players for weeks.

All well and good. But their players were constantly grabbing shirts, coming thru the back of their opponents and committing technical fouls and went largely unpunished. If the ref gave all of those and booked their players as well, Id have no complaints.

Im going with Moorman. He was absolutely solid right up until the penalty and the red card, and Im not having it that it was anything other than simulation. Otherwise the next time someone taps me on the shoulder I might just throw myself to the ground......

Really proud of the team tonight. We scored a great goal, defended for our lives and worked our socks off. We limited their chances from open play so its disappointing to concede to 2 set pieces and a penalty. Freiburg are a very good side and deserved to win the game. But........ The officials were absolutely honking. Maybe its just how it is at this level, but the amount of shirt pulling, technical fouls and other dark arts going on was ridiculous. Even more gauling then when we concede a penalty and get a red card for clear simulation. Folk can blame Moorman if they like, and I agree he shouldnt have touched the guys shoulder with his hand, but that doesnt cause the guys legs to collapse. Its blatant cheating and leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Thought our response to going down to ten men was good, albeit reduced to long balls in Sebs direction (he looks handy). Overall, we lost a game to a good team. But, I would really love it if we could bloody their nose over there.

Lucas Fadinger.... Hopefully not until next season though!

Agreed. I mean, I would take him in a hearbeat. But this sounds very much like his agent trying to deepen the pool!

Very impressive press conference. Alfred isnt as intimidating as Jens, but he is no shrinking violet either, and showed real strength of character in his answers. Im sure that will transmit to the players and he will have earned their respect as a result. Still annoyed about the League Cup exit, but 100% understand it and it will soon be forgotten about if we get a strong performance tomorrow night.

Most importantly, we need to try and hang on to Fadinger & Longelo this window. They are integral to what we do and would leave holes that are too big to fill this late in the window. They can be next seasons big money sales!

Another signing that very much fits our current model/process. Young, former academy graduate, struggling to find a home he feels comfortable in. Paid an undisclosed fee. I presume the signing is data driven again, so should fit all the metrics we require. Be interesting to see if this means Stama will be heading out the door or if we will try to use him to supplement what we have. If he goes, Id personally like to get another one in as Hendry looks crocked and Eythor is still a bit unknown. Looking forward to seeing what the young man can do!

We dont have a big enough squad right now. But thats mostly due to injuries. We currently have the following out SOD, McGinn, Sparrow, McGhee, Williams, Priestman, Stama, Eythor, Hendry Add those 9 back into the squad and we are nowhere near as threadbare as we have been made to look. Obviously we can debate whether any of those listed are starters or whether somemof them need moved on. But with a couple more signings up top and the injury list clear, we would be in pretty good shape. Its part of the frustration with the Stenny game / team selection. I agree Alfred could have started with Moorman, Fadinger and Longelo but with Sparrow, Williams and Priestman all being out. Moorman is the only one we have cover for if any of them got injured. You could even add Koutroumbis into that scenario. Clearly, Alfred has chosen to rotate for Stenny hoping to scrape through. I it hasnt worked out, but it was the right decision. Going into the Freiburg game with a much weakened team doesnt bare thinking about.

I think the manager does have free reign to pick the team. However, given our current injury situation, he would be mad to go against the sports scientists and risk picking up more unwanted injuries. Imagine if something had happened to Koutroumbis & Longelo and we went into the Freiburg game with Ross and Wilson as fullbacks? This place would go into meltdown. Folk are more than entitled to their opinions on players, but the realities of modern day football means sometimes a managers hands are tied. Hopefully we can put together a stronger team for Freiburg and consign this episode to history.

This 100 times over. But you know, he is Scandinavian, so clearly just disrespected Stenny & The League Cup..... 🤔🤔🤔

Very reminiscent of another former Rangers player who arrived at Fir Park trying to resurrect his career.....