Kmcalpin

We do need another striker badly but also need to bolster the defence. A fair number of corners (poorly taken) and crosses today but no-one with the physicality to get on the end of them. Thats a skillset we're missing right now.

No standout for me so no vote.

The game panned out pretty much as I expected. We won the 3 points and kept a clean sheet end of. It gave JBA the chance to rest a few of his favoured players and test out others. Changing line ups and numerous substitutions don't help continuity. Still, not an impressive performance though. We had perhaps 4 good chances and converted one. A stuffy Stenhousemuir rode their luck at times. No real blunders at the back but still a few hairy moments. I'm not against this modern possession based football but its not a great watch it has to be said. I agree with many previous posters. We had loads of possession, made pass after pass but lacked inciseveness and speed of passing. Totally toothless up front and we need reinforcements there as well as at the back. Not a great watch it has to be said. We also lacked physicality and were bullied at times by a makeshift Warriors side. Orinoco rightly points out that Stenny's big lad up front beat Balmer time and again in the air. There will be much more of that in league games to come. I didn't think that Sule and Ap Stam looked much of a threat, although their service was poor it has to be said. Ewan Wilson has regressed for whatever reason and I don't recall him beating his opponent at all - back pass after back pass. Matty Connelly didn't have much to do but his distribution was excellent. Victim of a shocking foul late on. Onto Morton now and I hope our perfomance improves. They will have been watching us with interest.

Didn't think SODs had a bad game today. Not great but no worse than the others. He also scored the all important winner. It was noticeable at FT though that as the other players walked over to acknowledge the fans, SODs just walked off. You can understand that though.

Even the goalie acknowledged he saved it.

Pretty much my view. It'll represent a better test for our new players and system. I suspect that we'll field our strongest team, whatever that might be.

I've sat there for years and never witnessed any trouble between our own fans. Not saying we all agree 100% but it's all kept respectable and largely good natured. Most "internal" trouble or division is online I'd say and entirely avoidable. Some unfortunate / unsavoury incidents do occur occasionally in the stands though.

Personally I couldn't care less if we lose goals through the sweeper keeper project with one condition...it creates more goals than we lose through it. If there's a net gain then fine, if not then ditch it.

Sorry, but I don't get why anyone would enjoy that? I know its very idealistic and not attainable in the real world, but surely we want a united support. I'm not saying that some of our support don't deserve criticism at times but I can't say I'd ever actually enjoy that. Maybe just me.

A lot will depend, as Spiderpig says, on how we defend and how exciting / effective we are in the final third. Crack those 2 issues and the fans won't be a problem. If our games are characterised by endless back and sideways passing, a sterile attack and losing cheap goals, many will be unhappy. We must remember though that Peterhead were defensive in the extreme and struck a bit of good luck.

Thanks for the advice Tosh. Much appreciated.

I expect a game similar to the last 2. Stenhousemuir will hopefully look at us and think we're at home we be can beat this lot and have a real go at us...then I woke up.

In the early stages of the game last night I was expecting more of a high press but we didn't seem to do that. Sule was left isolated with little support. I looked the look of Just, but he was sitting too deep to really hurt their defence. Watt and Slattery also sat deep. once Peterhead scored, of course, the game changed and they were happy to sit back with 11 men behind the ball and waste every second they could with the tacit approval of the ref.

JBA is clearly trying out players and assessing them and trying to mould them into his way of thinking. This will naturally take time. A fair take on things and I now understand your comment from Saturday about our midfield. Most of us agree about defensive deficiences, so no need for me to bang on about them. A raw looking Longero impressed though and his pace will be a real asset. We tried to play patient, ground based football last night and that was encouraging but the tempo was way too slow and some players overelaborated. I don't think Watt and Slattery played well together. Not quite sure yet where Watt fits into the team and Slattery is being played far too deeply. Probably the wrong combination as well. Poor Tom Sparrow looked lost. Just looks the part but again played too deeply. Fadinger really impressed me. We need to beef up the midfield and add a bit of defensive aggression to beef up the back line. See Ya Beezer's comments above. Jordan McGhee anyone? I wasn't convinced by Sule or Ap Stam. To be fair, Sule wasn't given much service and for much of the time was left to fend for himself, despite all our possession. As Weeyin says, Ap Stam is a penalty box striker but looks lightweight and failed to make an impression last night. Encouraging signs and we did win...eventually. The players will need to adjust to a new system and that will take time and perseverance. Likewise JBA will need to learn the strengths and weaknesses of his charges and play them to suit their individual abilities and skills. Last night's game could have been played by AI. It was so predictable. To be fair, its very hard to judge us given the way Peterhead played and their early goal. Not many teams will come to Fir Park and play like that. Early days of course, but we seem to be shaping up as more of a counterattacking side. It'll be interesting to see which type of player comes in during this window and who leaves to balance squad numbers.

What is parking like in the vicinity of the ground? On street?