Motherwell v Freiburg 20/8/26

[robsterwood]

Germans are cheats. Dive for the free kick for equaliser. Dive for pen. Hope the get beat in the group. 

[stv]

5 hours ago, Orinoco said:

ODonnell on bench. 

Off topic, anyone else experiencing slow site response times?

Yes taking ages to open.. ffor last 2 days

 

[Yoshi-1991]

3 minutes ago, stv said:

Yes taking ages to open.. ffor last 2 days

 

same here, worse on phone than desktop

[SteelmaninOZ]

View from the South stand with Comments from the German fans in the comments 

 

[Kmcalpin]

1 hour ago, thewelllfan said:

Not that we were going to beat Freiburg but it's partly the same issue as last season. We lack physicality if we've got a couple of more physical players in the middle of the park they probably struggle a lot more in that game, we were undone by set-peices against a very good side but it is still frustrating. Thought the new boy up front worked his socks off as well which is all you can really ask for as a lone St for a team playing with 10 men

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.   

[robsterwood]

Let's push for Europe again. That Helsinki game was great. Slightly dissapointed we are out league cup as we getting better. 

[robsterwood]

1 hour ago, grizzlyg said:

Let's be honest , if at start we were told 3-1: freiburg we would say probably right. We gave it our best but 3rd gosl kick in nuts.    We at least had moment of joy with taking lead.  SPH looks good acquisition. 

Ps. Hope you donated to kilbryde hospice buckets. If you saw lady wearing hospice t-shirt near main stand and 100 club that was oor Mrs grizzlyg

I missed first goal didn't get the moment of joy. Feel dissapointed for guys going to Germany as games done. Tried our best but deficiencies showed. 

[Kmcalpin]

2 hours ago, Spiderpig said:

We gave it a go but in reality we were well beaten by a much better team, after scoring a brilliant goal after 2 minutes we never looked like scoring again for the next 94 mins... 

There is no disgrace in being beaten by a much better team, Freiburg are a class above anything we will face in the premiership this season, Ginter is a world cup winner with 51 caps for Germany .

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.   

[Mccus28]

6 hours ago, Andy H said:

Sorry but that is just wrong, he was tracking back and making tackles all night, but unfair to say a waste of a jersey.  He will come good again, just needs to score.  He needs to be out wide and not in the middle that is where he plays best

Agree to disagree

[stv]

Freiburg were head and shoulders , literally,  better than us . Two goals from crosses to monsters who hardly had to jump to win the headers is no shame . We gave a good account of ourselves against top quality European opponents . The team as a whole played , well keep that up against Scottish teams and it could be another enjoyable season.

Is it just me or does TJ look a bit heavier than last season.

[texanwellfan]

We can take a few Positives from the game but also a few lessons. We certainly didn’t embarrass ourselves and didn’t allow a goal from open play but obviously we need to look at how we defend set pieces. Freiburg definitely better than us but of course they are since their squad is about 240m versus our 14M. Wouldn’t surprise me if Freiburg win the whole tournament. 
  Realistically we won’t win the tie but hoping for a good performance in Germany

[mfc88]

Disappointing to lose a goal at the death as 2-1 sounds much better than 3. But they were a quality opposition, streetwise and miles ahead of even rangers or celtic. So we can be proud to give them a fright early on and that it took a soft penalty and red card to break us down.

Moorman has been excellent but that was daft. I even thought at the time the striker overran it - needless to say so did he and took the opportunity to go down easy. 

Also, not sure which one of their players was reffing the game but he was f**king shite. I thought the WC set the tone for not awarding fouls for minor contact and diving but obviously not 🤷‍♂️

[Great Balls of Shire]

I waa hoping/ thinking that we won't lose many goals this season based on what ive seen so far .

Obviously we lost 2 goals from set pieces last night but im wondering if that's just down to their delivery etc.

I haven't seen enough of Celtic so far this season but I dont see anyone apart from them to get too worried about.

Hoping for another good season,  definitely fancy us for top 6 and hopefully as good as 4th again. 

I think Scottish teams lose a Euro spot this season so will be tougher to qualify but fingers crossed.

[Great Balls of Shire]

Genuine question,  I take it that'll be another fine for the wee c.c.c character who came on pitch? 

They can't let the players / fans have their moment, they've got to be the " stars" of the show.

[Motherwell Daft]

3 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Genuine question,  I take it that'll be another fine for the wee c.c.c character who came on pitch? 

They can't let the players / fans have their moment, they've got to be the " stars" of the show.

We all know there is only one team who’s fans are allowed on the pitch free gratis….

[Great Balls of Shire]

Just watched pen on TV, think big Moorman is the pick of the signings so far but he did put his hands on him , a dive but I would've taken it up the other end..he will have a great season though.

[Spiderpig]

9 hours ago, FirParkCornerExile said:

Realistically it was 2 its now 1

Nah im counting the conference league if you are in it you can win it, so its just the premiership and Scottish cup left now.

[Kmcalpin]

37 minutes ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Obviously we lost 2 goals from set pieces last night but im wondering if that's just down to their delivery etc.

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.