Goggles & Flippers

Thompson is just a bit of an eejit who like most referees in this country will run into a lot more fans of the Old Firm than of your wee teams in their daily working life or in the supermarket. Can't tell me that will have no subconscious effect. For an easier life, I'd be more inclined to go for that than he deliberately went out to do us. Can you blame him though, look at all the hacks and pundits, decided it was all over before the ball was kicked. Same thing happened with the semi and all they could do was hang onto the dirty Bowman bullshit. For me we should have had them on a high press with two players on each man. The centre mid's would be gubbed but it's what you have to do. Thinking Tommy Coyne vs Italy in WC1994. Regardless, a brush of the arm does not result in a professional athlete going to ground with their legs buckling, maybe Alan Shearer would like to do a study on how a toe to the knee cap does after he's done with his heading survey.

I think there will be a lot of empathy from the fans of every other team in Scotland after that. I'll echo a few things, Andy's post being pretty much succinct and on the money for me. The first 20 minutes were poor and lacking composure and full of panicky clearances. The one highlight being Cedric's sublimely timed tackle. Upon watching the highlights, it was bloody dangerous and deserved a yellow, I don't know if Thompson was made aware at halftime he overlooked that. Was that in the back of his mind later on ..... From 20-30 we started to come back into things but that died away again for the last 15 of the half. There was only a short period of time that we pressed and harassed them, forcing them into mistakes. However I don't think we played as poorly as we did against Rangers in the first half and pretty much nullified Celtic. The only major gap in the stats was 60-40 in possession and 2 corners to 0 for us. The first goal, it was a lack of composure again, giving away the ball cheaply and an impressive finish from Forrest. Reminded me so much of the England equaliser vs Scotland in that we lost the ball in the same part of the park and diagonal ball which is slotted away. The goal instantly turned on the entertainment for too short a period. Gordon's save from Louis was absolutely brilliant and Tierney should have got a yellow and us a penalty to equalise. I don't think it was malicious or dirty, just clumsy and would have resulted in a foul anywhere else on the park. In the box it kinda has to be a yellow. As for their penalty, the question I always ask is, if it happened in the centre circle would it result in the same outcome? Would it even been a foul? Would Thompson even spoken to Cedric? There is something wrong with a team where such a gulf in talent and earnings feel the need to blatantly cheat to get ahead. That isn't the sign of "unbeatables", its the sign of "deplorables". It killed the game as a spectacle and an event. Personally, I believe in sporting integrity, I don't like play acting, manipulation of the officials or time wasting. I'll happily call out Motherwell players as much as those of our opposition. Any Celtic fan out there should be ashamed that one of their "unplayables" felt the need to do that. I can understand the tactics and conserving energy to a degree but I can't help feel if we pressed them they would have looked decidedly average. In doing so would we have had anything in the tanks for the last 30? If's, but's, maybe's. Positives: club coffers must be looking like Gringotts, Robbo got a new Ted Baker suit, a lot of our players that took a punt on us were rewarded, while not our best performance we played with integrity. Negatives: McHugh's teflon status has to be reassessed, Well fans being dicks to each other, Celtic and their fans

Intae these poppy shy arseholes. That is all!

Just glad we've got a manager who's aware the other teams in this league study what you do and combat it, unlike McGhee and McCall near the end, who would flog a dead horse. Nice to see he's got a plan A, B and C.

There does seem to be big geographic holes, Killie makes sense, either us or Accies makes sense but not both. No presence in the Highlands, Perth or Dundee. Falkirk with their facilities and track record overlooked and Partick with what they have on the horizon could rightly be very pissed off. While selfishly I'm glad my team has done enough to qualify, on an altruistic national level, I think the game has been let down by those who have steered this. I can't help but feel that the biggots in town could fund this themselves therefore giving more to the smaller teams and potentially improving the competition and standard, but they'd never see that as viable.

Meant to quote On The Fringes and cited you by mistake. I was agreeing with his post. Getting back to the final, after today, I can see something like this line up on the day. The dilemma is going to be 3 players in particular I reckon McHugh, not performing well but is club captain, so a big decision to drop. Rose, unglamorous role but those who don't ball watch notice his influence. Bowman, do you drop a successful duo to play one up front to gain an extra defender or midfielder against arguably a team with so many strengths going forward? ------------- Carson -------------- Tait -- Kipre --- Hartley -- Dunne ------- McHugh ---- Bigi --------- -- Carswell - Campbell - Rose -- -------------- Moult --------------- If it's purely on form then McHugh would drop out and our best performing player from January till May in Frear wouldn't get a look in because he has no form to display because he's got nowhere near so far. I haven't seen enough of Petravicius or Tanner for them to warrant a start. Bigi and McHugh on paper are defensive midfielders but the above leaves Moult exposed, but I expect our defence will be run ragged by Tierney and Forrest so need cover. I have no fear Campbell can compete with Brown but I think he's naive and not as street savvy. Does Grimshaw got more about him in training than McHugh? Would you go with Bowman up front with Louis and stick with Bigi as cover when a lot think he's more an impact player? Will Tanner or a number of the other fringe players do enough over the next few weeks to get a look in? I like everyone else would also like to see McHugh get his mojo back. Is Grimshaw's tenacity maybe what we need from the start? and hopefully Plummer can stake a place as I think Dunne needs competition. Big Cedric just needs to put some Vicks on his shirt to keep him switched on. Personally, I think our best chance is below (subject to no injuries or other players emerging). Bigi or McHugh would be a toss up for the start instead of Grimshaw but we know what he's capable of (from 18 months ago) issue is getting game time between now and the final, plus big game and young head opposed to experience may count against him. We know who the manager will tend to favour: ------------- Carson -------------- Tait -- Kipre --- Hartley -- Dunne ------------ Grimshaw ------------ -- Carswell - Campbell - Rose -- -------- Moult -- Bowman --------

Your boss leave early today?

I've had this discussion with a few friends, would I swap our league places in the past 10 years, splitting the old firm, best of the rest, and European qualification for silverwear when the likes of ICT, St Johnstone, St Mirren and Killie have all managed to pick up a cup? Likewise, in a heartbeat.

I can understand Thomson who is a former player and also has an affinity for another team of approximate size located roughly the same distance from Glasgow city centre as we are. But English (who seemed to be the organ grinder) and a host of others did not show any empathy to where Bowman found himself. They focused on the broken nose. Two players could feasibly go for a 50-50 and one ends up with a broken leg. No malice involved, just what happens. This incident was no different.

I can't understand why the hacks and pundits were allowed free reign on the witch hunt without anyone calling them out. To be fair the only one who mentioned the Louis eyebrow in the first half was Hugh Keavens, so kudos to him for that at least.

Didnt the last one in 2011 cost £1,200 Dee? The starting point is now £4.5

Tom English is a bell end, looking at the result rather than the background. Riling up the BBC panel too.

3:30 onwards, what a clever response and the mock look of surprise. I'm thinking I may alternate between him and Louis for bedtimes cuddles from now on. #manlove

Didn't know that about Bowman, maybe opt for a 4-4-2 as they will be expecting a 3-5-2. Tanner, Frear and Rose could all be interchanged. Big decision to rest McHugh as club captain but I put him in retrospectively as Campbell got hooked with an bump on Sunday to protect him. If Hammell or Tait bomb forward McHugh drops back to give defensive cover in makeshift back three. Lets not overlook Grimshaw too. --------------- Carson ---------------- - Tait - Kipre - Hartley - Hammell - - Cadden - Bigi - McHugh - Rose - ---------- Moult ---- Frear ----------

Press Conference this morning ..... "Pedro doesn't need to concern himself with the final" ..... Yasssss Next showed how well briefed he was and shows how the media team and Flow anticipated the type of questioning especially from that STV hack in particular. "Ryan Bowman has played 45 games in Scotland and been booked 3 times, is that a dirty player?" "In 5 years he's been booked 9 times" "Rangers have committed 115 fouls so far, we have made 106" It's all about context, hit them with facts and their agenda is quashed. Finally he said something pertinent "I think a number of people didn't want us there" Fantastic

I think he'll go with Carson Kipre Hartley Hammell Cadden Bigi Campbell Rose Tanner Bowman Frear

we're 5 points behind them and Aberdeen, and Scottish Cup hasn't started and we're on the up. Nothing to stop us doing a Leicester and doing a domestic treble .........

Another appeal for anyone who is technically minded and has the BT coverage saved, please upload the post match stuff. It is delightful to watch.

The Cry was Nose Surrender

If any of you get the chance to watch the post match chat on BT sport there is no other word for it other than "delicious". Let me set the scene, Fat Sally and McCall looking like Chris Sutton has just had a go on their respective Mrs' then Sutton decides to goad them (albeit with valid questions) but its the manner in which he does it. I've never seen McCoist look like he was going to lamp anyone since he had his little spat with Lennon at Parkhead. It was a thing of wonder and I will cherish the memory of this interview as much as Louis' second dipping under the bar and that extra second it took to resonate among us all it was in. The defining moment was Sutton uttering .... "They won't be singing Tina Turner on the coach home!" ... cue me bringing my thumb, index finger and 2nd finger together and kissing them Italian style. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bilLyLdz8lg Sheer joy. If anyone can put up the full post match, I will be forever indebted.

Great result ..... however one of our worst performances of the season, second to every ball until midway through the second half. Moult was excellent after his head knock and the difference, it seemed to focus and drive him. Exact opposite of Aberdeen in last round. If we play like that against Celtic, we'll be 3-0 down by halftime. If we are going to take the silverwear home then we need to have everyone on song and playing to their full ability. Harry the unwashed as soon as they get it, get the ball to feet and play football opposed to head tennis and get crosses beating the first man and we have a chance. Plus the planets aligning and Celtic exhaustion from PSG hopefully. Encouraged by the heart and drive of our team. Really hope the SFA don't impose any retrospective shit. Bowman was clearly watching the ball and Moult did kinda lash out after he was kicked.

Anyone know if its possible to still get a seat on a fischal bus?

You're a clever cookie, what do you think it means and I'll tell you if you've won a cuddly toy

Still a startling number of keyboard warriors from the past few years who have the balls to put their hands up. Just goes to show, for every good guy in C&A, theres two dicks. Still a better ratio than any other team in the league.

half a million down, you can understand that