Ya Bezzer!

Was just looking and unless I've made a mistake Hearts are due 4 away games and Hibs are due 4 home games post split which obviously won't happen. Which means there is going to have to be some 'unfairness' in the post split fixtures. I'm guessing the most obvious way to fix it would be to have Hearts play Hibs at Tynecastle 3 times.

Form - Last 10 league matches Motherwell 7-2-1 23pts Hearts 7-1-2 22pts Rangers 6-4-0 22pts Falkirk 6-0-4 18pts Hibernian 5-3-2 18pts Celtic 5-2-3 17pts Dundee 4-3-3 15pts Dundee Utd 2-3-5 9pts Kilmarnock 2-2-6 8pts St Mirren 1-3-6 6pts Livingston 0-5-5 5pts Aberdeen 1-1-8 4pts Potential points total Hearts 90 Celtic 85 Rangers 84 Motherwell 83

Since we will be in different groups after the split, Dundee United didn't score a goal against us this season.

I've been looking around, as far as I can see only two other teams in a major European league have a better defensive record - Union St Gilloise (15) and Roma (16). We've also scored the same number of goals in the same number of games as Liverpool.

Celtic have two games in hand, while we have a game in hand over Rangers, so I think the worst result would be for Celtic to win. A draw would be best though.

This is goals conceded in the last 10 league matches. Motherwell - 3 Rangers - 8 Hearts - 10 Dundee - 11 Falkirk - 11 Hibs - 12 Celtic - 14 Dundee Utd - 17 Aberdeen - 18 ST Mirren - 20 Kilmarnock - 22 Livingston - 23 Celtic have actually conceded 2 or more goals in 6 out of the last 10.

This is a game we should be winning but I noticed a couple of things. Our pattern of results is 2 wins, a draw, 2 wins, a draw, 2 wins..... So I decided to look and see when we last won 3 matches in a row and was surprised that it was way back in September 2023. Hopefully that stat gets updated at the weekend!

Everyone does it in the modern game but it's another total failure for VAR.

So pleased about this win because I'm one of those people who thinks we are genuine challengers for the league, but we had to bounce back after that midweek set back and we did with gusto. We've been the best team in the league over the last 20 or so matches, we now have the joint best goal difference in the league. If we keep this form and performance level going this team could do something amazing but are of course going to have to beat the teams above us.

OK I know we should all move on but I wanted to know so I couldn't help it. Excluding the Old Firm, since 1990/91, trophies lifted by Scottish Premiership sides Hearts - 3 x Scottish Cup, 2 x Scottish Championship Motherwell - 0 HIbs - 2 x Scottish League Cup, 1 x Scottish Cup, 1 x Scottish Championship, 1 x Scottish First Division Falkirk - 1 x Scottish Championship, 2 x Scottish First Division Dundee United - 2 x Scottish Cup, 2 x Scottish First Division Aberdeen - 2 x League Cup, 1 x Scottish Cup Dundee - 2 x Scottish Championship, 2 x Scottish First Division St Mirren - 2 x Scottish League Cup, 1 x Scottish Championship, 2 x Scottish First Division Kilmarnock - 1 x League Cup, 1 x Scottish Cup, 1 x Scottish Championship Livingston - 1 x League Cup, 1 x Scottish First Division ALSO Raith Rovers - 1 x League Cup, 2 x Scottish First Division Ross County - 1 x League Cup, 1 x Scottish Championship, 1 x Scottish First Division St Johnstone - 1 x League Cup, 2 x Scottish Cup, 2 x Scottish First Division Inverness - 1 x Scottish Cup, 1 x Scottish First Division Partick Thistle - 2 x Scottish First Division Dunfermline - 2 x Scottish First Division Hamilton - 1 x Scottish First Division Gretna - 1 x Scottish First Diviision Have a nice day! 🤣

Aberdeen have now conceded in 13 straight league matches, 26 goals in total and I'm sure you can work out the average. [EDIT} Make that 27.

St Mirren's away form is catastrophic and has put them in relegation danger but their recent home form is actually pretty good, only 1 defeat in 6 in the league. St Mirren have kept 5 clean sheets in those 6 matches and we've failed to score in 4 of our last 6 away matches if you include the midweek cup match. We also failed to score there earlier in the season. I think this will be a very tough match for us and very much a potential banana skin. It's important we don't lose two in a row as once you start to lose matches it can start a more serious rot.

The bigger picture is Rangers and Celtic will never field poorer teams than this season and we are better than any other team in the league if we field our strongest eleven. Load management? Hectic schedule? We never played a match for weeks. The whole point of this season is we'll never have a better chance to win a trophy and we've fucked it with a very poor performance against St. Mirren and a crazy selection by the manager for this match. Obviously Askou has done great things but he's not infallible and he got this completely wrong. Trying to make out like there is some mysterious greater purpose to the season that we mere mortal don't understand is just feeble apologia.

Rare to play a team 5 times and not lose one. Also thought Aberdeen gave us a harder match at the weekend than Rangers, Hearts or Celtic at Fir Park. And again our away record is not the best. Still, this feels like a big opportunity thrown away. You wonder if foreign coaches maybe don't understand the importance of cup competitions in this country.

Most of the time we've not had a team that, in all honesty, was capable of winning a cup. This season we definately have.