Ya Bezzer!

Dundee have 3 goals in the last 7 league matches. Motherwell have 3 goals in the last 8 league matches. Last three results : 1-0, 1-1, 1-0. Less than 2.5 goals on the coupon seems worth a flutter.

Celtic's defence is weak and Main can be a handful but it won't be down to him whether we win or not. We need to press high up the field and get runners from deeper positions. It's going to be players like Chris Cadden or Richard Tait that create the conditions for a victory. If they have poor or average games it won't happen. If they have good or excellent games it can happen. Overall we need intelligent running and a forward looking philosophy. If we allow Celtic space and time to play, forget about it.

Celtic 4 Rangers 0 Think you can strike that worry from your mind.

Nah. We need to win the cup to qualify. Runners up were previously given a spot but that was changed a few years ago. Example being Falkirk two years ago who didn't qualify for Europe having lost to Inverness in the Final.

Main. Would also mention Carson who caught absolutely everything that went into the box and Allan Campbell as well.

Strange match. Thought we started poorly and yet ended up 2-0 thanks to some diabolical defending from Aberdeen. Thereafter we looked completely comfortable without creating too many chances. Aberdeen were insipid and there haven't been many occasions where, with nearly 70 minutes of the match left , I was absolutely confident we would not concede a goal. In some ways it mirrored the Rangers semi but with the goals coming earlier in the match. When Aberdeen finally managed to up the pace a bit and start to look a threat, around the 60 minute mark, it was instantly negated by another piece of comedy defending. What we need to do now is improve our league form and not fall into the same mistake made by McCall when he chopped and changed our team in the run up to the 2011 final. No putting players in cotton wool. No resting players. We need to fine hone and build momentum. We need to go into the Final in good form, with wins under our belts and good performances. Then, whoever it is we play, we can look square in the eye and really take on in the Final. The last Final performance, indeed the last three have been far too passive. For the upcoming one we need to really go for it. I might have complaint for most of the season about the standard of our play but the same applies to the rest of the league. The standard is poor across the board and that means with a wee bit of luck, and we've carried plenty on this run, we might actually win it.

Given Ciftci's immobility it doesn't seem to be a good idea to play him at Hampden. He's also only played about half an hour of football in the last month and was struggling to move even when getting regular games. Agree with the rest of the line up.

Quite an old source but the last published Scottish League Review from 2005/06 has Fir Park as 71 yards across and Hampden as 75 yards. Ibrox and Celtic Park are both 75 yards across as well as quite a few others (McDiarmid etc.). At 71 yards it would be one of the smaller pitches in terms of width, although not the smallest. In Scotland Broadwood seems to be the widest (76 yards) and Central Park the narrowest (65 yards). In terms of length the listed dimensions are actually closer - 115 yards for Hampden and 112 yard for Fir Park.

Assuming we get 2 more points this season we will have 'improved' on last season but anything deeper than surface level analysis shows that post Moult our form has gone completely down the toilet. So what happens when we play a full season without him? Will it be Ross County without Boyce? There are too many people around here engaged in experiments in relativism, embracing poor standards and then claiming exaggerated success against a very low bar. The truth is we are in long term rut going back beyond the current manager and at least a couple of antecedents. With 2 wins in our last 8 against the dregs of the league - Ross County, Partick, Hamilton, Dundee, I think you are straining to see anything different in the future. I wouldn't mind so much if people were honest and extolled that view that we have a low budget and can't expect to be anything other than mediocre but some of the fawning encomiums about 'a club transformed' show a perception of our season that has no basis in reality....and when reality is ignored it tends to come back and bite you. It's disappointing to lose matches but I'm a Motherwell supporter and have been for a long time. What really bothers me is the perception of the season as seen through these boards. It's fantasy.

We've been in relegation form for two thirds of the season and Louis Moult isn't coming back. I'm a regular attender of matches, tonight was my 29th match of the season, and I've not seen us win a league match since October. If you want to talk about non football matters like club income and fan ownership, fine, I'd agree with you on those topics, but it has nothing to do with our abysmal league form. You think it's 'meaningless' that we've won 4 out of 22 matches? Headers won in midfield is a meaningless stat, games won isn't. It's the single most important determining fact on how players and managers are assessed and how seasons are evaluated. The poor form is not a blip in the season. It's most of the season. The problem with a lot of people on this message board is they would rather create ideological enemies than acknowledge simple facts - facts like our league form isn't good enough. As I said in the original post - big improvements are required.

Just didn't look interested from the kick off and the result was never really in question. Our last 22 league matches, or 2 full rounds of 11 matches. As you can see we've been living off the first 10 matches of the season for a while now, in fact the first 10 matches still account for more than 50% of our season points total. Home form is desperate as well, 3 wins in the last 13 home league matches. As it stands Robinson actually has a poorer league win ratio than McGhee's second stint at the club and I feel as if he's been lucky to have 'feel good' cup wins interspersed through out the season other wise his record might be attracting sterner criticism. Cup runs are fine but our league form is nowhere near good enough nor was tonight's insipid display. Big improvement needed.

Really poor. Has a listless end of the season feel but we can't afford to drop it into that sort of mentality. We are lucky Aberdeen have been poor in the final third and we are still in the game. Hopefully the manager gives them a rocket up the arse at half time.

Main, obviously!

Full match on YouTube if you want to watch it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xueKtYrUW7U

I've been critical of the team for a lot of the season but I just want to say that in overview of the last two matches I think we've played some really good football at times and the team deserves a lot of credit for sticking in there and competing against the old firm, in fact we have dominated two halves of football, once each and have been unlucky to have to some important calls against us. However, we have blown a two goal lead today so it's going to be back into complaining mode... Ah! The life of the Motherwell fan! I am very, very annoyed and frustrated right now. First half was fantastic and we have absolutely ploughed Rangers. 2-0 up and it should have been at least 3, maybe even 4 or 5. Second half, having knocked Rangers all over the place and being in complete command and what do we do? Yep, it's the shitey wee team syndrome all over. Defend deep from the kick off and give Rangers ALL the ball they could want. I don't even think we touched the ball in the first 2 or 3 minutes of the second half. Contrast with the first half when we were right in their faces from the off. It's so important to start each half with the right mentality and we just didn't do that. I want to tear my hair out! WHY!!!! Why do we keep replaying this old, old horror movie! Of course as soon as Rangers go 2-2 and pull it back we start playing a bit again and almost score. I just don't get it. We have absolutely blown the points today, it didn't need to happen and unlike last week it was all our own fault. If the halves had been switched I would be raving about the performance but unfortunately that's not what happened. Overall it's a decent point but it really should have been 3. Positives there were some good performances, Tait was excellent again although he let the side down not crossing when we had men in the box, Campbell great as usual, Main and Bowman were superb in the first half, particularly Main who's been very impressive lately.

I've said it before, I'm not Frear's biggest fan but I'm glad he's in the team. When we play will a real winger this season we've been much better than when we haven't.

Well I'm discussing league form, so yes.

I think this will be a harder match than the Celtic match. Although Celtic usually turn in on in the big games they've actually struggled this season especially in the second half of the season. They've failed to score 5 times in the league since December, Rangers have only failed to score once in that time. Also, while Rangers form at Ibrox has been pretty poor, their away form has been very good. They have only lost once, at Kilmarnock, since November. In the last 7 away league matches they have won 6 and drawn 1 (at Celtic Park). Although we played well against Celtic we couldn't score - the third time in the last four matches we've got 0. In fact we've struggled to score since Louis Moult left. 6 out of 15 league matches we've failed to score and we've only scored more than once on 3 occasions - and in one of those matches an OG helped out. Rangers were beating the teams around us in the league (Hamilton 5-2, Hearts 2-0, St. Johnstone 4-1) fairly easily before their momentum was stopped by Celtic and Kilmarnock. It remains to be seen if Rangers can pick up from where they left off, it could be their confidence has been dented, but since it's difficult to see us scoring more than once I think you are looking at a draw at best. As for Nick Walsh. Two matches at Fir Park this season and we've not won either. 0-1 Aberdeen, 1-1 Partick. One last wee stat - We've not won at Fir Park on the weekend since the 30th September 2017.

Campbell was born to wear claret and amber and get tore into Celtic.

When I said there where no failures in the team today I was giving Carl McHugh the benefit of the doubt.

Excellent first half performance, the difference playing a winger makes to our play is enormous. Thought we were the better team and had better chances to score, 3-1, for me, so a clear lead on goal opportunities. Obviously the Kipre incident changed the match. Honestly, I thought it was a red card at the time but I've since seen footage that makes it look like like it wasn't so it will be interesting to see better quality footage but I suppose that just shows you how hard the referee's job is, although to be fair he was a bit closer to the action than I was. Second half we've defended really well with players like Curtis Main absolutely knocking their pan in. Don't want to take anything away from the performance but I did think Celtic were pretty poor in the 2nd half. Still to see Dembele have a good game against us and guys like Sinclair and Armstrong are a shadows of the players they were last season. And ain't McHugh glad of the former! Definitely deserved the point and anything less would have been an injustice. No failures in the team today, good point, good performance.

49% of possession is pretty good. Contrast with previous defeats which were 30% and 31% possession. If we have close to 50% possession tomorrow we might actually have a chance.

Tom Rogic is a guy that always seems to score against us and he's recently returned (and scored a screamer). To be honest I don't see the hoofball causing Celtic much problems. Boyata is a player who is better in the air than he is on the deck and we just don't have the movement up front. When Accies and Kilmarnock have defended against it I don't see Celtic being worried about it. To beat Celtic you have to be comfortable on the ball and give away as little possession as possible and we just aren't that sort of team. The last four matches Celtic have dropped points they have failed to score yet they have scored in 34 out of the last 35 trips to Fir Park so draw your own conclusions from that. Just can't see us getting anything out of this one but you live in hope , every so often you get a surprise in these games and its very difficult to predict when it will be, could be tomorrow but probably won't be.

Wouldn't disagree. He's good at chasing balls but 9 times out of 10 he can't beat a man from a standing start. He can't score (25 league appearances, 0 goals) and he can't cross a ball either. I'm repeating myself but I think Robinson's style of football has not helped his development. All the good football Cadden played was for McGhee. The decline of Cadden almost mirrors exactly the appointment of Robinson.

Pretty Old Firm-y mentality.