Lobey_Dosser

Thats a right bad result today on the back of the Hibs performance with league games against Aberdeen, Celtic x 2 and Hearts to come. To be honest though, the performances havent been good for a while and the victories against Hamilton and Rangers glossed over that. I wonder if today will prompt Robinson to reconsider the back 3 now that the obvious flaws in the tactic are finally being exploited by other teams. Hopefully we can muster a confidence boosting performance at Aberdeen ahead of the trip to Hampden.

Agreed. Thought that from beginning of season but our run of form suggested otherwise.

Another bad mistake from Kipre by the sounds of it. Rough few weeks for him.

Its been effective to date but after a full round of games, teams are inevitably starting to suss out our weaknesses and have a game plan to try and nullify our strengths. We have the squad depth and diversity in skills to alter the balance of the team accordingly.

This is a big game. Lose and we risk losing a fair bit of momentum when you look at the next 4 league fixtures - Aberdeen away, Celtic twice and Hearts away. As Ive said in the Hibs thread Id like to see Bigirimana and/or Tanner start to provide some guile at the expense of the huff and puff Rose and/or Bowman offer.

Potentially the best player but hes came in for a fair amount of criticism this season. Forrest will no doubt step in and cause us bother as he often does. If I could chose anyone to miss out for Celtic it would be Scott Brown, they tend to struggle without his ability to lead and set the tempo.

Its been difficult to question the starting XI given our excellent run but hopefully over the next few weeks, we can work out how to incorporate the footballing ability of Bigi and/or Tanner into the team without sacrificing our physical edge too much.

Ha, Thompson never seems to tip us. Id be content with a draw tomorrow as I think Hibs are more than decent. However I couldnt resist a punt on Motherwell at 5/2.

Parking beside the towers at Muirhouse is decent for South stand. This could be a cracker of a game. Wouldnt be surprised by a repeat 2-2.

Very surprised Celtic have been allocated B6-B8, I thought we would have held out for 15,000. Im not going to complain about the price of a cup final ticket but the £5 increase seems a tad unnecessary.

The exertions of Sunday are catching up with me and I slept right through the commentary. Terrific result highlighting our excellent mentality and squad depth. News on another h*n meltdown the icing on the cake. Another tough test on Saturday, McGeough and McGinn up against our midfield promises to be a compelling battle.

Craigan suggested its down to the language used, which Robinson has previously been done for.

Robinson seemingly has a 3 game suspended ban so he could be out the dugout for a while.

It will be interesting to see how we approach this. Rarely can a team put on a good show days after a high profile performance that is mentally and physically draining, indeed, we found this out to our own cost against Aberdeen. A result at Dens would therefore impress me greatly. Hopefully the prospect of staying in touch with the top 3 ensures we have the drive to stay focused on the league between now and 26 Nov. Regarding personnel, Id be inclined to make 2/3 changes against a Dundee team that will feel aggrieved by their result on Sat. We have plenty of options - Bigirimana, Frear, Tanner, Grimshaw, Hammell and Fisher with Kipre, Campbell, Tait and Bowman the primary candidates for dropping out. Niggling worry is that any manager looking at our back 3 this season will be looking to target the channels with a bit of pace. As organised as we are, I find the space between the centre halves and wing backs a high risk strategy that is currently paying off. At some point though, we are going to take a tanking.

15k tickets should be fine for the final with a further 3k put on hold. Id like to think that we've bloodied enough bluenoses in recent times to ensure the local glory hunters have no interest in propping up our support. And thank fuck for that, their presence at the 2011 final was brutal.

Lionel Ainsworth at Ibrox. The flowing move, the sound of it hitting the net and the absolute scenes for the 950.

Brilliant, cheers. Turns out my auld mans memory isnt as bad as he thinks.

So when did we last beat Rangers in a cup game?

Moult, hes now approaching Coyne/Faddy territory in delivering special moments. Carson was also excellent and I thought Carl McHugh played a significant role in getting us through to ht on level terms.

Fantastic occasion, delighted to have seen us beat them in a cup game and delighted for everyone connected to the club. The transformation in mentality, dedication and fitness has been remarkable .under Robinson Having said that, while it was never going to be pretty I thought we were well under par until we scored. They then completely lost the plot and courtesy of some Moult magic, we seen the game out in very comfortable fashion. Moult, Carson and McHugh were our top performers imo. And while he was a bombscare, credit to Kipre playing through illness.

50/50 allocations should be few and far between.

Here's hoping we can defend better than the 76 team...

As we have come to expect, Robinsons press conference hits all the right notes. My only fear going into this game is that I dont have any fear.

Indeed and thats for last seasons qualification so more of the same to follow this time next year. Generating finance, improving the national team, raising the profile of the league - Brendan Rodgers has been terrific for Scottish football.

Im no sure where these fans are coming from but if weve managed to sell 9k at non-discount prices that is amazing. IIRC, we took 7-9k to previous Scottish cup semis but league cup tends to be closer to a home gate. 6k would have been very good going imo.