CoF

If Kipre and Aldred are gone, what's the odds of McHugh dropping back and Robinson concentrating on replacements in the midfield?

He's probably our most gifted player on the ball but he's barely made a tackle all season. Not a criticism, it's just not in his game. You could see when he started to get his chances later in the season he was knocking his pan in to do the defensive work, which Robinson had publicly asked him to do, but it rarely paid off. I don't think Robinson knows how to accommodate a player like that in our current first team. Bigi is the type of player you could build a midfield around, so Robinson might have other ideas in the summer. I hope so, as he's a pleasure to watch at times.

I've seen Hartley's named mentioned as Captain a few times. He's definitely a leader on the park but there's far more to the role than firing the players up on a Saturday. I honestly think he's a wee bit too mental for it.

Robinson has shown he can be utterly ruthless in that regard, so I think it's safe to say we'll see a few contracted players go.

Yep pace is one thing that's sorely lacking the squad. We had it in Frear last season however since coming back from injury he looks like a shadow of the player he was. If he can't physically or mentally get back there, then unfortunately he doesn't bring much to the squad. I'm not so sure. Once Tanner returns we'll have that bit of quality in an attacking midfield position.

Couldn't agree more. For all the concerns about day trippers and part time fans dampening the atmosphere, yesterday was raucous and had an energy through the full 90 minutes. It was night and day from 2011. It's been a two way thing. Fantastic effort from the fans (well boys in particular) however there's a few people at our club who deserve credit in creating this connection - Steven Robinson , who has brought in players with a mentality that the fans respond to, and Alan Burrows and the media team who simply get what it is to be a Motherwell fan.

A fair analysis, more or less what I was about to post. However, I'm not actually sure we looked like rabbits caught in the headlights - not from the first whistle anyway. The first 5 minutes we were playing our physical / pressing game and looked well and truly up for it. Celtic quickly adjusted to show that bit of quality and intelligence by simply passing their way out of any pressure. On another day, we could've had them rattled however we seemed to loose faith pretty quickly in the system and reverted to standing off them. I'm not sure if every player was guilty of that, but it's a system that needs everyone 100% on it and it falls apart if one or two aren't quite there. Celtic weren't brilliant, they simply had an quality to find a man when under pressure and that's what let them control the game. Regardless, we should be immensely proud of this teams achievements.

Edit: Beaten to it.

I get the thinking but nah, not for me. There are atrocities being committed all over the globe on a much larger scale and I don't hear any noise from the Celtic support about them. It's pure exploitation being used to promote their own quasi-political agenda. This isn't about Palestine. It's about the UK.

Not sure what this means?

I've got one spare. PM me if anyone needs one.

I liked that "oh wow". Fitted perfectly.

Absolutely fantastic for Cadden and the club. If that's not an inspiration to the others coming through the Academy then I don't know what is.

Fantastic. Absolutely everything coming from the club just now, whether it's interviews or the social media stuff and even the call to see the bus leave the stadium tomorrow - is full of absolute belief we can do this. Not once have I heard the words "off day", like we used to get before every game vs the OF. I honestly think Robinson will have banned any of that patter. Make no mistake, these guys will be leaving that tunnel on Saturday without fear and believing that this is their day. That belief has filtered through to the fans and I think we're going into this final in a frame of mind we've never felt before.

That's a great way to look at it and I'm sure someone (weeyin?) can tell us it's statistical nonsense, but I'm clinging onto that!

Absolutely. I think Grimshaw's character has got to be commended here. He's gone from captaining Manchester United youth team and probably dreaming of stepping out at Old Trafford to no doubt seeing some of his team-mates going on to bigger and better things while he was getting relegated from the English third tier, then struggling to get a start at Motherwell. Other players might have huffed and puffed or come in with an ego, but he strikes me as a grafter who just absolutely loves playing football and is a good character to have off the pitch. Fair play.

One of the best (or most enjoyable) performances of the season with a patchwork squad. I wonder how much Accies being shite was part of that, however it was great to see the youngsters come in and look solid. Turnbull looked excellent and has some delivery on him and Liam Brown looked energetic. Grimshaw was absolutely fantastic and needs to start next week.

Anyone know why the scoreboard was on the other week, but hasn't been used for ages? I figured if it can work for one game, why not them all? It looked absolutely fine to me by the way.

I get your thinking but we've been fairly pish in the league all season however we haven't put a foot wrong in any cup game so far. I include the league cup final in that. Here's ourknockout stats (not including the league cup group): P 8 W7 L1 F17 A5. All 8 games have been against Premiership opposition. Regardless of league form, we do seem to have a knack for rising to the occasion this year.

Bad News Bowman up to double figures for the season. 3 in 5 too. Ideal. He'll be full of confidence for the final.

Yep, getting through tonight and Saturday without any new injuries is as valuable as the points.

Tam Cowan on the radio last night saying the rumour is that Thomson will get the cup final. Hopefully Tam has simply been reading these boards and that hasn't come from someone 'in the know'.

McHugh is a really strange one this season - The game yesterday was particularly poor from him and I'd say he was at fault for the opening 3 goals. He was clearly brought in my McGhee as the guy to build a team around. His absence after that horrible head injury then the difference he made when he returned showed us all the quality he has. This season he's looked like a shadow of the player he was yet he's picked week in, week out. There's also been plenty of games where Robinson has praised him yet the consensus among the fans is that he'd been poor. I don't know what to make of it all to be honest.

I think we simply need to put that game behind us - Robinson highlighted the other week that we went into the 2011 final off with our heads down because of a bad run of results so the most interesting thing for me will the reaction on Tuesday and next Saturday. As an aside, he had what seemed another very thinly veiled dig at Bigirimana post-match. Fairly certain he'll be gone in the summer.

Feelings and tambourines?