Welldaft Mk1

Mmmmm.....if that diagram is accurate then the vast majority of Well fans in the South stand lower will still be under Celtic fans. Would it not have made sense to give us all sections in south stand upper above the Motherwell fans ? Or did the club not think we could sell an extra 2000 or so tickets ?

Depends who that free agent is. If there is no-one out there that has a history or pedigree that suggests he could do a job if required then fair enough. But with 3 strikers / forward players unavailable we are sailing very close to the wind. If there was someone who could be relied upon from the 20’s then fine, but as far as I am aware none of those strikers in the 20’s have been involved as much if at all in the 1st team squad this season. We are talking one individual and the squad would know exactly the reasons why he was being brought in. A gamble yes but we have very limited options without Bowman and Main for such a crucial game...

I mentioned on an earlier thread we really ought to get at least one striker in as cover for the final. If either Main or Bowman get injures we are screwed. For obvious reasons Ciftci cannot play, Tanner is out for the season and I also think Newell is now also. No offence to Petravicius but as I see it we only have 2 strikers. Bringing in someone from the under 20’s for such a big game is too much of a risk imho. Must be someone who we can integrate into the squad over the next month build fitness and have as an option. We have some spare cash and for only a month or so contract ?

Celtic strolling it. Could be 4 or 5. Will be another very tough game as they have very good players in every position and more as back up. We will be huge underdogs but you just never know. I think we should see what if any free agents there are as strikers as we have no back up to Main and Bowman. We ought to get someone in as cover imho. It is not as if we don’t have a few pounds either.

Does seem quite low key but I see Flow has tweeted to thank fans who have bought tickets with “well over” double our average core home support. Suggests to me we have sold 7000+ much like the Rangers league cup semi. That does not suggest apathy but a very decent effort. Apart from the one we won (in my lifetime) all other finals have been v old firm and will be same this time around. You think back to Hearts v Gretna or St Johnstone v Dundee Utd or Aberdeen v Inverness. They may have beaten old firm en route but most of our rivals who have won cups recently were NOT playing the Old firm in finals. Just the way it seems to be......

That is a good set fixtures particularly as I am away on the 21st April and was sure it would be a home game. All home games 3pm on a Saturday and finishing with a derby for some extra spice especially if the Accies somehow find themselves needing something to avoid the bottom two spots...... Depending on results before Dundee game they may well bring a decent support All in all favourable for us

We will probably take 6-7000 which at nearly 200% of home support is OK. Equivalent of Aberdeen taking over 20,000 which is unlikely. I think we will get around 22,000 for the crowd which would have been a full house for either Edinburgh ground, but will look poor at Hampden. Our 7000 or so will look awful split into 3 areas. Should have just sold North and South stand tickets only. As for the team. Over on P&B Capt Oats (good poster) put some illuminating stats on results based on Main + either Ciftci or Bowman. Main and Ciftci have started 9 times and in that time we won 6 drawn 2 and lost only 1 ! With Bowman starting + Main or Fisher = 9 games and we won ZERO of them. I don’t think the gaffer would start Bigi and Ciftci and nor do I think he would start Bowman and Grimshaw. If he wants an all out fight he will start Rose, Grimshaw and Bowman. If he wants a bit of flair then he would start Ciftci and Bigi. I suspect somewhere in the middle. If Ciftci is fit I would start him. I know he has flattered to deceive but the stats above show him and Main are generally a better option than Main and Bowman. Bowman may help you not lose a game but if Ciftci is in the mood he could probably offer more in terms of helping us win the game.

Time to get this thread going again..... Really looking forward to the game. We have been OK of late - as in this year and the 2 draws v Old firm shows we can dig in when we need too and the team can rise to the challenge. Aberdeen bossed and bullied us in the recent league game so that hopefully acts as a reminder that we need to start like we mean to finish. Robinson always says we need to earn the right to play and none more so than this Saturday. Aberdeen are missing their 2 best players in many of their fans eyes, but have more than enough adequate replacements. I am assuming Dunne and Campbell will be Ok so the question mark are who will start in midfield and up front. Is Ciftci is fit do we start him instead of say Bowman ? He flatters to deceive but also has the skills to create openings if he is up for it. Who plays instead of McHugh ? Bigi is like Ciftci - there is a player there and he may well like the space that Hampden has. Problem is neither are renowned for their battling qualities. Who would be in your starting 11 ?

Back to us on loan. Him and Main up front - gee whizz

Ah my all time fav Well player. Wee Dougie was my hero. Pain in the arse to play against for defenders and had a great record v Celtic. Like a miniature Curtis Main :-) But if my arithmetic is correct that is almost a 1 goal in 4 games ratio. Had Bowman that kin of goalscoring ratio I would never have made my initial post / observation that his is in fact quite poor.

Interesting...I am in two minds over this if it materialises. On the one hand I like the guy. Never gives less than his full effort, but no goals in his last 11 appearances (albeit not all from the start) is a bit of a luxury we can hardly afford. If you are a striker you are judged on goals and his conversion rate is not nearly good enough.

Tempting fate but with Dundee at Ibrox (yes I know their poor home record) and Hamilton at home to Celtic on Sunday I would hope regardless the result we would lose no ground on those 2 teams. Finishing best of the bottom 6 would be a good end to the season but finishing 8th and getting to another cup final would be 10 times better imho. It was stated above that finishing 7th is as important as getting to cup final. Pretty sure that is not even close to the truth financially. The difference between finishing 7th v 8th in the league is actually only £55,000 which not to be sniffed at would be dwarfed by circa £500k + for getting to Scottish Cup final. I would put out a strong team but NOT risk any players nursing any type of injury and for that matter any player the manager feels needs a rest or even one so pivotal that risking injury would be unwise. Imagine if Main got injured b4 the semi final !! I think Bigi and Grimshaw should start. Anyone know the score with Ciftci ? Is he likely to be available this weekend or for the semi-final ?

Watching twitter for the under 20’s is like Groundhog Day. Usually consists of multiple tweets of how we are on top and have missed x amount of chances.........followed by the opposition scoring. Yet Another game today where we battered the opposition and lost according to Twitter and Craigan. Fustrating

Very much this. I went tonight and of course did not want to see us lose. But face facts which are Aberdeen quest to finish 2nd is much more of an incentive than us finishing 7th. By the way I hope they achieve 2nd over the h**s. We were poor but we will be better and it acts as a reminder we need to physically match Aberdeen for effort as well if we want to win the semi final.

Totally this. It worries me that I am as excited about this game as I have for any in a while. In fact the league game tonight is a distraction. I will be there tonight but kind of wish we were not playing the Dons so close to the semi final. The semi and final of league cup was against the old firm so we went in with little expectation or pressure - that plus as fans we were outnumbered by 3 to 1 in the final and 5 to 1 in the semi final. Always a bonus to play any non old firm team at Hampden. Yes Aberdeen will still outnumber us by about 2 to 1 but there should not be as much of an intimidation factor to put some fans off. That plus we have beaten them twice already. They should still be favourites but looking forward to a great day out. Early KO is a pain but still rather have a Saturday than Sunday game. We took about 7-8000 for the league cup semi v h**s. This is the Scottish Cup in April - hopefully we can at least match that number

Still nothing official about sale of tickets ? Probably waiting till Celtic was out the way, but they ought to give as much time as possible to have tickets on sale.

Would anyone on here be surprised if it was not overturned. Despite every pundit and the Aberdeen Manager saying it was not a red. He is an arse of a referee and I called another red when I saw he was the Ref. 5 red cards this season and all to Motherwell players. Only 1 of them correct imho. Something not quite right there. As for the performance yesterday. To a man the team were excellent. Maybe McHugh had a slightly off day. Takes far too long on the ball at times and he could easily have another yellow card. I like him but his goal v Hearts has papered over a few poorish performances of late. The goalie and defence were just awesome. I came away feeling really pleased and proud to support Motherwell but those players in particular. Credit goes to Robinson & Las for giving them the platform and encouragement to perform like that. Really looking forward to the Cup semi final.

Aberdeen have a stronger squad so missing 3 players may not have a huge impact, they still have the likes of GMS, Christie and McGinn. Etc. But if you had to choose 2 players from those side I would choose McLean and Shinnie. No doubt we will play Rose in place of McHugh. Would rather have Biggy playing on a larger pitch. Let’s wait and see.....

Aberdeen it is Of course we play them a week and a half before the semi. Always seems to be the way

Shinnie also misses semi if they get through.....

Killie have 7500 there tonite. Bloody good going. Reality is whoever wins will be favourites against us. Aberdeen more so but Killie on their current form. Hopefully as it is a game v non old firm we can shift a few more tickets than league cup semi v h**s. I genuinely believe if Killie get through they will shift 10,000+

Then again

About to jinx Killie, but Aberdeen / McInnes have taken off Rooney and Christie. Seems a fairly defensive move for a team trying to win a game....

What we need is Christie to score winning goal and get a 2nd yellow card celebrating !

Shay Logan booked and will also miss semi-final. At this rate Aberdeen may be a better bet to play.....