Next up - Aberdeen on Thursday

[Footymad]

Motherwell and Aberdeen will meet twice in four days at Fir Park. The first encounter is on Thursday with a semi-final place in the Betfred Cup as the prize. Can we overturn the odds and get a trip to Hampden? - External Link

[LawSteelman]

Motherwell and Aberdeen will meet twice in four days at Fir Park. The first encounter is on Thursday with a semi-final place in the Betfred Cup as the prize. Can we overturn the odds and get a trip to Hampden? - External Link

No we can't for two reasons. Number one is that our record in matches like this - a place in the Semis at stake, a big hopeful crowd fuelled with confidence from a good run of form - under the Fir Park floodlights nine times out of ten points to defeat and disappointment for us. Reason two is Aberdeen are just a better team than we are and I think they'll be right up for this one and all just have too much for us at the end of the night.

This game will go one of two ways, either it'll be a routine 2-0 away win or we'll run them close in one of those high scoring matches we are frequently involved in yet never win(5-6 v Aberdeen, 6-6 v Hibs, 3-4 v Celtic, 4-5 v Dundee United) and end up frustrated or heartbroken after a late loss or on penalties.

My prediction is 5-4 to Aberdeen, possibly after extra time and for Kipre to have a nightmare.

I think we can take something off them on Sunday though, in the 'lesser' of the two matches.

[Handsome_Devil]

I have a feeling we'll give a decent account of ourselves and lose by the odd goal or in extra-time on Thursday but avoid defeat on Sunday. Sadly.

We do occasionally win high-scoring games (4-3 v Thistle, 5-3 v Dundee and Falkirk, and a certain cup final all spring to mind) but I agree if it turns into an open shoot-out this time we're in bother given the respective front lines.

[texaco cup]

Feel the most important thing will be the first goal,if we score it I believe we can go on and win the game with the confidence it would give us.I also believe if we score first under our manager I don't think he will allow the team to retreat back into our own half as his predecessor would do. Flip side is if Dons score first I feel they will defend in numbers and hope to hit us on the counterattack. COYW

[LawSteelman]

I would honestly rather Aberdeen thrash us five or six nil on Thursday than give a good account of ourselves, run them close but still fall short and then take all the 'plaudits' for our part in "a great advert for Scottish Football" and have the match remembered and revered for years to come like the infamous 6-5 debacle against the Dons 18 years ago.

Others may disagree, but I absolutely HATE 'glorious failure' and actually see it as better to be soundly beaten rather than knowing you've gone so near, yet so far because you've fallen short just when it matters most. That opens you up to the patronising pats on the back and lulling yourself into believing that all is not so bad because you were 'unlucky' when in reality you just weren't good enough and lacked that bit of bottle, that bit of quality when it really mattered.

For years I have criticised us for placidly accepting defeat because "we're only Motherwell" and a number of managers and players have fallen into this trap too. Robinson however, from his early signs and comments to the press has been a bit of a breath of fresh air in this regard in that when we've fallen short he's recognised this and called it for what it was as well as stating that he can't be happy with only performing well if we don't get the result to go with it. Hopefully this attitude and our renewed belief in ourselves this season will help us get the result we need in this tie and we can enjoy humbling Aberdeen then head off to the pub for the Semi Final draw.

[sieb1886]

Got two reasons to counter some previous negativity;
1. Looks like we have a Management team that 'has a clue' for the first time in a while (when things ain't going well they change it and influence the outcome).
2. We've got a good first starting 11 - and a strong bench now - and there's an air of 'togetherness' on the pitch I've not seen for a long, long time. The quandary we have, IMO, is if we start with McHugh, Rose and Campbell in the middle we may well stifle The Sheep, but we'll certainly not play pacey, penetrative stuff to open them up. So, logic dictates we play it cagey like we've done in a few games to date, then use the likes of Bigirama and Tanner to go for it.

One thing for certain though ... I think there'll certainly be goals. And, I'll leave the Sunday game till Sunday thanks!