Second half revival not enough for Motherwell

[Footymad]

The loss of three first half goals proved to be too much for a second half comeback. Ross County won the match 3-2.

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[LawSteelman]

A more respectable final scoreline but you can't go in 3-0 down at the interval and realistically expect to take anything, even though it sounds as though we almost did.

We've hugely improved this season and Robinson, his staff and the players deserve alot of credit, but we really can't afford to keep failing to turn up in first halves of matches as we've done all too often this campaign. Ross County at Fir Park in August and Rangers at Hampden are prime examples of this where we got away with being slack and wasteful on the ball because the opposition couldn't take advantage of it before we woke up in the second half but we weren't so fortunate today.

We could very well be humiliated in the Cup final if we turn in a similar first half performance as Celtic could easily go in five or six up at the break. The Cup run has been superb, but it would be a real shame if it ended in utter embarrsment.

[Handsome_Devil]

Sore on yesterday as we'll likely lose in Aberdeen, so that's three in a trot going into the final, then the Celtic league double header. Suddenly you're looking at five or six consecutive losses - and it's Tynecastle next, so that's a chance of seven - and the season is looking very different, even if there's some caveats.

[texaco cup]

Six of our next eight games are away from home,by the end of which I believe we will have a true picture of what our season holds in terms of our league position.Play like we did in the first half yesterday in these up coming games and I don’t see us talking many points.Dont know if manager was trying to rest some players before the final but it certainly IMO didn’t work.What he does against Aberdeen I have no idea,does he start with his cup final starting eleven or does he still give some of the players a rest,and try to avoid injuries to key players.

[sieb1886]

Didn't travel, and only saw highlights on telly. The one striking thing over the last few weeks is our slowness out of the traps. And surely we need to look at benching young Kipre - he looks to have turned into a stiff block of wood that can't head a ball. Bit concerned at the moment; we need to get back on track and string some performances together or we could be heading to Hampden in 'Scared Stiff Sam' mode !

[Handsome_Devil]

Six of our next eight games are away from home,by the end of which I believe we will have a true picture of what our season holds in terms of our league position.Play like we did in the first half yesterday in these up coming games and I don’t see us talking many points.Dont know if manager was trying to rest some players before the final but it certainly IMO didn’t work.What he does against Aberdeen I have no idea,does he start with his cup final starting eleven or does he still give some of the players a rest,and try to avoid injuries to key players.

I think we need to play our best XI - or what SR thinks it is on the day at least - at Pittodrie. Three losses on the spin and a muddled team is no way to go into a final.

We should be relatively well rested anyway...Campbell will be back on U21 duty presumably but has been protected recently so should be ok. Cadden is more used to the first team business so him playing through, in the first half of the season, shouldn't be a big problem either.

The first half comments are spot on. It says a lot that Robinson seems so good at watching a game and tweaking things to get a result - the ability of a manager to do that at our level is seriously rare and it's a major strength. But sometimes it will be too late to save things, as on Saturday and as we will absolutely find out at Hampden if we're not on it immediately...the frequent, very frequent in fact, inability to get things right from the first minute is a major weakness.

What has surprised me, certainly since the semi-final, is that Hammell hasn't played a minute since the cup quarter-final, I thought he would get a run while Dunne/Kipre got a break or even just to keep him involved a bit incase one of the back three gets injured/ill. Part of me thinks that after his recent wobbles it might be good to take Kipre out of the firing line at Aberdeen but dropping him the week before the cup final is hardly a confidence boost regardless of the intention behind it.

Robbo has some serious and challenging work ahead of him in the next three weeks...what happens after is a separate problem to be dealt with when it comes.

[LawSteelman]

We absolutely 100 per cent need to play our strongest 11 at Pittodrie as we cannot afford to go into our biggest match in years and then a Celtic league double header on the back of three straight league defeats on the bounce. Kipre has had an utter nightmare of late, from the Semi Final itself indeed, but he is a youngster and needs to keep his head up.

It's worrying that our pre Cup Final form is so far mirrorring that of our last pre-Cup final form to an extent. Back in 2011 we lost something like five out of the last six and chopped and changed the starting lineup and tactics on a weekly basis and totally froze on the day of the final. I really, really hope we don't end what has been a fantastic cup run in embarrassment with a heavy defeat but that is all I can envisage happening right now.

[wellin]

Strongest 11 at Pittodrie. Even if we can get a point from that game it will give us a little bit of confidence back before the cup final. Agree we need to start games a lot quicker than of late, we have been to slow out the traps in a lot of games this season, that's something the manager has to get sorted before the final. Kipre could well do with a spell on the bench i think, maybe could move Dunne in from left back and play Hammell, who i think is a better left back anyway out there. I doubt very much that will happen though. Hopefully we are the team to burst Celtics unbeaten run.

[dasdeid]

IMO and regrettably our cup final will be a damage limitation exercise ... Celtic are just too good
If as been suggested and I agree, Robinson rested players against Ross County. This has backfired with a loss we could have done without. Those teams below have picked up points and now close behind. In addition we are going loose another 6 points with Celtic double SPL header. Therefore, we have to play strongest team against Aberdeen and attempt a away win.
I’m still undecided starting Rose every game .. we have better options on the bench.

[wellin]

I think Bigramanha is a better player than Rose, a different type of player but more beneficial going forward and opening up defences.