Next up - Hearts

[Footymad]

Motherwell and Hearts meet in the second round of the Betfred Cup on Friday evening. The Fir Park side will hope that home advantage will help to reverse the result of last season's quarter final at Tynecastle. - External Link

[LawSteelman]

I don't know how the game will go but I am 100% certain of one thing, that we are going out here.

I reckon it'll be tight and may even go all the way to penalties as Hearts aren't up to much either but we are hopeless at penalties and looking at our potential takers then it's almost impossible to see us winning in that scenario.

I'm going for a score draw then a penalty loss, enough to keep our more 'optimistic' fans happy and content that "we ran a side with a bigger budget close so no shame, it's only the League Cup" bla, bla, bla. I though will take no consolation or positives from it, because a defeat is a defeat and given that the League Cup is one of only two competitions that we have a chance of winning, this is a must win game, but we will lose.

[Handsome_Devil]

Hearts away are a different prosect to being at Tynecastle and Hearts with Naismith are a very different proposition to without. If he plays, he's the best player on the pitch and you could consider them slight favourites. If not, I think we may sneak it...they are clearly in a horrible place right now, their record since last autumn is well below what you'd expect.

[texaco cup]

If we can play with the same intensity we had in the first half against Celtic and attack the Hearts back four we have a really good chance of going through. But if we play like we did in the second half on Saturday and stand off players and fail to chase back we will get a hammering. This is a game we should be fired up for from the first whistle

[Wellup4it]

Whether we're fired up or not, the critical question is can we put the ball in the net more often than Hearts. We have to be more clinical in our finishing.

[sieb1886]

Whether we're fired up or not, the critical question is can we put the ball in the net more often than Hearts. We have to be more clinical in our finishing.

Given our obvious defensive frailties against The Manky Mob, I'd say the critical thing is whether we can stop the goal gifts we conceded.