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Motherwell v Aberdeen - League Cup Quarter Final


rambunctious

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I would give my left testicle for a win here and to reach the Semi Finals but sadly I can't see us getting it for two reasons.

1) We rarely win games like these, with a big hopeful crowd inside Fir Park boosted by the reduced gate prices and with so much at stake, and;

2) Aberdeen are a better side than we are, simple as that and if both teams play to the best of their abilities then they will win.

I think we will run them close and it won't be a repeat of McCall's pathetic Cup efforts against them but I can actually see this being one of those high scoring, end to end matches that we often find ourselves involved in but never ever win, ala 6-5 v the Dons, 5-4 v Dundee Utd, 4-3 v Celtic etc. I have a feeling this will be a similar high scoring encounters with Aberdeen nicking it late on or on penalties leaving us frustrated and heartbroken and I also have a hunch that big Kipre will have a bit of a nightmare and if it goes to penalties, he'll be the one to miss the decisive one, which we'll remember for years.

As I said I can't see us winning but f**k me, if we do it'll be glorious and will have to go down as one of our best results in recent times. I don't care about the performance, or whether it's a great game, if we nick a scrappy match by one goal I'll have a smile as wide as the Clyde all weekend, I'd even take a defeat in the league game if it meant we progress in the Cup.

Just for once Motherwell, eh?

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I watched Hibs v Motherwell on Alba last night. With better refereeing decisions and a bit of luck, Motherwell could easily have taken the three points. We, on the other hand, have been disjointed and confused in our previous two matches. Needless to say, I'm not feeling overly optimistic.

I would drop Maynard, Stewart and McLean from Saturday's team, replacing them with Christie, Mackay-Steven and either Tansey or Ball. Saturday's game was arguably the most coherent our defence has looked all season, so I would be reluctant to make any changes there. However, I do expect this to be a significantly tougher challenge for them. 

If we play like we have for most of this domestic season, especially against Hearts and Kilmarnock, I would expect Motherwell to beat us. If we play nearer to our potential on paper, however, we will hopefully be able to squeeze through. Sadly, I'm just not convinced that McInnes is close to knowing his best or most balanced team at the moment, so I'd give the edge to Motherwell. 

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Early 2011 the wife booked a lovely holiday for us in Greece then as we won our Scottish Cup quarter final I realised I wasn't heading to the final, the semi final humping of Saints was bittersweet.  This year we have a week in Tenerife earmarked (but not booked)  for the third week in November.  Thursday will go a long way to firming up our plans.

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That Scottish Cup Quarter Final against Dundee Utd at Fir Park was one of the best nights at Fir Park in the last decade for me and was the last time we won a really 'Big' Cup tie at Fir Park. It was a replay after a 2-2 at Tannadice, United were Cup holders at the time, they brought a huge support which packed out the South Stand and we totally wellied them that night, even Franny Jeffers scored!

Since then we've done nothing but let ourselves down at Fir Park in the Cup(not just at Fir Park mind you) and the three defeats to Aberdeen three years in a row were infuriating especially as for the first two we had a better side than they had yet we just didn't turn up and the games were horrible with everything going against us . We had corners wrongly awarded resulting in goals, goals being disallowed and then even when we look like we've got a break when they are reduced to 10 men we huff and puff all night then lost 2-0 in the last ten minutes. 

Apart from there being a Semi Final place at stake, it'd be good to finally get some revenge on the Dons in the Cup after those three exits.

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I'm still trying to get my head round us at the moment. This is one of those games where there's a gnawing feeling at the back of my head that this is where the wheels will come off on the whole "feel-good" thing. Potentially big crowd, low-key expectations building...I've seen this movie before.

Having said that there are lots of positives around the side though: Moult's scoring goals, Campbell is cementing his place in the midfield and bodying anyone who stands in his way while Kipré is Kipré. Hartley also looks like the sort of centre half who won't think twice about snapping someone if need be, which is nice. Carson's a goalkeeper who'll come off his line and take crosses without giving it a second thought too. So if you add all that up then there's no reason why we shouldn't be looking to start on the front foot and go at Aberdeen especially with Bowman and Moult putting themselves about up front.

The knowledge that Tanner is an option off the bench along with Frear (injury permitting) and Wee Petey (if his clearance is through) means that there are ways we can affect the game with subs. Which is a novelty.

Dunne's out through suspension so you'd imagine Hammell will come in with Plummer on the bench. After that it's a question of whether Robinson sticks with Rose or whether Bigirimana's played his way to a starting place.

Looking forward to it either way.

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Looking forward to this one but trying desperately to keep the expectations in check. We're undoubtably miles ahead of where most 'Well fans would expect us to be at this stage of the rebuild and we are going into this in as good form as we can realistically hope - but we are up against a better team, no questions. 

On the list of "things I like" this season is the fact that with a midfield of Campbell, McHugh and Rose, we don't look like being totally dominated in the way that we have been countless times over the past couple of seasons. For that reason, I would be happy if Robinson persevered with the same 3 for the first hour or so and brought Bigi on again when the time is right. 

Hammy coming in for Dunne would seem to be a no-brainer - but if so, we can expect the long diagonal passes up his side from Aberdeen. It's another big test for Cedric as I've always thought Stevie May was a great forward and so, he'll need to up it a bit from Saturday. 

Am I right in saying that in the LC, you're allowed less subs on the bench? If that's the case, we will genuinely struggle in who to leave out the squad. Frear should be back in contention (he said so when I had a brief chat with him in the away end on Sat), you'd think Plummer would be a stick-on given Hammy's record of not lasting 90 mins these days, Bigi & Tanner would need to be there and Fisher?

Love to see us going through from this as we've been a bit starved of big games recently - but even though Aberdeen aren't on top form, I think it's going to be tough... 

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2 hours ago, Swello said:

Am I right in saying that in the LC, you're allowed less subs on the bench? If that's the case, we will genuinely struggle in who to leave out the squad. Frear should be back in contention (he said so when I had a brief chat with him in the away end on Sat), you'd think Plummer would be a stick-on given Hammy's record of not lasting 90 mins these days, Bigi & Tanner would need to be there and Fisher?

I thought that was the case as well but looking at the report on the County game we had 7 on the bench in Dingwall.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/40831241

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Worry about this game as we have been poor for 3 out of 4 games now and look at Motherwell form which has been excellent last 4 games.

This is our biggest match since the Europa League and our manager will have to put out our strongest team (understand putting out a different team against Killie although that didn't work out well!) 

Same result in 2014 will do along with winning the cup please :)

 

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This thread looks the most relevant of the two here, as the other one is all about Louis Moult watching this in the stand with his AFC suit on.

Looking like a very tough tie for us  - it's been quite a common cup tie in both tourneys over the years.............13/14 and 95/96 LC wins both included QF victories at Firp Ark, and even our run to glory in Goteborg 83 all started a year and a half earlier with a goal after 10 seconds in Motherwell.

In recent seasons we seem to have taken care of this fixture - even with a Rory Fallon goal in one of them - but something tells me we're going to be on the wrong end of this one (but win the league game on Sunday instead).

 

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I can only remember us beating Aberdeen twice in Cup competition in my lifetime, in 1990/91 at Pittodrie with a 1-0 win to kick off our run to winning the Scottish Cup that year and in the League Cup Quarter Final at Fir Park in 2005 when we again won 1-0. Aberdeen have won the rest and there is a strange pattern to a lot of them too, in that on four occasions over the years the sides have met at Fir Park on Cup duty and then again on League duty either immediately afterwards or a matter of weeks later. On each occasion Aberdeen have won the Cup tie and we have won the league meeting. Ironically enough, we are yet again looking at back to back Motherwell v Aberdeen games at Fir Park with the Cup game first then a league game.

Those previous double headers were;

95/96 LCQF - Motherwell 1-2 Aberdeen - a.e.t - September 95 / League - Motherwell 2-1 Aberdeen - October 95

95/96 SC3 - Motherwell 0-2 Aberdeen - January 96 / League - Motherwell 1-0 Aberdeen - February 96

11/12 SCQF - Motherwell 1-2 Aberdeen / League - Motherwell 1-0 Aberdeen - both March 2012

12/13 SC4R - Motherwell 1-2 Aberdeen / League - Motherwell 4-1 Aberdeen - both December 2012

I'd gladly take a reverse of that trend in the up and coming double header.

 

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That's an interesting stat MJC.

Funnily enough, I had been thinking we'll not win this cup tie but take something in the league game on Sunday.

Dunno what it is, I just don't feel confident about Thursday at all. Whether it's that I feel uncomfortable when Motherwell fans start to get really confident, or whether it's just our shit cup record against Aberdeen.

3-0 Aberdeen on Thursday.
1-0 Motherwell on Sunday.

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I can only remember us beating Aberdeen twice in Cup competition in my lifetime, in 1990/91 at Pittodrie with a 1-0 win to kick off our run to winning the Scottish Cup that year
 

Was that a Stevie Kirk screamer from about 30 yards?? Sure I remember that one.

The last 2 league games have bitten into my early season feel good factor. Can see us winning one and losing one with these 2 games. A good bet would be btts for both games.

I'll go for Well in the cup, but Dons in the league.
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17 minutes ago, naegoodinthedark said:


Was that a Stevie Kirk screamer from about 30 yards?? Sure I remember that one.
 

It was - although Snelders didn't cover himself in glory. That was the first time I'd seen us win at Pittodrie, which at that time was more difficult for us than Parkhead or Ibrox.

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Dreading this tbh

Just feels like we are long overdue a defeat and a double header at Fir Park doesn't fill me with confidence at the moment 

Think we'll get beat 1-0 on Thursday and maybe grab a draw on Sunday 

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3 hours ago, Desp said:

That's an interesting stat MJC.

Funnily enough, I had been thinking we'll not win this cup tie but take something in the league game on Sunday.

Dunno what it is, I just don't feel confident about Thursday at all. Whether it's that I feel uncomfortable when Motherwell fans start to get really confident, or whether it's just our shit cup record against Aberdeen.

3-0 Aberdeen on Thursday.
1-0 Motherwell on Sunday.

Sadly that's how I see it as well, even when we were better than Aberdeen and they couldn't buy a win against us in the league they always managed to give us a bloody nose in the Cup and I don't see things changing here. Like yourself I do though think we'll do okay on Sunday in keeping with the trend of Cup/League double headers as I think McInnes and Aberdeen will prioritise the Cup tie and will give it their all on Thursday which might leave them a bit leg weary come Sunday's meeting.

As said earlier I think we will run them close on Thursday but end up heartbroken late on, either that or it'll be a routine 2-0 win for Aberdeen and I fancy us to pick up a red card into the bargain.

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