The best thing that could happen to us in the aftermath of the Munich defeat is a cup semi final.
It only gets better when you consider that following it we have a tough away trip to Pittodrie.
This is the reality of modern football.
This is what happens to successful teams.
It is good. It is a positive. It keeps our players sharp and focussed. It would have been all too easy for them to return from Germany with their heads elsewhere; recriminations, self doubts, over analysis. None of that will happen now. They have big games to prepare for.
I will be honest, there was a time when I’d have been concerned about such a punishing schedule. The brutality of it. The difficulties involved. The way tiredness will naturally affect our players. There is no such concern with this team.
This team is capable of winning, of going on winning, for a long time.
The crucial issues will be over who starts, and where. The manager has “clarified” the position with Stuart Armstrong, and said he was taken off in midweek as a “precaution.” Brendan is good at defending his players. But Armstrong was poor and deserved to be hooked. Rogic gave the team the dynamism he lacked, and he should start tomorrow.
The defence will be the issue, of course, but Nir Bitton will be a better bet in the centre of it than will Mikael Lustig, who never looks suited to that role. It also sacrifices his attacking ability, which we will need to break down a tough Hibs team.
I would change the keeper. It won’t happen, but he should.
Lastly, up front … I think this is where we might spring a surprise on Hibs and go with two strikers. Why not? It would be a change of pace and would allow Griffiths and Dembele to play in same side, and that would give them more than they can deal with. Clubs know how we play now, or they think they do; if we change up Hibs will be caught cold.
In spite of what I wrote about Moussa earlier, the strikers position is Leigh’s to lose for the moment. He will undoubtedly start, as he should. He will fancy his chances against his former team.
Will Lenny his fancy his chances against his own? I doubt it. He talks a good game, does Neil, but he knows he caught us on the right day at Celtic Park. Hibs form has been inconsistent. He will know they are vulnerable, and his own record at Hampden is not great. He had a habit – a nasty one – of losing big games at the National Stadium.
Brendan does not. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Aberdeen in midweek is another matter again; I am relying on the fact that Derek McInnes’ team has its own habit of flopping on the big stage, in the games where it matters. He is not a great manager; he’s built a functional team without them being great. The trip will be interesting, but I do expect us to win, even with a little squad rotation which is inevitable.
I agree with Brendan that it’s ludicrous to make us play tomorrow’s game under these circumstances; Buckfast Barry was moaning in the papers today about how his team had to play the UEFA Cup Final in Manchester after no-one in Scottish football would help them; utter garbage, as we all know well. The league season ahd already been extended for them, and the SFA offered to postpone the Scottish Cup final.
Who mourns for us here? Nobody, but least of all ourselves.
Some think this is the last thing we need.
But I think it’s the best thing. We have a Munich hangover. Getting to a cup final and putting distance between ourselves and the second place challengers … that’s what I call a curer. It’s just what the doctor ordered for us.