I got a message from a guy I know, a Dundee Utd fan, who asked me who I want to avoid in the League Cup Final. I told him straight; I really don’t care which of the clubs wins tomorrow.
For giggles, I’d love to see Pedro’s team crash out.
But in the final analysis Motherwell will give us the tougher game.
In the end, I would expect us to beat both.
Motherwell pose a bigger threat upfront, if Moult is on his game.
He can rough-house defenders and lay the ball off. Their team work tremendously hard. They would push us all the way, and in the run up to the game they would be professional, keep their heads down, their mouths shut and they would prepare in a very considered manner.
With Sevco, on the other hand, there would be media hysteria, ridiculous arrogant nonsense gushing from their dressing room and manager’s office. There would be all sorts of hype which the match would not come close to living up to. I would expect that Caixinha’s bottle would crash on the day, he’d play to contain us and once we had the first goal we would casually roll over them like a tank. It would be fun to watch, but ultimately less testing.
Both sides today were rooting for a Hibs victory; that pretty much goes without saying. Sevco, in particular, will be dreading the very idea of coming up against us. They have Parkhead to go to by the turn of the year; a win for Brendan in a cup final would put Caixinha on the brink of losing 3/3 this season, at Ibrox, Hampden and Celtic Park.
Could he survive that? My guess would be no.
That’s a reason for wanting Motherwell to win; I think he could survive a Motherwell victory in the semi final. The fans would go mental, but I think he could outlast their anger. Three defeats from us before 2018 started, I don’t think he could cope with that at all. It’s no secret that I don’t expect him to see out the season, but the longer he’s there the more chaos will ensue before they have to turf him out the door.
We beat them in November and that could be him gone.
So whilst I have a preference for tomorrow – Motherwell, for the fun of it, for the giggles, because I think Caixinha could survive that – I have no real concerns either way. We will beat either team. Hell, we could probably play one after the other on the same day and win, based on the mental toughness and ability to “gut it out” that this side has.
We have players who’ve been out a while coming back into the team.
We have others just starting to hit form again.
This is a healthy place to be.
Tomorrow those teams will play out a nervy semi-final with only the certainty of facing the invincible Celtic for the trophy; it will not help with their general mood, which is why we usually get the second of these games.
We’re looming ahead of whoever wins, like a mugger in an alley.
Believe me, they are both more afraid than we are.