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I don't think it will get toxic, its just a real frustration going out to an average side and with wrong set up. Anyhoo after the st mirren semi final defeat look at how we have bounced back plus Welsh will be available again. I expect a reaction from players on Saturday and hopefully get back to winning ways. Altogether now........COYW!!!

Yes, it's not unacceptable for different managers and teams to lose games.

If it's unacceptable, what should be done about it?

No. It is unacceptable that we have failed to reach the Quarter Finals in the Scottish Cup in the last four seasons having been knocked out by two Championship sides, bottom of the table St.Johnstone and a rank rotten Aberdeen side way below us in the league. Unacceptable. Put it in your pipe and smoke it.

Making referees decide what is an accidental slip or stumble versus a player pretending to slip or stumble (or not even trying to pretend but getting away with it anyway) sounds like it would result in even more controversial decisions. At least with the current rules they don't have another judgement call to make.

That's the case in England, but looks like the suspension is still served in the relevant competion here, according to their rules. VAR is checking for a possible rule change.

Mate Aberdeen are shite by any measure, that's why they are where they are. That's why we've beat them 3 times already this season We are a better team than them and that's why folk are a bit raw about it. Even the starting selection, that everyone is going overboard about, should have been enough to take care of them. We lost because two players fucked up the Keeper and Gordon. Everything else is over complicating a situation that basically saw us put ourselves out. It really doesn't get much more complicated than that.

JBA only lost us to a double double header fixture vs Aberdeen, bad luck is in our control now?, fuck off with the unacceptable pish, don't like it, don't go.

I honestly don’t know straight reds normally carry over no matter the competition.

After reflection and my chronic disappointment of last night, I actually think Connelly did quite well after the 5min mark. However the first 5mins did have a huge bearing on the game.

Folks Some of the reaction to a single game which was played on a ploughed field where a guy slipped and was red carded and then another had a brain fart and was red carded is off the charts. Some of you have reverted to type. The level of arrogance to suggest we march up to Pittodrie and steam roller the cup holders just because in your eyes they are pish, is actually wild to read. I must admit, i had a double take at the line up last night and was a tad confused but the manager knows his players and he felt it was right. Somebody even suggested the Well Society should be reminding Jens how important cups are....................jesus christ We lost, it was shite, lets get over it and move forward before this gets a tad toxic

We lost because two players fucked up. For me the team selection really wasn't to blame. The starting team, had we kept 11 men on the park, would have been good enough to take care of a piss poor Aberdeen team. The fact we were the better team with 9 men confirms that. The minute we went to 10 aside we pinned Aberdeen in, albeit our balls into the box were poor and we were trying to walk the ball into the net. The balls into the box didn't really improve after the changes. 9 corners and not one caused even a ripple of a problem for Aberdeen. Our set prices are one of the weakest parts of our game. However no one will convince me that the reason we went out was because of the team selection we went out because 2 players fucked up handing the tie to Aberdeen.

I do not think it was solely about the team selection, but it is difficult to ignore the role it played. The way we ask our goalkeeper to operate demands a particular skill set. I am not suggesting Connelly does not possess that ability, as he may well do, but introducing him in a fixture of that significance did not feel like the right call. It may even have been his pass that led to the situation which resulted in the first red card, if I am not mistaken. I have seen others make that point as well. As I mentioned earlier, cup matches are important enough that we should be fielding our strongest side. Connelly is a promising young goalkeeper, but he is not our first choice. Ward is. He should have started in my opinion. I don't think we're at a place where we can have a separate cup keeper. It is unlikely that this group of players will still be together if we do reach Europe. There is every chance that two or three will move on in the summer for decent transfer fees. Whether those who come in to replace them will be of the same standard is impossible to say at this stage. We would also be facing the challenge that most Scottish sides encounter in the qualifying rounds, namely going into competitive European ties with new signings in key roles who are still settling in, and possibly under a different manager as well. For me, the priority has to remain on the present. Each season, our objective should be clear and uncompromising. We should be attacking the domestic cups with real intent and giving ourselves the best possible opportunity to lift silverware.

Without getting too caught up in the detail of the guidelines, I do think recent decisions relating to ‘obvious’ goalscoring opportunities have been influenced by the VAR call to red card Trusty at Tynecastle and the fallout from the rejected appeal. The Falkirk one against Dundee Utd at the weekend was another example of trying to be consistent with the Trusty decision and appropriateness for VAR intervention.

The Cup v League position debate is and always has been boring. Its a hypothetical that doesnt exist in the real world. Had we won last night we would have been in with a good shout in the cup, but we would still have been in 4th place this morning chasing Europe on 2 fronts. We didnt. And the cup is gone for another year. So we need to re-focus and try and achieve whats left for us. Thats finishing as high up the league as possible. FWIW, I actually think this team is the best prepared for European football of any team we have had since the team that played Dortmund. So going out to some minnow in the qualifying rounds may not be our "prize" this time round......

Totally agree. It may have been the correct decision based on the laws of the game. But the law is an ass in those circumstances.

It’s not disrespectful to the team that finished second/third/fourth at all to say that the European ‘reward’ is nothing more than a bit of fluff at the beginning of the next season which looks good on paper for the club but is nothing to write home about on a football scale. I thoroughly enjoyed us finishing 2nd in 1995, for example, but the least said about My-Pa-47 in Europe the following season the better. Likewise our 2nd placed finishes under McCall. They were great at the time and I look back with fondness at what those teams did in those seasons. But you could not pay me to sit through the games in the resulting European ‘adventures’ again. Our ‘victory’ from those seasons was the football we played and the consistency in performances from the team.

Obviously winning a cup is better than European games and I really doubt Jen’s was thinking that when he selected his team. He has rotated before and it’s been very successful so he maybe felt fresh legs would have made more impact. As I’ve said before the red cards killed his game plan and he spent the rest of the game trying to adjust to things outwith his control. I get emotions are high, but take a step back and look at how the game went and ask yourself was that down to team selection or was it just a really unlucky series of events that went against us.

I'm not suggesting for one minute that the incidents were exactly the same only that we've picked up 2 very early red cards in Scottish Cup ties twice in 4/5 years. Both spoiled the games as a contest, irrespective of rashness or sheer bad luck.

Correct. Getting fucked out of Europe barely laying a glove on most teams we've played doesn't even register for me compared to a Cup win.

It’s very disrespectful to the team who managed to finish second over a 38 game season to belittle their achievement. Personally I could probably name as many of the champions league team as the 1991 cup winning team and I was there for both The second point about European trips and alcohol is absolute nonsense in my opinion and again disrespectful to the fans. European football means by default you have seen a successful team achieve a great season the season previously. No different to Motherwell winning the Scottish cup for example and then being knocked out in the 4th round the next season.

Whilst the decision to send off Oscar Priestman was technically correct, I think that the law desperately needs changed in the interests of fairness. Had the incident taken place inside the box then he would have been yellow carded and a penalty awarded. Thats an inconsistency to start with. However, I believe that accidental slips or Louis Laing type stumbles should not be punished in the same way. A free kick or, at worst, a free kick and yellow card should suffice. This unfair law has the potential to ruin games for the paying public.

Winning the cup gives us a better chance of progressing in Europe. Finish 4th = 3x ECL Qualifiers Win Cup = E L qualifiers, but if we lose first one we go into the ECL Play-off

A habit? What does that even mean! So a red card 4 years ago in the first minute under a totally different manager and team is a habit 😂 Oscar slipped, it wasn’t like he did anything bad. The reaction to this game has been off the scale.

Two defeats in the cup are down to the manager. The only two competitions we have a chance of winning. Will crowds drop? Possibly. Cup runs keep the enthusiasm high and given we are guaranteed top 6 finish it's possible. As for last night. I personally think the ref and VAR going by previous outcomes in games got them correct. Others will differ. For all the possession we have in games the goals scored are paltry. We have signed Hendry, Stamatelopoulos and now Björgólfs­son as a striker. The first two are nowhere good enough. Haven't seen enough of Björgólfs­son to judge. We certainly don't play to his strengths. Last night when we got in good positions to put the ball in the box it was pass backwards, sideways and recycle the ball. He got no service even when it was 10 v 10. He showed his Ariel ability against Rangers with his lay off for the goal but not once did we get the ball in the box. Taking him off was another mistake because when we were down to 9 and got a corner we were forced to take short corners because we had no physicality in the box. All in all between the starting line up and choice off subs it was not a master class by the manager.