Sometimes, you almost wish that we could fast forward through this season and start again in the summer, or, even better, rewind to the beginning of the season with the knowledge that we have now.
Would we sign John Souttar, a player who has played just 45 minutes of competitive football all season? We could tell Connor Goldson not to risk injury by stretching to clear a ball against Liverpool or Ridvan Yilmaz to block a cross against Aberdeen, the same applies to Tom Lawrence who has been injured since attempting to win possession against Ross County in the 94th minutes with us winning 4-0.
Add the long-term casualties like Filip Helander, Souttar, Lawrence and Yilmaz to the recent injuries and we have an absentee list that now looks like a decent starting XI without squeezing in Alex Lowry or forgotten Ranger Nnamdi Ofoborh:
Michael Beale is hopeful that he will have a couple of extra bodies for the trip to Hampden but, like Giovanni van Bronckhorst, he continues to operate with one hand tied behind his back, for once, not having European football after Christmas has, probably, prevented this list from being even bigger.
Kemar Roofe, Malik Tillman and John Lundstram appear to be the ones closest to returning in time for the showcase final against Celtic but, when you see it written down like this, it really does tell the story of the season. Look across the city, would they be nine points clear at the top of the table with XI players missing and at least six of them long-term?
You need an element of luck to win trophies, lets hope we finally get some that we deserve after a season that has been desperately short in fairness.