Our away form

[Bridge'srightfoot]

Firstly this is NOT a thread about a manager debate.
Our away form for the last two seasons has been mostly crap and I just can't get my head around it.
It's not so much the results but the performances aswell. I rarely enjoy watching us away from home.

We do seem to do well at certain teams, such as Newcastle, Norwich, Rags (recently), Villa and a couple of others but by and large are performances and results are hugely frustrating away.

It's the same script every time. We have plenty of the ball but ZERO cutting edge. No penetration, no creativity and we never get our striker in on goal or in a one v one situation.
Think Stoke, Sunderland and Swansea away over the last few seasons, Qpr and West Ham last season too, Everton away also. Cardiff this season, We just really seem to struggle and after 10/15 minutes we know what type of game it will be.

Last season many on here claimed it was down to teams parking the bus and not wanting to attack but Cardiff and Stoke this season outplayed us by attacking us and Southampton spanked us last season doing the same. It seems we really struggle against the smaller teams when the fans get right behind them and make it a hostile atmosphere.

I mean look at how Rags played shite v Swansea and hit them for 4. We never seem to win with that ease away from home.

I feel it's gonna be our Achilles heel again this season.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

It's been a beef of mine for a long time. I was hoping for a change of approach with the new man in. But it was business as usual at Stoke. Poor and negative selection and handing the initiative to poor opposition.
As the feller next to me at Stoke said "it's like watching Mancini's team with a bad back four".
I was very optimistic going into the season, but i think it already looks clear that we haven't even got close to working out how we got to places like Stoke and win, to realistically mount a serious challenge.

[Crossie]

If we won every home game and drew every away game we'd get 76 points.

Its realistic to say we should be beating half of the league away from home, all teams in the bottom half.

If we do that, we win the league with 91 points.

19 x 3 points at home = 57
8.5 x away wins = 25.5
8.5 x away draws = 8.5

total 91

Its not impossible to win every home game, we should achieve that, maybe with 1 blip. Its also possible to nick a bit more from better teams at their grounds when we are in form and in destructive mode.

Its a long season.

[Ted Hughes]

Tbh, I don't think it is the same.

We are struggling just as badly for sure, but imo not for the same reasons.

The only general similarity imo is; we rarely play anywhere near our capabilities when we play away from home, be it attacking defending, Mancini, Hughes, Count whoever; we struggle to put our system into practice.

[Piccsnumberoneblue]

Tbh, I don't think it is the same.

We are struggling just as badly for sure, but imo not for the same reasons.

The only general similarity imo is; we rarely play anywhere near our capabilities when we play away from home, be it attacking defending, Mancini, Hughes, Count whoever; we struggle to put our system into practice.

I think the similarity is the negative set up and bizarre team selection. You hear the team selection and think "what?"
You don't go to Stoke without an attack. How is that ever necessary or a good idea?

[Ted Hughes]

Tbh, I don't think it is the same.

We are struggling just as badly for sure, but imo not for the same reasons.

The only general similarity imo is; we rarely play anywhere near our capabilities when we play away from home, be it attacking defending, Mancini, Hughes, Count whoever; we struggle to put our system into practice.

I think the similarity is the negative set up and bizarre team selection. You hear the team selection and think "what?"
You don't go to Stoke without an attack. How is that ever necessary or a good idea?

Well IF Pellegrini genuinely thought that was the best team to get the points at Stoke, I would join in with those calling him a fucking idiot. I would have said a point at best with that lineup; maybe I'd have a bit more optimism a year from now with the same 11 but only a 'bit' more.

Imo, without admitting it, he was desperate.

That team was a desperate attempt to get through a Premier League game, without picking up anymore key injuries imo, & that's it.

Most of the players picked were expendable. The only players picked who weren't, were those who Pellegrini believed to be essential on the day to avoid a drubbing; Yaya, Zabba etc. The rest were all players who can be replaced for the next two games if necessary.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

Tbh, I don't think it is the same.

We are struggling just as badly for sure, but imo not for the same reasons.

The only general similarity imo is; we rarely play anywhere near our capabilities when we play away from home, be it attacking defending, Mancini, Hughes, Count whoever; we struggle to put our system into practice.

A couple of away games in particular under Mancini stand out for me (besides the Rags and Spurs victories). And they were in the Cup winning season.
Fulham away where we beat them 4-1 and West Ham away when we won 3-1. We played with such fluidity, pace and movement and in both games we were ruthless and quick going forward. Fast flowing attacking football.
Now I know it's not been all bad since then but we rarely see us play like that against midtable teams away from home ever.
When was the last time we battered a smaller team away from home?

We just look like we've run out of ideas and teams have figured us out.

[Ted Hughes]

Tbh, I don't think it is the same.

We are struggling just as badly for sure, but imo not for the same reasons.

The only general similarity imo is; we rarely play anywhere near our capabilities when we play away from home, be it attacking defending, Mancini, Hughes, Count whoever; we struggle to put our system into practice.

4
A couple of away games in particular under Mancini stand out for me (besides the Rags and Spurs victories). And they were in the Cup winning season.
Fulham away where we beat them 4-1 and West Ham away when we won 3-1. We played with such fluidity, pace and movement and in both games we were ruthless and quick going forward. Fast flowing attacking football.
Now I know it's not been all bad since then but we rarely see us play like that against midtable teams away from home ever.
When was the last time we battered a smaller team away from home?

We just look like we run out of ideas.

I think Mancini's team ran out of ideas after we put 6 past Utd. Neville & Co alerted the whole world to how we played & the league sussed us out, plus the advent of Savic which reduced our 'invincibility' & 'fear factor' to zero in one game. Tevez gave us a 2nd wind.

The Premier League is brilliant at that, which is why it has the rep it does, not because of breathtaking fooball but because it susses teams out & mugs them. Mancini tried to counter it (stupidly) by playing 3 at the back as a plan B, which is old hat, & the whole league already knows how to use it & how to exploit it. Eventually, almost comically, he got his arse handed to him by Roberto Martinez when he switched to it at home to Wigan & had to switch back to avoid total humiliation.

Re Fulham; the game last season v Fulham was imo one of Bob's best moments where, ironically, he had them playing a similar pressing game to the one the Count is trying, & failling, to play now. I thought it was a sign of things to come but it was back to the old routine after that.

The Count is happy to mix crosses & diagonals with keep ball, which imo is spot on in theory & will get us goals. The problem for me is that the rest of his system isn't working, so therefore nothing is working.

If he gets the bread & butter stuff sorted, we will all see a big difference imo. If not, we'll probably have some Dutchman or German trying similar stuff next season.

[Rag_hater]

Firstly this is NOT a thread about a manager debate.
Our away form for the last two seasons has been mostly crap and I just can't get my head around it.
It's not so much the results but the performances aswell. I rarely enjoy watching us away from home.

We do seem to do well at certain teams, such as Newcastle, Norwich, Rags (recently), Villa and a couple of others but by and large are performances and results are hugely frustrating away.

It's the same script every time. We have plenty of the ball but ZERO cutting edge. No penetration, no creativity and we never get our striker in on goal or in a one v one situation.
Think Stoke, Sunderland and Swansea away over the last few seasons, Qpr and West Ham last season too, Everton away also. Cardiff this season, We just really seem to struggle and after 10/15 minutes we know what type of game it will be.

Last season many on here claimed it was down to teams parking the bus and not wanting to attack but Cardiff and Stoke this season outplayed us by attacking us and Southampton spanked us last season doing the same. It seems we really struggle against the smaller teams when the fans get right behind them and make it a hostile atmosphere.

I mean look at how Rags played shite v Swansea and hit them for 4. We never seem to win with that ease away from home.

I feel it's gonna be our Achilles heel again this season.

No it has not,it has been better.

[roblues]

Firstly this is NOT a thread about a manager debate.
Our away form for the last two seasons has been mostly crap and I just can't get my head around it.
It's not so much the results but the performances aswell. I rarely enjoy watching us away from home.

We do seem to do well at certain teams, such as Newcastle, Norwich, Rags (recently), Villa and a couple of others but by and large are performances and results are hugely frustrating away.

It's the same script every time. We have plenty of the ball but ZERO cutting edge. No penetration, no creativity and we never get our striker in on goal or in a one v one situation.
Think Stoke, Sunderland and Swansea away over the last few seasons, Qpr and West Ham last season too, Everton away also. Cardiff this season, We just really seem to struggle and after 10/15 minutes we know what type of game it will be.

Last season many on here claimed it was down to teams parking the bus and not wanting to attack but Cardiff and Stoke this season outplayed us by attacking us and Southampton spanked us last season doing the same. It seems we really struggle against the smaller teams when the fans get right behind them and make it a hostile atmosphere.

I mean look at how Rags played shite v Swansea and hit them for 4. We never seem to win with that ease away from home.

I feel it's gonna be our Achilles heel again this season.

No it has not,it has been better.

It's an exaggeration to say that for two years we have been in poor form away from home, but a quick look at the stats for this calendar year in the league does not make pretty reading: W 4 D 3 L 4, or 15 points from a possible 33. That form projected over a whole season gives us 26 points away from home, meaning that even winning all of our home games would probably not be enough to win the title.

[Bridge'srightfoot]

Firstly this is NOT a thread about a manager debate.
Our away form for the last two seasons has been mostly crap and I just can't get my head around it.
It's not so much the results but the performances aswell. I rarely enjoy watching us away from home.

We do seem to do well at certain teams, such as Newcastle, Norwich, Rags (recently), Villa and a couple of others but by and large are performances and results are hugely frustrating away.

It's the same script every time. We have plenty of the ball but ZERO cutting edge. No penetration, no creativity and we never get our striker in on goal or in a one v one situation.
Think Stoke, Sunderland and Swansea away over the last few seasons, Qpr and West Ham last season too, Everton away also. Cardiff this season, We just really seem to struggle and after 10/15 minutes we know what type of game it will be.

Last season many on here claimed it was down to teams parking the bus and not wanting to attack but Cardiff and Stoke this season outplayed us by attacking us and Southampton spanked us last season doing the same. It seems we really struggle against the smaller teams when the fans get right behind them and make it a hostile atmosphere.

I mean look at how Rags played shite v Swansea and hit them for 4. We never seem to win with that ease away from home.

I feel it's gonna be our Achilles heel again this season.

No it has not,it has been better.

It's an exaggeration to say that for two years we have been in poor form away from home, but a quick look at the stats for this calendar year in the league does not make pretty reading: W 4 D 3 L 4, or 15 points from a possible 33. That form projected over a whole season gives us 26 points away from home, meaning that even winning all of our home games would probably not be enough to win the title.

It's not just about the results though. It's the performances or lack of them. I know results are all the most important thing but we also want to see attacking football. A point at Stoke isn't bad but it was the performance itself was boring. It was just the most dreadfully boring game. Instead we revert to the pass it backwards and sideways style and then fuck about with the ball about 30 yards out at a snails pace, allowing the other team to get every man behind the ball.
I used to think it was because other teams parked the bus but now I think it's more that we just don't move the ball quick enough.

[roblues]

Firstly this is NOT a thread about a manager debate.
Our away form for the last two seasons has been mostly crap and I just can't get my head around it.
It's not so much the results but the performances aswell. I rarely enjoy watching us away from home.

We do seem to do well at certain teams, such as Newcastle, Norwich, Rags (recently), Villa and a couple of others but by and large are performances and results are hugely frustrating away.

It's the same script every time. We have plenty of the ball but ZERO cutting edge. No penetration, no creativity and we never get our striker in on goal or in a one v one situation.
Think Stoke, Sunderland and Swansea away over the last few seasons, Qpr and West Ham last season too, Everton away also. Cardiff this season, We just really seem to struggle and after 10/15 minutes we know what type of game it will be.

Last season many on here claimed it was down to teams parking the bus and not wanting to attack but Cardiff and Stoke this season outplayed us by attacking us and Southampton spanked us last season doing the same. It seems we really struggle against the smaller teams when the fans get right behind them and make it a hostile atmosphere.

I mean look at how Rags played shite v Swansea and hit them for 4. We never seem to win with that ease away from home.

I feel it's gonna be our Achilles heel again this season.

No it has not,it has been better.

It's an exaggeration to say that for two years we have been in poor form away from home, but a quick look at the stats for this calendar year in the league does not make pretty reading: W 4 D 3 L 4, or 15 points from a possible 33. That form projected over a whole season gives us 26 points away from home, meaning that even winning all of our home games would probably not be enough to win the title.

It's not just about the results though. It's the performances or lack of them. I know results are all the most important thing but we also want to see attacking football. A point at Stoke isn't bad but it was the performance itself was boring. It was just the most dreadfully boring game. Instead we revert to the pass it backwards and sideways style and then fuck about with the ball about 30 yards out at a snails pace, allowing the other team to get every man behind the ball.
I used to think it was because other teams parked the bus but now I think it's more that we just don't move the ball quick enough.

Fulham, West Brom and Newcastle away in the first half of last season were all pretty good performances, and there will always be games like Wigan away where a bit of individual brilliance (in this case, Milner) unlocks the door.
Don't get me wrong though, I agree with everything you say about the Stoke game there and am concerned about our struggles to get going on the road this season.