Why is our away form so bad?

[JohnDoe]

Negative tactics and a "just don't lose" mentality.

[The_weatherman]

I think I can offer one explaination why our shots on goal have been so few away. There is noone in the opposition penalty area! Kuyt and Ngog come very deep to be involved in the play or even get to the wings and cross for.........nobody.

When Torres plays it is better but we need Gerrard behind him and close to him to present some presence in the box. Benni has to be pretty close to shoot and Kuyt doesn't shoot enbough either, Mascher doesn't go into the box and when Lucas does he shoots off target.

Then there is the pace issue of course but I think we have to get more players into the box.

[peekay]

I thought that showing both is the fairest way of judging as the truth probably lies somewhere between the two

Agreed



But I think it lies somewhere between the two closer to my side

Just kidding mate.

And weatherman. You hit the nail on the head. We need more people in the box. More people in the box equates to more goals.

[Big-Red-Ed]

Our away form is so poor because we have:

1. crap players (not all but the number is increasing all of the time).
2. rafa sets the team up with crap negative tactics.
3. our opponents know we are crap and have a go.

conclusion:

we are crap.

[-V-]

MENTALITY, go away from home and sit deep, try not to lose and nick a goal. We sit deep invite pressure and have no pace to hurt the opposition

[Vermilion]

Why do people think that the manager would ask our players to do anything so very different to what he asked of them last season, just does'nt make sense.

He will be asking of those players exactly the same as last season..whether it be attacking wise or in defence, lets be honest, some of the results this season..no, actually many of the results this season have been the result of defensive errors no one could forsee...or make sense of from players usaully so solid, if it were'nt for those mistakes 4th place would have been a cake walk, we'd proabably be safe already.

Everything that's out of the managers hands that could go wrong...has gone wrong, and yes..some of the decisions he's made imo have been wrong, just as will be said of any manager in any season, but it is the things that as i say are out of the managers hands that have hurt us the most....and they have been many this season.

It started when he was told the 20mill promised for players from the Alonso sale would not be forth coming, it steamrollered from then on...injuries, mistakes, loss of form by too many players, the rest is history, but i expect nothing like this next season...it's just how much will being out of europe for one season cost us.

Spurs and Villa are talking 4th place, but if either pip us to that place, we'll see how they handle playing in Europe and trying to keep in the top 4, so i would be confident of being back in Europes elite comp after just one season of abscence, hopefully by then the club will in some way have sorted itself out.

[michelmas]

Add to all of the above points our utter inability to convert from set pieces. Corners and free kicks are responsible for a large majority of away goals in the league. Managers know this and spend ages perfecting scenarios to take advantage of these set pieces.

I've lost count of the chances our centre halves (all of them) have spurned from headed chances coming from corners. They can get up highest but collectively have no idea where the oppositions goal is. Add to this the sheer number of corners that fail to clear the first defender and the answer to why we are so ineffective away from home becomes clearer.

[red g]

Why do people think that the manager would ask our players to do anything so very different to what he asked of them last season, just does'nt make sense.
He will be asking of those players exactly the same as last season..whether it be attacking wise or in defence, lets be honest, some of the results this season..no, actually many of the results this season have been the result of defensive errors no one could forsee...or make sense of from players usaully so solid, if it were'nt for those mistakes 4th place would have been a cake walk, we'd proabably be safe already.

Everything that's out of the managers hands that could go wrong...has gone wrong, and yes..some of the decisions he's made imo have been wrong, just as will be said of any manager in any season, but it is the things that as i say are out of the managers hands that have hurt us the most....and they have been many this season.

It started when he was told the 20mill promised for players from the Alonso sale would not be forth coming, it steamrollered from then on...injuries, mistakes, loss of form by too many players, the rest is history, but i expect nothing like this next season...it's just how much will being out of europe for one season cost us.

Spurs and Villa are talking 4th place, but if either pip us to that place, we'll see how they handle playing in Europe and trying to keep in the top 4, so i would be confident of being back in Europes elite comp after just one season of abscence, hopefully by then the club will in some way have sorted itself out.

becuase we are in freefall and RAfa had decided to battle and not play his way out of trouble