04 Mar 2015 16:32:43
Just a thought on our home/away form, we have the second best home form in the league, just a point off Chelsea although they have a game in hand on that front, however away we have been shocking, with 3 wins 3 losses and 7 draws and I feel this is down to lvg's negative set up going into away games trying above all not to lose them. Does anyone else think that if we went into the away games with a similar attitude and set up to our home games we would be sitting much prettier in the league?
04 Mar 2015 16:50:17
I think it was the other way round last year did we not have one of the best away records in the league
04 Mar 2015 16:58:37
The home/away side of things irritates me. Take off your football punditry hats for a minute and just think about it logically.
Both home and away the game is played with a round ball on a flat pitch covered with grass. The goals are the same size, you wear your clubs kit and you have a certain percentage of the fans behind you.
What is the difference of playing home and away? I know fans can make a place hostile, but as a professional you should be able to block this out and get on with your job. Football is football, it's not as complicated as the TV makes it.
04 Mar 2015 17:00:00
Actually its quite the opposite Andy.
LVG's tactics away from home, for me have been far too adventurous. Playing with two strikers and Mata in behind them away from home with a 3 at the back system is always going to backfire in the premier league and leave us having to perform rescue acts with the "lump it up to Fellaini" tactic in the last 10 mins. Away from home you need to slow the game, let the home team attack, win the ball back in defense and counter attack with pace and in numbers.
LVG should have setup defensively away from home, with Rooney playing lone striker with a view to counter attack with the pace of Di Maria and Januzaj from out wide and Mata and Carrick starting off counter attacks with their vision. This would have utilized the width on the counter attack and stretched teams. Instead we got into playing through the center with painfully slow ball possession and two similar strikers, Rooney in midfield and Mata in the whole with little movement and pace in and around him. This also invited pressure on the center backs.
It was always going to fail away from home.
04 Mar 2015 18:05:43
Fresh,
That post is extremely naive, of course there is a difference, why do yoo think almost every team has a better record at home than away every year? It's not just a coincidence.