TWTD columnist and Message Board regular The Pwnz0rer tries to work out what's behind the away form.

There has been much grinding of teeth, derisive howling and outright flouncing in respect of the now fabled “away record”.

Many folk assert that Jim must “sort it out” and that the failure to do so is unforgivable and even puts his job at risk. That view is absurd. Had our points been split more evenly between away and home form this season, those same people would be content with the points return overall and with our position. They would be looking forward to pushing on in the new year, with the help of Mr Evans's pennies.

Nevertheless, the away record is clearly a subject deserving of some proper analysis. Why is there such a discrepancy between home and away form?

The Papering The Cracks Argument

Some say that the reason is that we are just not very good. The home form is covering up the cracks. That argument is rather hard to follow. Given that many of our home victories have been resounding and the football often stylish, there is at least as much evidence to suggest that the away form is disguising just what a fantastic team we are.

Clearly, we are not a bad side. A bad side does not achieve the results we have had at home. The answer lies elsewhere.

Chance

It would be silly, statistically, to suggest that so many failures to win away could be put purely down to chance. Bad luck and chance could lead to four or five failures on the trot away from home. A freak run of seven or eight is just about possible. But the position we now face must surely be down to something more.

I would argue nevertheless that chance has been a significant contributing factor. Our early season away games included a reasonable performance (and defeat) against a Watford side who were at that time the strongest side in the division, a draw against Burnley which we plainly ought to have won but for some myopic refereeing, a highly credible performance against an excellent West Brom side and so on.

One point is really all that anyone should have expected from those particular three games. However, they were part of what became the start of a long worrying run and, regrettably, certain parties in the media and in the stands spotted and highlighted a developing pattern of away failures long before it could be put down to anything but chance and good opponents. Which leads us to...

The Psychological Aspect

I have no doubt at all that much of the problem as it currently stands is psychological. The players were being told from a very early stage that there was a problem with their away form, even when there was probably no significant issue at all. They were under pressure to get three points and with every last gasp failure or valiant effort against a good side, that pressure built and the nervousness grew.

So often defensive errors stem from indecisiveness, born of a lack of confidence or over-caution. This quickly spreads throughout a team and the current away side looks so different to the one we see at home, that this is plainly a massive factor.

The players are castigated for not trying, not putting in enough effort and for generally not being good enough. In fact these perceptions are all symptoms of a side which has disappeared within its shell and is increasingly wary about playing a natural game away from home. When you have been told for four months of a season that you can't defend and can't win games away from home, the way in which you play the game changes.

Imagine that you (as a midfielder) receive the ball, in space but with your back to goal in the centre circle. What are you likely to do? Take a chance, turn, run and look up for a team-mate in space? Or play safe, back to a defender who (in fact) is less able to move things forward than you are?

Imagine yourself in a good attacking position. Are you likely to be patient or to look for the near impossible killer ball (or perhaps an easy ‘out' ball to a big centre forward like Lee) in the hope that the team will get the needed magical goal to break the hoodoo?

Nervous and wary players take safe options and play percentages. They abdicate responsibility to their team mates. They get pushed back and dominated by an opposition that has more confidence.

If we were seeing a similar apparent lack of determination at home, we might be able to conclude that the players are simply not properly motivated or ‘up for it'. The fact that we do not see that at home strongly suggests that some fans are misreading the symptoms as a lack of fight, when the reality is very different.

Personnel

The tinkering and changes in personnel have probably not helped at times, but I cannot see that this could be the root of the problem.

There is an argument though that the type of players we have are, to some extent, better in a home environment. Why might that be?

It seems to me that we are in the process of creating a team of good footballers, who are comfortable with the ball at their feet and who want to create. Players like Walters, Garvan, Legwinski and Couñago all thrive on good possession in the final third.

Inevitably in away games, there is less possession in the final third and these players can therefore be less influential. None of these are classic away game players - who are able to streak through on goal from a crowded midfield and hurt teams on the break.

Haynes is perhaps the exception, but has not often been given the chance through the middle to do this type of job. In any event, I'd hate to see a side which went out defensively in the hope of squeezing a through ball to Haynes at some stage.

Couñago is, as ever, the subject of much debate in respect of the away record. Undoubtedly he has had some very quiet games away from home this year, but notably so have the rest of the side.

It is hardly surprising that a forward who thrives on good possession fails to impress when he is deprived of that service by a team playing with fear. His hold up play is potentially crucial to breaking the away duck and getting the team moving in the right direction, but we are not going to see much of it unless or until we are able to retain good possession more effectively, as we did in away games in the early part of the season.

Notably, when the team has played well away from home, so has Pablo. The idea that he is a ‘home only' player is a rather silly myth for which Mr Royle must take some responsibility.

Another factor, in my view, has been Gavin Williams. I consider that Jim has made a serious error in trying to rush him back into the side without any of the match sharpness needed to really perform. He needs games, but not at the expense of the team in the meantime.

Whilst he plainly has talent, he has much to prove and, for the meantime at least, should be seeking some form in the reserves and leaving the left-sided berth for Billy Clarke who, whilst not perfect, has been heavily involved in many of our better performances this season.

The Answer?

Frankly, I have no idea.

There is much in the theory that a freaky win, with the ball bouncing into the net off Billy Clarke's scrotum for a last minute winner, might go a long way towards changing things.

It must also be the case that a little more pace and agility at the back would make us more resilient to set pieces and periods of pressure. We currently have a one-paced backline which, under pressure from quick powerful forwards, lacks some key attributes.

Alan Lee is plainly having a dull patch also but we have little in the way of alternatives up front to take on that target role; a role which is all the more important in away games where we have less possession to feet.

It is to be hoped that some careful dealings in January might tip the balance in our favour to get that freaky win, and that the points will start rolling in both home and away thereafter.

Photo: Action Images

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