Playing Away

I spent many years exiled from Prenton Park, more often than not I would see us get beat. Occasionally though we would win. Cracking victories at places like Brentford, Carlisle, QPR, Orient, the list was endless. This season we are almost at the halfway point and those that follow Tranmere on the road have not seen us secure a League victory. What is the cause of this problem?

The first thing we have to acknowledge is that we haven't been playing that brilliantly at home. Recently we have seen wins against Gillingham, Newport and Forest Green,  but these victories have been a long time coming. This team, therefore, know how to win. We even came from behind in our last home match, so we can overcome adversity and apply ourselves. Yet our away form this season has been consistently rubbish and poor. That's an an acronym that Nigel can use. CRAP. There have been flashes of improvement, draws against Sutton and Mansfield, but a win? Nope.

The basic principles of the game don't change away from home. There is a pitch, 11 opposing players, a group of hostile supporters and a smaller group of less hostile home supporters. The objective is still the same, to put the ball in the net more often than the oppo. Yet Rovers seem unable to get their heads around this. It's almost as if when they get off the coach at the away ground the confidence and faith, in each other, goes out the window.

Negative crowd energy can also be used as a motivator. There is the chance to silence the home fans and get them on the backs of their own team. It might be, but I doubt it, that our players just don't believe they have the ability to win anywhere other than Prenton Park. The ability to convince yourself that only bad things happen to you plays a powerful part in negative psychology. It's not as if our recent defeat against Walsall was at the hands of a particularly high flying team. They are inconsistent whereas we are not, we consistently can't win away. That must give our opponents much more confidence at kick off. 

Over Christmas we have two away games against teams we are close to in the table, Salford and Harrogate. Both are teams with inconsistent form, both offer the opportunity to bag three points. We need 8-10 wins to secure our League status. We have 12 home games left. It is extremely unlikely that we will win all our remaining home fixtures. At this time of the year talk starts to turn to the January transfer window, yet that window may not provide the answer to our problem. If the team culture has become so fearful of travelling it's likely we will remain in deep trouble for the rest of the season. 

There's little doubt that performances have improved, but we need to start winning home and away. Otherwise the rest of the season will see us languish at the wrong end of the table, and the threat of relegation will be a real possibility.