By Richard Lee - 25/11/2008

Home and Away

I was looking at the league tables in the newspaper the other day and it never ceases to surprise me just how much better most teams' home form is over their away form, although it's not quite so noticeable in the Football League as it is in the Premiership.

I mean, after all, we're talking about 11 men versus 11 men on what are pretty similarly-sized pitches under similar conditions - but there are other factors that I think influence the imbalance.

Playing at home, you're just more comfortable on a pitch and within surroundings you know well. Then there's the fans, always likely to be in far greater numbers than those who've come to follow the opposition. Psychologically, good fans cheering on their team really make a difference.

It can have a negative effect, of course, if their side isn't performing and they're getting a bit agitated.
The size of the pitch, when you take it to extremes, can be a factor too. Arsenal were famous for their tiny Highbury playing surface and it's probably no coincidence that they felt they could play the off-side trap under George Graham with such confidence.

I mentioned the Football League being slightly more balanced in terms of results and I think that's borne out in the Championship. The more successful sides are prepared to risk more in attacking both at home and away. Draws just don't cut it these days; with a win worth three points, two wins and a defeat is better than three draws.

Even if those three draws are considered very good results in isolation, by winning around 30 games in a season, you're almost inevitably going to get promoted.

Setting out for a draw invites pressure so having a more attacking mindset, especially in the Championship, is the right way to approach matches.

Players are used to switching between approaches, home and away, it's very traditional to be a bit less expansive away from your own patch. But Wolves, for example - like we did in 05/06 - are proving that there are greater rewards for clubs who're prepared to commit forwards in all of their matches.

Of course there's greater expectancy among fans to get forward at home, driven by the supporters who quite rightly want to ensure themselves of an entertaining game. It takes a very patient - and actually quite unusual - set of fans to be able sit through a cagey match where their home side doesn't commit too much going forward.

The Premiership, the way it is now, fans of smaller or middling clubs would understand this approach but, this season, we've seen Hull buck the trend with a really quite attacking approach - away from home in particular. I think they simply surprised Arsenal at The Emirates. Of course they had to weather the storm for a while but, by being positive, it gave them some sort of platform to get at Arsenal's defence.

There's less pressure away from home, of course. But there's the pressure you put on yourself as a professional to perform to the highest standards possible at all times.