All the top teams this season have showed better than normal form away from home. Is this a one-season anomaly or due to a change in approach and tactics? Perhaps home advantage is a thing of past? - ie the pressure by home fans to attack at home is a potential weakness that teams have been able to exploit, especially with some real pace in attack. What is the natural progression from here? Home teams being more cagey and conservative in their approach?

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

Answers

Attacking Play a thing of the past at home?

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

Peter - I think this is principally down to the preferred style of flooding m/f away from home and using blinding pace to hit the attacking home team on the break.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

Sometimes 1500 away fans make more noise than 30,000 at home!

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

Interesting, there has been a change in the thinking on European two- legged ties as well.

It used to be that the away goal was a nice bonus if you got it, it seems to have now become a neccesity. Teams going away attack for the goal and the teams at home are petrified of conceding and are more reluctant to use the home 'advantage'. I'm sure years ago the philsophy was to sweep away the visitors in an awesome display of all out attacking.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

The other thing is that the top 4/5 sides are streets better than the rest

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

Both ManU and Arsenal have lost more games at home, than they have on the road, so doesn't fully explain the difference between the top 4/5 teams being the answer. ManU and Liverpool have also scored more goals away from home than at home. What it shows to me is that the top teams have succesfully tailored their game away from home, and punish over ambitious home teams. It might also be that there is a lot more attacking flair in the premiership than there is defensive soundness. We are a case on point, although a vast improvement over former years.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

the top 4/5 sides are streets better than the rest

Good point Macbeth but let's be a bit more specific. Let's just make that the top 4 shall we?

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

...top 3.

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002

21 points between 4th and 7th

-- Anonymous, May 09, 2002