Our away form and tactics

[Der-Hammer]

it's fine, all these away losses are just building up to a massive win at either Old Trafford or the Emirates..

[Puff Daddy]

Was also Tomkins chance to step up and take the chance he's wanted and make Sam sit up take notice, Did he?..nope

[Hammer83]

Another concern for me is a lack of league goals between our strikers Cole 2 Maiga 2 Carroll 1 that is woeful after 21 games.

[westlondonhammer]

Our away form isn't what is going to keep us in this division...

No team below Swansea have more than 10 points away from home (just 2 more than ours) and none of those teams average at least a point a game... which demonstrates the lack of impact it is having on the table. Only Reading with their shitty 2 points are being pushed down by it.

At the moment, the difference between us and the likes of Wigan and Villa is the extra 5-6 points we have got at home... if we can keep our home form up than that will be what keeps us up and I have no fear of that.

If we can replicate what we have done away from home in the second half of the season and nick another 8-10 points we will be comfortably safe.

Bad performance and result today but the odd off day for a newly promoted team is bound to happen.

[DICAN10]

when you have diarra committing umpteen fouls and unable to pass a ball to feet combined with collison who was very lethargic i thought today then your not going to get anywhere.

our problem is we a so one dimensional its unreal, big sam just changes individuals (the wrong individuals) instead of systems. if he's going to play nolan as a sort of second striker he A) needs a creative midfielder and B) plenty of crosses.

if we aren't doing that then take nolan off and play two strikers up top instead of isolating cole by dropping nolan back deeper.

[Lincolnhammer92]

Considering we've got the same number of points at home as Liverpool and Chelsea, i'm not too worried about away form. If it was as good as our home form we'd be title contenders.

[LeeWHU88]

I wasn't there today, neither did I watch on a stream so can't comment on today but I've seen enough of us this year to know our away form isn't what's going to keep us up this year.

I've seen a few people on Twitter asking why we were so good away last season and pretty poor this, if you know your football you'll know why this is. We will be fine this season, our away form will need working on in coming years if we're to progress as a team but for now, as long as we can pick up points at home, we will be ok.

We haven't really got a great team on paper but I really feel as if, given time, Allardyce can make us into a really good team. You can argue we may have overachieved at the start but that's gave us a bit of a cushion for these kind of results.

Forgive me for rambling and maybe not making sense, I've had a few to drink tonight.

[Yea Why Not]

One big problem for me at the minute is the lack of an out ball. Diame is fantastic at offering this service, you'd think Jarvis would also be decent but he just isn't cutting it at the minute

[the pink palermo]

It's probably because people sit off of us at home, you'll notice our players are useless when they're closed down quickly.

This, 100%. Without a ball carrier in midfield like Diame we can't go from back to front when pressed. Noble has the ability to get out of tight spaces, too, which you could see was clearly an issue for us today.

Absolutely spot on.

Additionally our unwillingness to press the opposition and force the error from them doesn't help , nor does a lack of movement .

Holding your position is one thing, but I was sweating harder in the stands than Diarra was on the pitch yesterday .

Where have all the Noble haters gone ? .

[JBs Caravan]

When you set out your stall 4-5-1 and the players upfront and in midfield are either technically
lacking or have no pace,as soon as the opposition score its going to be a long afternoon
We are reverting to plan B after 30 mins,why not start with it ?

[taffhammer]

Was also Tomkins chance to step up and take the chance he's wanted and make Sam sit up take notice, Did he?..nope

He played as well as any other of our centre halves out there today. Someone mentioned pace , if you sit back away from home and wait for a break you have to do it with pace or it ain't gonna work. We have no pace.

[MarylandHammer]

The midfield was woeful yesterday. A couple of tackles from Collison and Jarvis half hearted you could tell either they were scared of getting injured or just not match fit.
Diarra was clearly not match fit. The distribution in midfield was horrible.
Joe Cole was trying but he couldn't do it all himself and was constantly being pulled back to support the defense.

The defense did ok but not great. I hated the one goal where Sunderland danced past Collins. Potts made some errors but I would still persevere with him. He has the makings of a good defender for the future. Farming him out on loan due to these errors might hurt his confidence.
I'm not a big fan of Demel so I won't say anymore.

There's no doubt our Captain is a great leader. I am so glad we have him but yesterday I felt like his passing was terrible. Carlton needs good service and wasn't getting it. Carlton didn't play great either but when the midfield are on their back heels the whole game he will be isolated. I do not want him to get sold as he has been a great servant for the club. Should he be our starter, no but his physical presence does cause issues sometimes.

We did miss Noble and Diame yesterday. I would like to see a midfield with Joe Cole and Diame, to see how Diame's dominance allows Joe to light up the field.

Was it tactics or form? Maybe both as one drives the other equally at times. When I saw the midfield line up I didn't like it but wasn't aware totally of who was and wasn't injured.
Onwards and upwards I guess.

[The Gibbins]

I think the starting 11 is ok but sometimes we are a bit negative away and dont really counter as well as we should. Its a strange one to put your finger on as we have had some decent results and performances and then some shockers. But the lack of goals says it all as well as lack of chances, its that creativity up top.

Its not a debate i want to bring up, but i still think Nolan is part of our problem as good and influential as he can be, we are very predictable when he is in the line up and we lack creativity. I hope he does not continue to be undroppable when all midfielders return to fitness... If his current form continues that is. I think he has been well below par lately.

[badgers1]

Poor top flight away form is a West Ham tradition with a few exceptions over the years & looks like same old, same old this year despite Sam's rhetoric. Given that 6 of our remaining 9 away trips are to top 10 sides maybe it wouldn't be a surprise if we pick up less points on the road than even under Grant & with substantially less goals scored.

Recent PL away form:
2008/09 Won 5; Drew 7; Lost 7; Points 22; Scored 19; Failed to score in 6/19 games
2009/10 Won 1; Drew 6; Lost 12; Points 9; Scored 17; Failed to score in 8/19 games
2010/11 Won 2; Drew 7; Lost 10; Points 13; Scored 19; Failed to score in 9/19 games
2012/13 Won 2; Drew 2; Lost 6; Points 8; Scored 5; Failed to score in 6/10 games

Good job our home form is pretty good!

[smarthammer]

We’ve not had a settled/full strength back 4 for a while

We’ve not had a settled/full strength midfield for a while

We’ve not had a settled/front 3 for a while

Sam’s plan works when these planets align – so we’ll be fine.

In the meantime?

[_fortunes_]

The sentiment 'fortune favors the brave' sums it up for me and therefore I agree with all posts here about the timid nature of our away form and tactics.

Sadly this 'respect the point' mentality is so ingrained within BFS's modus operandi that he can't, or the players are at a loss when coping with home sides that will almost always have a red hot go for it at home.

I'm not entirely against respecting the point mind you but opposition managers know BFS and what he would at the very least expect to achieve in a match well north of London.

It's somewhat of a paradox because home teams will, as mentioned earlier always fancy their chances against any team outside the top 4. Why we should sit back and allow this is beyond me.

[bubbles1966]

I think it's worth recalling the fact that we started the season playing a high tempo, high up the pitch pressing game on the road. We'd play it for about 25 minutes a game and it worked to an extent, providing we avoided giving away joke goals.

We were competitive for 45 against Swansea but undone by joke goals. We had a cracking start at Norwich and battered QPR.

Our first truly woeful, lethargic performance away was at Wigan. Who played up top that day? Who played out wide?

The same type of performance has recurred regularly when the players who make the pressing game function haven't been there.

We started the season using a successful formula and players that fitted the game plan. We have either lost or dropped those players since the start of October and performances have often reflected it..

Press high, stay tight, score early, don't concede is the plan for 45.

I'm not sure that we've actually lost an away game where we've been level at half time. We haven't secured a single point where we've conceded first.

[fmgod]

Where have we dropped points away from home which people would expect us to get

Swansea - Great home record
Norwich - Got a draw
QPR - Away win
Wigan - Maybe should of done better
West Brom - Very good draw, West Brom are top currently top six and were at the time we played them
Reading - Never beat these
Sunderland - Played to their potential and beat us

We're a newly promoted team, we can't expect to roll teams over.

[szola]

As been mentioned in other threads, most of our players have plenty of Premier League experience.

[Puff Daddy]

Gold tweeted: “Two wins in 10 games and just one point from a possible 15 on our travels is not acceptable.