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[+DoofersDad]

There has been a lot of discussion in the past as to why we seem to perform better away from home. I am not going to be rash enough to express an opinion on this but thought it would be interesting to look at whether this seems to be just an ICT problem or whether others are similarly affected.

The fact is that of 36 premier league matches this season, only 12 have been home wins whilst 17 have been away wins. Only Dundee utd and the 2 Saints have better home records than away records - ironically, our two wins coming away against 2 of those teams! The Old Firm have won all their matches home and away but the other 7 teams all have a better away record. Most notable is Motherwell who are 3rd in the league having only secured a single point in 3 home matches.

So this does not seem to be an ICT phenomenom but it might well be a Scottish Premier League one. In all the other 3 Scottish Divisions and the top 4 leagues in England, there are substantially more home wins than away wins. The closest to the Scottish Premier League pattern is Scottish division 3 where there have been 17 home wins against 11 away. In all other divisions there are at least 50% more home wins than away wins.

It is still early in the season but it does seem that the generally recognised advantage of playing at home is borne out by the pattern of results everywhere except in the SPL. It will be interesting to see if this trend continues and, if it does, if someone can come up with a good explanation.

[TopSix]

Theres a thread like this on p&b. Worth a read

[Bridge_Ender]

For at least half the SPL, the focus is on not being relegated. That encourages negative football as clubs have the mentality of not losing rather than trying to win. For all games the pressure is on the home side to come out and attack, which makes it easier for the away team to sit in patiently and counter attack when the opportunity arises.

The stakes are too high for the clubs outside the top 4 or 5 which doesn't help the quality of football. Its all about incentives and with the levelling of the playing field combined with the strength of the Old Firm over the last few years, survival has become the only target. A larger league would help ease that pressure, I think anyway.