Our home form this season has been pretty naff for a Premiership side although we have taken more points at home as opposed to away from Fratton Park (22 with the possibility of three more as opposed to 16 on the road). However we have won equal games both home and away but it is the performances in these victories that contrast so much from each other. I know it sounds like a stupid claim to make but I believe this season we have genuinely performed better away from home this season than at home, especially in the later stages of the campaign. Here is the evidence to back up these claims:
Pompey Home Victories
West Brom (1-0)
Fulham (1-0)
Man City (2-1)
Middlesbrough (1-0)
Sunderland (2-1)
None of those victories were convincing by any stretch of the imagination. West Brom and Fulham had "relegation scrap" written all over them. We all know about the Man City game and that last gasp winner from Mendes was cutting it very very fine indeed. Middlesbrough was an extremely tense game and we could have easily lost to Sunderland so say no more about that one. On top of that there have been so many dire performances at home this season. Tottenham coasting to a win on the opening day would be a sign of things to come and failure to beat ten man Villa and Birmingham stick out as two games we should have done far better in. The less said about Wigans visit the better, Chelsea coasted their match against us and United had their three points against us wrapped up at half time. Then you have the likes of Bolton, West Ham, Charlton, Everton and Blackburn; all sides a lot of Pompey fans would have expected to beat at home but all of those walked away from the south coast with at least a point. At least there will be no pressure to beat Liverpool on Sunday.
Now if you look at our away victories...
Pompey Away Victories
Everton (1-0)
Sunderland (4-1)
West Ham (4-2)
Fulham (3-1)
Wigan (2-1)
I'll admit that I never saw the Everton game but talking to Pompey and Everton fans about that game the majority said the same thing. We should have won by more, we were that dominant in a game where Everton showed nothing for the majority of it and it was a well deserved win. Sunderland away was one I did watch however and to come back from 1-0 down at half time and win 4-1 was a great achievement including scoring what may be the goal of the season during that game without players like Robert and Lua Lua in the side too.
We had won the West Ham game by half time, playing some excellent stuff on the way as well as Pedro Mendes scoring another scorcher. A two goal winning margin didn't do us justice I feel as Pompey romped that game. To win 3-1 at Craven Cottage, the venue that Chelsea lost at in the previous game was also a remarkable achievement with great away support too. I don't feel I need to say much about the Wigan game other than we played well enough to win, mainly in the second half when we could have ran away with it.
There were plenty of decent performances on the road too. Losing at Charlton was the ultimate injustice, we got a good point at Middlesbrough and should and no doubt would have taken something from West Brom and Man City at the start of the season if it wasn't for Westerveld blunders and we might even have had a point at Tottenham if it wasn't for a ridiculous handball decision. Obviously there were dire performances away from home too like Villa and Birmingham but then you don't expect anything from places like Anfield, Old Trafford, Highbury or Stamford Bridge either so on the whole the stats might state otherwise but I genuinely believe that we have performed better away from home than at home.
So why do I believe this?
Firstly I think that at the start of the season the dodgy formations played by Perrin (Remember the 3-3-3-1?) did not suit our natural game that had served us so well in the previous seasons at Fratton Park and we should have attempted to take the game to the opposition more often without being too over-elaborate when the whole team seemed to be shot shy at the start of the season. Obviously bad results had put a huge amount of pressure on the remaining home fixtures in 2006 so when Pompey did grace Fratton Park with all of the home support expectant of a win it will put more pressure on the players, making them more nervous therefore more liable to make a mistake.
Then there's the expectation factor. Our record at Fratton Park in previous seasons has given the ground that Fortress status and now there is an expectancy to beat the likes of Fulham, Charlton, Villa etc at home so whenever we don't beat them it psychologically is a bigger disappointment than if we were not to take all three points on their patch because in the Premiership we have been notoriously bad away from home having chalked up a measly four away wins out of 38 games before this season began. Therefore when we do win away from home the feeling would feel much better than a bread and butter home victory that most people expect.
So there you have it. My take on why I believe we've better away from home this season than on home soil. I might change my mind if we put eight past Liverpool on Sunday mind you..