Improving the away form

[Champagneblade]

Allow mea slight departure from reality for a moment:

We are in a cup knockout phase not so dissimilar to our previous Cup campaigns. We need to come through 6 ties victorious to get to the finals.

That is the best way to retain some interest. It is a 6 game season where a single defeat means we are out.

After wins vs Oldham, Crewe and Walsall and a goal difference of +6, it would not be unreasonable to suggest we are more confident at home under the current formation and personnel. Both Basham and Done were able to get forward well and the one time we did switch off against Crewe we got away with it.

This at least stands us in good stead for Gillingham, who we owe a bloody nose to, Barnsley and Scunny.

What worries me most is away from home. Chesterfield are hit and miss, Shrewsbury have also had a period of struggle and whilst Coventry are similarly placed to ourselves, their form is dire.

But we had optimism to a point before, going to Southend and Milwall and returned with nowt. What do you feel needs to change away from home? We conceded a few on the right for a while due to Brayford's patchy form. Will Bashan now shore this up? On the left Done's running adds to our attacking prowess but he can be found wanting defensively.

Any thoughts to maximise our hopes of getting the maximum out of the away games?

 

[Deleted member 1486]

I need a button that posts "stop selling our best players every year", because it answers every thread on here. It's not rocket science, you sell your best player every year and you end up with mediocre dross (like we have now).

You'd think after nearly 20 years McCabe would have figured this out, but let me explain it one more time:

Sell best players = losing team
Keep best players + add to them with some quality = winning team.

 

[UnitedBlade]

Allow mea slight departure from reality for a moment:

We are in a cup knockout phase not so dissimilar to our previous Cup campaigns. We need to come through 6 ties victorious to get to the finals.

That is the best way to retain some interest. It is a 6 game season where a single defeat means we are out.

After wins vs Oldham, Crewe and Walsall and a goal difference of +6, it would not be unreasonable to suggest we are more confident at home under the current formation and personnel. Both Basham and Done were able to get forward well and the one time we did switch off against Crewe we got away with it.

This at least stands us in good stead for Gillingham, who we owe a bloody nose to, Barnsley and Scunny.

What worries me most is away from home. Chesterfield are hit and miss, Shrewsbury have also had a period of struggle and whilst Coventry are similarly placed to ourselves, their form is dire.

But we had optimism to a point before, going to Southend and Milwall and returned with nowt. What do you feel needs to change away from home? We conceded a few on the right for a while due to Brayford's patchy form. Will Bashan now shore this up? On the left Done's running adds to our attacking prowess but he can be found wanting defensively.

Any thoughts to maximise our hopes of getting the maximum out of the away games?

I'm not that well qualified on United away this season as I've only been to 2 away games. Unbeaten though: Barnsley and Scunthorpe.

What has marked this season for me is the inability to get to a winning position if we go behind.

So, I would advocate an early onslaught and try and get ahead. Keep firing in crosses from the start. We then need leaders to ensure we don't concede. Unfortunately, this characteristic has been missing. But I'd rather we went down heroically with a fight. I can't see 6 wins in a row given our inability to put together back to back wins but I'd be disappointed if they didn't go for it, starting Saturday.

By the way Shrewsbury will be no pushover, they've only lost one of their last 10 league games.

 

[Gavlar]

We looked v poor v Southend away, although we missed some sitters at v important times. For me our defence is our biggest problem, we get carved open. We also seem to let in lots of goals from outside the box which baffles me compared to how many we score. We have to be tighter away from home, even more boring and defensive if it helps the results. 4-5-1 for the first half may help this then a bit more attacking after the break.