Home and Away

[Dave]

No not the Australian soap opera, the difference between our results home and away, so far at home the team has played Burton, Crawley, Cheltenham and Rotherham failing behind in all these match’s, recovering to draw three of these games, the only game so far that the team has taken the lead in at home to Macclesfield they went on to win giving us a total of 6 points from 5 home games.

Yet away from home completely the opposite, falling behind only to Dagenham picking another point, taking the lead at both Rovers and Aldershot going on to win both of those, not forgetting the 0.0 at Northampton giving us a total 8points from just 4 match’s.

So why are there dramatic differences between our erratic home results and fantastic away results?

It is quite often the case at grounds up and down country for fan’s to get on the backs of there team after a run of indifferent home performances with booing, jeers and often abuse of an individual player and we have seen plenty of that over the last four seasons at plainmoor, coupled with endless cry’s of sort it out Buckle.

Yet this season I think us Torquay fan’s as a group have totally understood it was going to be a difficult season, and so far I think as a fan’s group we have more patient and tolerant and more supportive of our team then I have heard or seen in a very long time, so I really do not think it is down to the player’s either feeling the pressure or not enjoying playing there football at home.

Or could it be down to luck of how the early fixtures have fallen? So far at home three of the team’s sit in the top 5 places, and Cheltenham in 13th are just a point behind, yet the teams we have played away only Aldershot are in the right half of the table, with the rest 16th place and below.

Don’t get me wrong despite the range of emotions I have gone through from frustration at falling behind so many times, which I think is down to defenders, defending as individuals rather than a collective unit, to sheer delight at the fighting spirit the team have shown to claw there way back into these games, I am still delighted with the way Lingy and Taylor have led the team, and the points total so far which is way above where I thought we would be right now.

So what are your thoughts as to the difference between our home and away form?

[Plymouth Gull]

I don't know, but I have found it interesting to note that of the four home games, they have been against teams all who have started off well;

Burton (4th), Crawley (3rd), Rotherham (2nd), Cheltenham (were 6th but now 13th), then Macc who sit 17th. On the flip side, our away fixtures;

Rovers (16th), Aldershot (11th), Daggers (19th) and Northampton (20th).

Those sides are all also in a transitional period, and we seem to have settled into ours a bit quicker.

On the other hand, this could just be a totally pointless post...

[Dave]

Pointless post Nick, an attempt at humour there ? Not at all Nick i did this in the hope that people would express there opinions whatever they think.

One thing i did miss from the o/p is notice how the team has only taken the lead in three games, and those are the only three games we have won.

[Colorado Gull]

Maybe our fantastic away support has something to do with it? I think everyone knows that our vocal support at away games is much louder than it is at home, so maybe that urges the players on more? Ling usually says something about our support after a game away and so do most of the players on twitter, so that might be a reason why our away form is better than our home.

Just a thought

[Plymouth Gull]

I meant mine was pointless, incase you thought I meant yours, Dave! I was just rambling on, to be honest, but I do feel that our home games have been against the better sides in the division, apart from Macclesfield, whom we disposed of fairly comfortably once we broke them down.

I guess it's just difficult because you can't start off too defensively at Plainmoor as fans expect attacking football. Add that to the fact that the teams we have played have been fairly clinical (from the games I've seen - Burton, Cheltnum, and I heard Crawley & Rovrum took their chances well) and we've found ourselves chasing a game all of a sudden. Away from home, we can set up differently - more to contain the opposition then go to break them down, or start explosively to surprise them, before they can even settle.

[Dave]

I meant mine was pointless, incase you thought I meant yours, Dave! I was just rambling on, to be honest.

Yes i know mate, my response was your post was not poinless as i was hoping that peole would post there opinions no matter what they are, also thought it might have been an attempt at humour by you as thread was about how many points we had picked home and away, see?

[Dave]

Agree Danny, our away support is fantastic, however getting a decent atmosphere going at home is allways going to be a problem, highlited for me once again Saturday, i was stood by the half way line, my lad by the away end he said to me after the game the Torquay fans dowm by the away end were really loud did you hear them ?My answer was no, did not hear a thing, as we know the sound does not carry from the popside.

Maybe with work apparently going to start soon on Bristows bench, it is time for another give the home fans part of the current away end campaign, i am sure the club will listen.

[Plymouth Gull]

Ah, got you! Unfortunately there wasn't any intentional humour there, but now you point it out, seems I've missed a trick :P

[royalgull]

The support thing makes not one iota of difference. I'd wager we setup slightly different, play more open and offensive at home as is the home teams expectation to do so. Away we have more focus on defending first and then trying to hit them on the counter attack. We've conceeded goals galore at home but away teams have found it hard to score against us i'd say down to us not having to bomb forward when we play away.

Not even sure if it's the sides played, yes Macc apart those are some strong sides in League 2 we've played at home but equally if not more so I'd say the sides we've played away are better or have more expectation to beat Torquay at home than the ones that have turned up at Plainmoor.

We need to find a bit mroe of a balance, it's great scoring 2 or 3 goals at home but that needs to be enough to win a game.

[Southampton Gull]

I disagree with the support having no impact, players love nothing more than to hear fans getting behind them, Branston himself said that the support at Shrewsbury last season spurred them on to get the result needed but I also think the team is set out differently and with less expectation on open attacking football demanded by home fans.