Away form

1-0 win at Pittodrie
0-0 draw in Zagreb
Cup win on pens at Hampden (3-3 after 90 mins) if that counts
0-0 draw at Tannadice
3-0 loss at Ibrox
4-1 win at Dingwall
3-3 draw at Dens Park
4-2 loss at Villa
3-1 win at Motherwell
1-1 draw at Bayern
2-1 defeat at Easter Road

That's since the start of December. We need to buck our ideas up on the road.

Obviously the CL games are a lot harder but domestically we should be looking to improve on that.

 

Even setting aside the CL results (we should've buried Zagreb btw), that is still a pretty disappointing run. Even with the League Cup game at 'neutral' Hampden, that's not that great.

• 11 points picked up on the road in the last 7 'Away' League games (W3 D2 L2).
• 10 goals conceded in that run of League 'Away' games.
  
• By contrast, have not conceded a single League goal at 'Home' since mid-Oct. That is 9 straight 'Home' CS.

Obviously things do need to be taken into consideration. The travel required is one thing and the hectic nature of the fixture schedule over that period also meaning there has been so little time off between games is also a factor. But other teams have to contend with this also and there has to be better than to not keep a single 'Away' clean sheet since before Christmas!

Oh, and yeah, we know Sevco are bang average and we shouldn't be using them as a measuring stick, but they have picked up 12 points from their last 7 'Away' games in the League (W3 D3 L1).

 

During that period too, we had an unsettled Kyogo and many of us said the system wasn't creating enough chances. Hectic schedule obviously plays into it a lot, but we need to be looking to dominate on the road too.

 

True, and obviously BR has been implementing a lot of squad rotation during this period as well that has to be taken into account, so there are various factors that do deserve consideration and a degree of understanding, however it is still a cause for concern, and had the Hoops not have such a significant points gap at the top of the League ladder, ni doubt more noise would be getting made about all of this.

 

I do think the scheduling of those games has caused us issues and a few of those games were played in horrific conditions, like Aberdeen away.

Even when we were going good it was pointed out the team is overall reliant on one or two players to create for us.

I think fatigue and coming up against fresher opponents has also played a hand in some of the games too. One thing about today is it should be a wake up call for the cup quarter final coming up and we have a point to prove.

Lastly I feel like our decision making in the final third is really letting us down of late. Despite scoring a lot of goals we waste a lot of good chances and when we get dragged into a competitive game it costs us. Today there were three Johnston shot near post, a simple cushion back pass to Idah he has a tap in, Idah has to square the one on the left handside of the box should have been square to Kuhn and the Jota one if you are taking the shot on there you better finish it and he didn’t. I don’t know why he didn’t just pick a corner and slot that away it was a terrible miss.

 

I think there's a bit of tiredness that's been creeping in since Christmas tbh.

Almost all of our entire team have played a mental amount of games this season. I think needing to bring on guys like Yang and Kenny as our backups up front doesn't help.

Today was a blip after a monumental effort midweek, huns was a poor result albeit I think there was a bug in the squad. Dundee and Zagreb were poor results in general, and the United game was just pure anti football from them.

I do agree with the point @Callum McGregor makes though, but I just think it comes down to fatigue.

 

Ok, I'm not attacking what you're saying, but I disagree with it personally, as I think there's a good bit of manipulation of the data in your interpretation.

You can't discount that we've actually played 22 games (I think!) in that period; 8 of which were European/cup games. That's a * of a lot of matches, essentially a match every 3 or 4 days for 3 months solidly.

Also, if you had included the previous 4 away league matches they were all wins (11 league - W7,D2,L2 rings different). Why start at Aberdeen? Not knocking, just wondering...

Circumstances: the 2 draws come when the matches were both away up in Dundee, one after the Huns in the cup semi and other 3 days after a trip up to Ross and 4 days before the Scottish Cup against Killie. The defeats were the Huns and Hibs yesterday, which we both understand the circumstances of...

We need to be sure we're not overreacting to our disappointments. This has been a really good season for us, and we need to remember the positives of it more than the negatives. The data isn't wrong, and we need to keep an eye on it, but for me it's just a sign of how manic our typical season is... We can't win them all, when we're playing about 70-80 matches a year...

 

The new hectic schedule and no 3 week winter break has really hurt our players this year imo. They'll adapt, but it shows the difference from a small break and not.

 

It’s an awful run of form. 2 wins from 6 away games in the league shouldn’t be happening.

Thankfully the huns are abysmal and we’ve got away with it.

 

Personally think if the title race was closer you would've seen us edge out some of those games. Doubt we would've dropped points at both Dens and Easter Road for example.

Natural to take the foot off the gas a touch given the schedule plus the points gap. As frustrating as that can be for supporters.

 

Easter Road is always a tough away day, especially under Brendan Rodgers. Obviously, before yesterday we had won on the 2 previous visits there, but including his previous stint as manager, BR's record at Easter Road tells a story...

P7 W2 D2 L3

 

I wouldn't say there's any manipulation of the data, it's just the results as they happened. I think our squad depth and quality should have ensured at least another couple of wins (domestically) in that run.

I went from the beginning of December because it's the winter period and anything further back seems too far back to include in relatively recent form.

 

No winter break hasn't helped us...

We've had incredibly intense Champions League ties as well..

The squad quality is light..

But, in general 2 defeats and 2 draws isn't bad away form over the season. All teams were on form when we played them too

 

Not great but equally nothing to be overly concerned about. As has been mentioned the hectic schedule and no winter break are big factors, also circumstances of the individual games need to be considered.

I always try to keep in mind the fact that at the start of the season, it's widely accepted that there will be spells throughout the season where form will dip, and that there will be dropped points along the way.

A few of the domestic games listed in the OP we've been nowhere near good enough (huns away being the main one) but we've always bounced back strongly. So I consciously try not to get too emotional about it.

That said, would definitely be looking to improve on it, and I think we will.

 

Oh definitely. At this point it is nothing to get in too much of a twist about, and obviously these all do have to be minded in context. All of the points made all contribute; the hectic schedule, the additional CL matches (and travel), no winter break, rotating the squad means some inconsistent performances, but it has also helped minimize the potential for injuries and drain if trying to play the same starting XI for every match etc.

All of it has it's part in this.

But there is a trend there, and it matters to be at least mindful of. It would be more of a concern if it were happening at less busy times of the season when games are just weekend to weekend, for instance, but in and of itself, it's all part of the realities and pressures of our season and Scottish Football, as it stands.

 

If it continues into the season when we get more rest between games then it'll be a concern. For now, the relentless schedule of the games was clearly going to lead to dropped points and I'd be more concerned if performances were flat and frustrating but ultimately the opponents made us work for it and we didn't have enough in those games. Doesn't apply to the Hun game, which was a bit of a freak result.

 

The exact response we wanted. Hope we keep it up.

 

And we didn't keep it up. It's becoming a concern again.

We're also creating a bad habit of conceding early.