Pellegrini must find a cure to Manchester City's travel sickness

Pellegrini

At times, there is nothing stranger than the truth. On the surface, with the amount of money Manchester City have spent, they should be head and shoulders above the rest of the league. But, as it stands, they are languishing near the the bottom end of the top ten. One of the main reasons for that, has been their indifferent away form. At the Etihad stadium, Manchester City have been simply irresistible. Not only have they won all five of their home games, they have also scored 20 goals in the process, letting in just two.

Away from home, it is a different story altogether. They have managed just a solitary win from their travels so far this season and have already lost four times, and were lucky to scrape a draw in the game against Stoke City. Whilst it is true that most teams perform better at home than away, the disparity between City’s home and away results are staggering to say the least. Whilst it is easy to say that they find it difficult away from home, without their home support and are suffering from travel sickness, what cannot be explained is how a team can beat Norwich City 7-0 at home one weekend and follow that up with a 1-0 loss to a side that is below Norwich in the league.

The kind of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde performances that City have put in so far this season continues to amaze fans and pundits alike. A lot of people have gone into a lot of detail as to just why City fare so badly on their travels. One possible explanation is that City are used to playing on a bigger pitch and as a few players have pointed out recently, that can definitely have affect on how a team plays. The Etihad stadium has the biggest pitch in the Premier League and whilst that means that they can play around the park, that certainly cannot be the only reason why City have so far failed miserably on their travels?

When you look at the statistics of their home and away games, they actually enjoy more possession away from home , than at home (62.4% away and 57.1% home), but enjoy similar passing percentages and create the same amount of chances as they do at home. The major difference is in their finishing. Whilst they have converted 22.5% of their chance at the Etihad, they have only converted 7.8% of their shots away from home. Against Sunderland last weekend, although City had 63% possession, they didn’t create too many clear cut chances and that meant their strikers had to resort to pot-shots from distance.

What doesn’t help matters also, is the fact that the defense isn’t rock solid and in the absence of Kompany, they have made too many errors. Joe Hart hasn’t had the best of starts to the season and has been at fault for several blunders away from home, apart from his high profile one at Stamford Bridge which cost City two precious points. In front of him, the absence of Kompany has meant that Javi García has had to step in and play as a center half. On the evidence of his performances so far, it is safe to say that the Spaniard doesn’t enjoy playing there. Against Sunderland on Sunday, it was James Milner and Martin Demichelis who were responsible for Phil Bardsley’s goal.

Whether it is defensive mistakes, profligacy in front of goal or a failure to adapt to smaller pitches, Manchester City have struggled so far on the road and that has to change if they are serious about winning the league. Only two teams have won the League after losing five away games and City have already lost four, so they have some catching up to do, if Pellegrini is serious about finishing the season with his first title in England.