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Watched Manchester United vs Chelsea game, Chelsea at home. Of cos, Manchester United lost 2-1, giving Chelsea a lifeline for the premiership title. From the image on the right, you would know i am a Manchester United fan. That, however is not my point today.

Throughout most of the games i have watched, i noticed a perhaps not too surprising trend.

Home Teams usually perform better!

I noticed that, excluding the lower ranked teams, teams usually perform much better at home. Lets look at some of the statistics of the top teams in 2007/2008 English Premier League season thus far.

Arsenal

Chelsea

Manchester United

Liverpool

Source: www.soccernet.espn.go.com

It should be a clear conclusion that the top teams usually perform better at home. This statistic is mirrored in other leagues, like the NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball, etc.

You may now ask, whats my point of raising this?

Why do away teams not perform as well as when they are at home?

I want to explore why teams perform better at home, and particularly why do away teams not perform as well as when they are at home.

You see, i am a strong advocate of personal development and self help books. And i am particularly interested in sports motivation.

I am particularly perturbed by the fact that excellent teams can become a pale shadow of themselves when they play away, especially at teams with strong home records. Why would a excellent team be playing any way different from what they usually play?

Its all in the mind

I feel the key lies in the mindset. Why is that players can play well when they are at home, and yet when they are in other teams’ stadium, they can’t play as well? Aren’t they the same players, playing a soccer game, with the premier league title or champions league title on their mind? So why do we see such a disparity in the performance of teams playing home and away?

Best Teams Play Well Regardless Where They Play

What are you thinking about when you play in the game? What are you thinking about when there are tens of thousands of opposing fans jeering you? Are you affected by it?

All teams have to play at home and away, and at the end of the day, the team with the most points win. If every team plays well at home, the team with the title would be the one who plays well away most of the time as well.

Yes. The home team fans support can be daunting. Every touch you make could be jeered, booed upon, something that Cristiano Ronaldo has been routinely subjected to.

Great Players focus on the game and block out any outside influence

Every great player i have seen, have been through the worst fans treatment, and yet come out victors. My favorite athlete of all time, Michael Jordan is one such person. Cristiano Ronaldo, also have to shut out the England fans, after the 2006 European Championships when he got Wayne Rooney sent out for a innocuous tackle. These two athletes, best epitomized the quality of shutting out outside influence. If anything, they only got more motivated.

The Best Team Do Not Need Superstars

Soccer is a team sports, as with basketball, baseball, etc. One player who is strong mentally do not make or break the team. The best team do not need superstars. You need a team of players who are strong mentally. Jose Mourinho, has proven that point by winning the Champions League with Porto, without any superstars, back in 2004.

To win championships, players need to condition themselves to block out any outside influence and focus on the game. Your actions determine the outcome, and your actions are affected by how you think. As long as you focus on the game, your every action is towards winning the game for your team, and everyone is doing that, and assuming the tactical formations are not ridiculously wrong, the game will be yours for the taking.