Speaking of dissertations, you could write one on Pompey's away form this season. It's a complete mystery that a team who perform very well at home, can't reproduce the same form away from Fratton Park. But why is this?
Our away record this season reads 3 wins, 7 draws and 9 defeats. Those 3 wins were against Charlton (Relegated), West Ham (Could be relegated) and Middlesbrough (We're their bogey team) so it's not the most impressive record for a team aiming to qualify for Europe, is it?
Perhaps it's something to do with the journeys? 6 of those 9 defeats have come in the North with the other 3 coming at the cursed White Hart Lane, Chelsea (who speak for themselves) and err... Watford. Trips to anywhere above the Midlands have seen some of our most dire performances of the season, so although the suggestion seems ridiculous, maybe travelling from the South has an effect on how the team prepares for a match mentally.
"The fans were the 12th man today" is a cliche used far too often in football and many people believe that the theory of "fan power" is a load of rubbish. Whilst this may be true, the fans might play their part but as more of a de-motivator to the players. If the team aren't playing well, the fans will soon let them know about it and perhaps that reason alone is why the players perform better at home, because they fear the abuse they will receive from the crowd.
At away games this fear isn't there because the Pompey support isn't so great, with the numbers of travelling fans dwindling when the journey gets longer. I hate to say it, but some of our worst performances this season have been filled with complacency at places like Wigan and Newcastle where the away support hasn't been massive. With no fans to give the proverbial "kick up the arse" to the players, it may be a reason why we have underperformed further afield this season and would be a possible explanation to the theory suggesting that the further north we go, the worse we get.
Those of you who are superstitious might think that the evil "Black Kit" is putting a hoodoo on our away performances. As much as I like the kit, we haven't produced a single decent performance in it all season. Below is a list of the games we have played in the not-so-famous Black & Gold kit and the results we got from them:
Blackburn: Lost 3-0
Everton: Lost 3-0
Reading: Drew 0-0
Tottenham: Lost 2-1
Watford: Lost 4-2
Wigan: Lost 1-0
Awful, I'm sure you'll agree. Perhaps we should go back to our Gold kit of our promotion winning season? We could wear it at every away game providing Wolves don't get promoted!
Maybe the players are used to the Fratton Park playing surface? Maybe it's the more negative tactics Harry employs when Pompey are away? Maybe the point about our away form has been brought up so much it plays on the players' minds? Maybe the players feed their faces with Mick's Monster Burgers before travelling?
Who knows?
The mystery of our away form is one not even Sherlock Holmes could solve. Harry Redknapp will need to find a solution, however, if we are to be competing for European football next season and the travelling fans that spend truckloads of money following Pompey all over the country are to be rewarded.