Brewer wants better away performances
Sale head coach Mike Brewer says he wants his team to play better away from home over the course of the season.
Sale won just a single match away last season. This was a game against Leeds who were struggling at the time. Brewer says the club has to target a high success rate on the road if the club wants to be
in the top six by the end of the year.
However, Sale performed below expectations in the club's first away game of the season as the side lost 28-13 away at Saracens. Brewer believes this is something the club has to turn round to be successful.
Sale is under a lot of pressure to do well this season after the number of players that were signed during the summer. There are problems the club has to solve if away results are going to improve.
Problems to solve
Playing away from home can force players in a team to tense up and become anxious. It was clear during the match with Saracens that Sale's players looked on edge when they needed to relax and ease into
the game.
Sale looked very reluctant last season to change a game plan away from home. The club had clear ideas on how to beat teams away but these ideas were not adapted when they did not go as planned.
The side seemed to gamble last season on away games that the coaches thought were winnable. This is a dangerous way of thinking because every away game has to be approached in the same way. Targeted wins
can end up as losses and destroy plans.
Brewer said: "I’ve had a look at the overall picture and to make the top six in the Premiership, we need to win four or five away games out of the 11. I don’t believe we can ‘pick and choose’ them. We’ve
just got to try and win, that’s the way it is. If you are going to start picking and choosing games where you think you can win it comes back to the training field as well."
Extra pressure
Brewer and Sale is under extra pressure this year because of the players that arrived in the summer. The club signed a total of 14 players during the close season and made no secret of the fact that they
were positive signings.
This means the club has a lot of players that have not played together over a long time. The problems caused by this will be exposed when the club plays away because home teams tend to attack from the
off.
Brewer added: "You either perform or you get apprehensive and end up making more mistakes so one of the key things for
us is to create our own pressure. If we go in with the right attitude, we are going to pick up the odd one, two or three wins."
Betting advice
Sale looked very nervous in the game against Saracens and it will be difficult for the side to relax playing away from home. Have a punt on Sale winning away when the club plays a much weaker opposition.
Be more reluctant to back the club when the team plays away at one of the sides expected to finish in the top four. The best angle then is to bet in play and see how Sale starts the game. There is enough
quality in the squad to get results on the road but the club has some demons to overcome first.
Always back the kicker when Sale plays away. This player will keep the club within touching distance of the opposition if the rest of the side freezes up.
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