Travel sickness

'Away from home you have to stick your chest out and say to the opposition 'come on what have you got'.

'But we just weren't able to ask enough questions and at the moment that is happening too many times away from home.'

>>Mark Hughes.

Hughes citied us being confident and fantastic to watch at home, and there is no doubting that this season our home form (and points return) is impressive, certainly the best outside the top four. However, at this level you expect your home form to be impressive.

What will help you take that extra step is the return on your travels, and this season ours has frankly been a disaster, with only Stoke and West Brom having a worse return.

Hughes is not incorrect when he says that we are lacking self-belief away from home and for me, the most frustrating aspect of the defeat to Arsenal on Saturday was the acceptance of the defeat.

It is now too late to rescue the miserable away form of this season (even if we were to win out), but whilst the calls for Hughes's head are resurfacing, it is not the results away from home, or even finishing in a worse league position than last season that will do for Hughes if he is sacked, as there has been plenty of opportunity this season when results (and league position) reached their nadir.

If Hughes is to be sacked, then it will be because the owners do not have the confidence that he can deliver what they expect the club to achieve, that they feel he is not the man who can take us to the next level and crack the top four and beyond.

Whilst there are definite positives and strides that the club has made under Hughes, there are enough concerns to suggest he may not though be the answer. With a pivotal fixture at Hamburg now on the horizon, talk of 'defining' and 'season shaping' games is back on the agenda.

I'd imagine that Mark Hughes knows this only too well.