Coventry City pre match chat
Wasn't yesterday a nice day
A highly convincing win vs Cardiff City saw 7 goals, 5 different scorers and an unbeaten run stretching 12 matches.
Wednesday will see us reunited with an old adversary, Frank Lampard and his in form Coventry City side.
4 wins in a row, form side in the league in the last 6 and top 4 in the form table since he took over, Frank doing well.
Unbeaten at home since he took over, 14 points from 6.
In terms of tactics Frank has been quite flexible and dare I say it, tactically impressive.
He originally favoured like most managers a 4-2-3-1 formation with a heavy focus on possession.
It wasn't awful but at times they found themselves struggling to create and getting caught in transition.
4 goals scored against them by Portsmouth, WBA got 2 and beat them, and the attacking struggles were evident when Cardiff had 10 men for around half the game and Coventry could only manage a 1-1 draw.
Lampard then tried a totally different approach vs Norwich, a 5-3-2 formation and sit back, they got absolutely battered, 2-1 was the score but it could have been 4 or 5, Norwich had 20+ shots to 6 and 68% possession to Coventry's 32%.
Since then Lampard seemed to have a bit of an epiphany.
He switched to a back 3, he sacrificed his possession based approach for a more direct containment approach and they've won 4 in a row.
They aren't a hoof ball team or a park the bus team, but it is a less possession focused approach.
They are still overall top 6 for possession and for chances creates and bottom 7 for chances given away, at home its 2nd for chances created and bottom 4 given away.
Offensively however they are massive under performers, top for big chances missed in the league and have the 2nd highest xG but are the biggest under performers.
To compound that they are also the biggest xG against over performers in the league.
So in simple terms they've scored far less than they should and conceded far more, the players are letting the manager down (be that Robins or Lampard) the analyst will tell you.
Coventry should actually be 2nd in the League if they hit the performance markers.
They are a progressive side, top 4 for passes going forwards, they are top for crosses taken and whilst not a pressing side in the final 3rd they swarm teams in midfield, very high for winning the ball in midfield which is then progressed forward at pace (hence the attacking stats).
In terms of decent results.
They've beaten Blackburn and Bristol City in recent weeks (we didnt) as well as Watford and Millwall away.
Not without issues as said, they are prone to individual lacks of quality in key areas as stated above.
They have conceded goals under Lampard as well, notably 4 to Portsmouth.
And whilst they are in good form defeats to WBA and struggles vs our 7-0 opponents Cardiff show it isn't all perfect.
In terms of key players.
Striker Brandon Thomas-Asante has 3 goals in his last 3, fellow striker Ellis Simms has 2 goals and an assist and midfield Viktor Torp has an eye for a spectacular goal and is technically very good.
Frank Lampard also has an unbeaten record vs Daniel Farke, 3 wins and a draw.
But for us confidence should be high given the performance yesterday and the form we are in.
Coventry are in good form and if they cut out the individual mistakes would be a solid bet for the playoffs.
However they have laboured vs weaker teams in this league and are prone to lapses in key areas.
For ourselves then.
DF isn't one for rotation generally.
The wingers some times but can you drop Solomon or James now?
Midfield perhaps, could being Gruev back in? He does tend to be extra cautious away from home?
Is Struijk fit enough for a start yet?
Does the performance off the bench of Gnonto deserve a recall?
How about Piroe at 10 behind Joseph? Both scored vs Cardiff
A highly convincing win vs Cardiff City saw 7 goals, 5 different scorers and an unbeaten run stretching 12 matches.
Wednesday will see us reunited with an old adversary, Frank Lampard and his in form Coventry City side.
4 wins in a row, form side in the league in the last 6 and top 4 in the form table since he took over, Frank doing well.
Unbeaten at home since he took over, 14 points from 6.
In terms of tactics Frank has been quite flexible and dare I say it, tactically impressive.
He originally favoured like most managers a 4-2-3-1 formation with a heavy focus on possession.
It wasn't awful but at times they found themselves struggling to create and getting caught in transition.
4 goals scored against them by Portsmouth, WBA got 2 and beat them, and the attacking struggles were evident when Cardiff had 10 men for around half the game and Coventry could only manage a 1-1 draw.
Lampard then tried a totally different approach vs Norwich, a 5-3-2 formation and sit back, they got absolutely battered, 2-1 was the score but it could have been 4 or 5, Norwich had 20+ shots to 6 and 68% possession to Coventry's 32%.
Since then Lampard seemed to have a bit of an epiphany.
He switched to a back 3, he sacrificed his possession based approach for a more direct containment approach and they've won 4 in a row.
They aren't a hoof ball team or a park the bus team, but it is a less possession focused approach.
They are still overall top 6 for possession and for chances creates and bottom 7 for chances given away, at home its 2nd for chances created and bottom 4 given away.
Offensively however they are massive under performers, top for big chances missed in the league and have the 2nd highest xG but are the biggest under performers.
To compound that they are also the biggest xG against over performers in the league.
So in simple terms they've scored far less than they should and conceded far more, the players are letting the manager down (be that Robins or Lampard) the analyst will tell you.
Coventry should actually be 2nd in the League if they hit the performance markers.
They are a progressive side, top 4 for passes going forwards, they are top for crosses taken and whilst not a pressing side in the final 3rd they swarm teams in midfield, very high for winning the ball in midfield which is then progressed forward at pace (hence the attacking stats).
In terms of decent results.
They've beaten Blackburn and Bristol City in recent weeks (we didnt) as well as Watford and Millwall away.
Not without issues as said, they are prone to individual lacks of quality in key areas as stated above.
They have conceded goals under Lampard as well, notably 4 to Portsmouth.
And whilst they are in good form defeats to WBA and struggles vs our 7-0 opponents Cardiff show it isn't all perfect.
In terms of key players.
Striker Brandon Thomas-Asante has 3 goals in his last 3, fellow striker Ellis Simms has 2 goals and an assist and midfield Viktor Torp has an eye for a spectacular goal and is technically very good.
Frank Lampard also has an unbeaten record vs Daniel Farke, 3 wins and a draw.
But for us confidence should be high given the performance yesterday and the form we are in.
Coventry are in good form and if they cut out the individual mistakes would be a solid bet for the playoffs.
However they have laboured vs weaker teams in this league and are prone to lapses in key areas.
For ourselves then.
DF isn't one for rotation generally.
The wingers some times but can you drop Solomon or James now?
Midfield perhaps, could being Gruev back in? He does tend to be extra cautious away from home?
Is Struijk fit enough for a start yet?
Does the performance off the bench of Gnonto deserve a recall?
How about Piroe at 10 behind Joseph? Both scored vs Cardiff