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Coventry City's one step forward and two back as frailties return for Frank Lampard's work-in-progress
Coventry City suffered their fourth consecutive Championship defeat against a West Bromwich Albion side who recorded their first home win in almost three months.
New Sky Blues boss Frank Lampard was left frustrated by the manner of Albion’s two goals – the first a horrible deflection and the second a shocker from a defensive point of view – but not too downbeat overall considering the amount of chances his players created.
They just lacked the finishing touch to put them in the back of the net against a side who had drawn 10 of their previous 11 games. Here we look at some of the big talking points and things learned from the 2-0 midweek defeat at The Hawthorns.
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Old habits come back to haunt City
Having kept only their third clean sheet of the season at Millwall last weekend, it felt like a case of one step forward and then two steps back as City’s defensive frailties came back to haunt them at The Hawthorns. Joel Latibeaudiere was a clear man-of-the-match contender at The Den where he defended like his life depended on it over the course of the 90 minutes. But he was culpable against the Baggies just a few days later as he allowed Karlan Grant to run through unchallenged and pick his spot to score Albion’s all important second goal.
Consistency has been an issue all season, both collectively and individually, that that’s nothing new, but until the players get a level of stability to their performances then it’s going to continue to be a struggle this season.
Turning point
The second goal was a turning point in the game, having come just minutes after Carlos Corberan made a triple substitution which, together, conspired to take the sting out of City’s momentum and take the game away from the visitors. Albion’s Spanish boss made his first significant change at the break when he took off star striker Josh Maja and replaced him with experienced attacking midfielder John Swift. But the introduction of three pairs of fresh legs, in particular the straight swap of wide men of Tom Fellows and Mikey Johnston for Jed Wallace and Lewis Dobbin helped turn the game in the home side’s favour just when it looked like Coventry were the more likely to score, and take at least a point back down the M6.
Something to hang onto
The Sky Blues created 16 attempts on Albion’s goal, albeit only four of those being on target. The fact that they did create so many chances is a good thing and a real positive to hold onto going into Saturday’s home game against Hull. Interestingly, although Corberan was pleased with his side’s clean sheet, he wasn’t happy with how many chances they conceded to put themselves in a vulnerable position.
“We created opportunities but at the same time we conceded opportunities too,” he said, giving his post-match assessment. “Fortunately they couldn’t score and we scored two goals that give us our important three points.”
City's players have had to take on a lot of information in a short space of time as Lampard and his staff attempt to stamp their mark on the side. It is and will continue to be a work-in-progress for a number of weeks with, no doubt, more ups and downs along the way.
Chances go begging
City’s best chance fell to Norman Bassette in the opening few minutes when Bobby Thomas pinged a long ball over the top for the pacy striker to run onto and in behind. But, having cut inside centre-back Mason Holgate onto his left foot, he couldn’t finish the move off by finding the back of the net as Torbjorn Heggem moved across to block with the excellent keeper Alex Palmer also standing in his way. There were other chances that went begging and that lack of a clinical and ruthless edge proved to be the difference between City getting themselves back in the game after West Brom’s lucky early opener from a wicked deflection.
Big miss highlighted
One thing for sure is that City are really missing Haji Wright, and the sooner he’s back fit the better. Although he may struggle to be back for the weekend, it is hoped that he will return for the hectic festive programme. For all of Lampard’s striking options, which, as his predecessor Mark Robins admitted was the strongest in terms of strength in depth in over seven years at the club, there just aren’t that many goals in the team at the minute when you take the USA star out of the equation, which is a bit of a worry.
