'I'm not stupid' - Frank Lampard provides verdict on Coventry City's FA Cup exit at hands of Ipswich Town
Frank Lampard refused to be too critical of his Coventry City side despite being largely the architects of their own downfall against Premier League Ipswich Town who dumped them out of the FA Cup.
The Sky Blues boss felt his Championship team competed well against the Tractor Boys – currently struggling at second from bottom of the top flight – but admitted he “didn’t like” the errors that led to three of the visitors’ four goals in the fourth round tie at the CBS Arena.
City pressed the self destruct button in the first 30 seconds when Jamie Allen gave away possession from the kick-off and a swift Town attack resulted in Liam Kitching fouling Sam Szmodics to concede a penalty. Joel Latibeaudiere then equalised with a fine near post header from a corner six minutes later but a brace from Jack Clarke before the break was added to by Jayden Philogene just past the hour.
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“I thought the performance was OK, thought it was a competitive game against a Premier League team,” said City’s head coach, speaking after the 4-1 defeat.
“I think we probably edged the possession, and chances, maybe we edged it overall. They had better chances that were predominantly from errors and mistakes from us, which is disappointing. Other than that, I don’t think the scoreline really reflects the game. It’s just a reality for us and that’s how I see it.
“It was a competitive game and if you take the goals out of it, which we can’t, obviously, but you look at the game and there was some good stuff from us. The way we came out in the second half and kept pushing. Maybe had we got our goal, which was disallowed...
“There were a couple of defensive errors but other than that it’s probably the clinical nature of them at the top end of the pitch compared to us is a bit different. But other than that there’s not so much I can complain about really.”
He added: “They’re are a team who were really strong in the league last year and are now competing in the Prem but I didn’t see that difference in the game, personally, other than the scoreline. Again, I am not stupid and that’s he reality of it but big parts of the game I think we can go, yes, we must take that forward positively.
“We must, as always, look at the errors because some of them I really don’t like, but it’s what it is.”
