What made Frank Lampard ‘nervous’ about Coventry City’s festive stalemate with Millwall
Coventry City maintained their unbeaten home record under Frank Lampard in a dull and frustrating affair at the CBS Arena where the Sky Blues saw out 2024 with a single point from a goalless draw to managerless Millwall.
Although the home side dominated the ball, chances were few and far between for both sides in a pedestrian paced game that saw City forced sideways and backwards far too often in a dreadful first half. There was a bit more of a spark from Coventry after the break but the visitors – who were watched by their new boss Alex Neil, due to be officially appointed today (Monday) – defended effectively to limit the threat on their goal.
Here Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner takes a look at some of the big talking points from City’s second of four games in the space of ten days over the holiday period.
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What made Lampard ‘nervous’
Six attempts on goal and just one on target from almost 75 percent of possession didn’t make for good reading from a home team’s point of view in front of another bumper festive crowd of over 28,000. Put to the head coach that the figures are something his players could improve upon, he said: “Well, I think since I’ve been in most games our XG (expected goals) or chance creation – against Plymouth, against West Brom, Hull... On the whole it has been big. You have to have an understanding that not every game looks the same and sometimes you won’t have the opportunity to create if a team block space and defend well, and they (Millwall) do, and then you have to try and be clinical with those moments that you get.
“I understood what this game was going to be in a way and I was nervous of it after the last game in that I thought everyone would think, ‘oh, we’ll come along and we’ll score four more,’ but football doesn’t work that way. They made it hard for us.
“We tweaked at half time, made a tactical tweak to get more out on the sides and get more numbers on the sides, and straight away you could see more energy in the team and we broke the lines quicker. So that was good and I think if you get your goal, you have a comfort of the goal then you probably go on to win the game because there wasn’t so much threat and if they open up more, we could maybe score more. I’m not complaining about that today. It’s a frustration that we couldn’t take one of those chances but some days are like that.”
Millwall’s obvious game plan
Millwall clearly came to Coventry with a game plan to stifle and frustrate and be content to go home with a point – a ploy that worked a treat for caretaker boss David Livermore who admitted as much in his post-match press conference.
“I thought it was important today that we made sure that we were a little bit more conservative with our press and I thought we nullified them, we made them play passes we wanted them to play,” he said.
“They had a really good chance in the second half when they hit the crossbar but other than that I can’t remember too many clear-cut chances for them. We would have liked to have carried a little bit more of an attacking threat than we did but there’s always a tipping point in a game where you decide whether you stick with your point or whether you go for it.”
Lampard, meanwhile, was polite in his reaction to the Lions’ clear tactics to slow down the game and be content to keep the Sky Blues at arm’s length, saying: “I don’t want to discredit them, they are very good at what they do in terms of making it difficult to play against. They concede low goals and you can see why, and the game stops a lot. But I’m not frustrated with the performance. I’m frustrated with the result.”
City need to find a way
This was a game that was crying out for Ephron Mason-Clark to make in-roads down the left flank and create openings in a game desperately short on chances for the Sky Blues. Having scored four goals and provided four assists in his previous six games, the former Peterborough winger was sorely missed against Millwall and, sadly, is set to be out for the remaining holiday fixtures – out for a number of “weeks” with a hamstring strain, revealed Lampard after the goalless draw.
To be fair to Jack Rudoni – the player tasked with filling his boots on that side of the pitch – he did a decent job and was arguably City’s best player in a poor game of football. And at a time when Haji Wright continues to be out injured, albeit due to return to training early in January, Coventry simply have to find a way to make do without the pair in the meantime. Brandon Thomas-Asante can also play out wide on the left, if need be, but Rudoni looks the most effective option going on Sunday’s showing.
Off balance and off-colour
The absence of Mason-Clark and Wright has thrown out the balance of the side – a situation that was magnified by the fact that Tatsuhiro Sakamoto was off-colour in this match. He and Milan van Ewijk, who usually have an exciting and effective understanding down the right, simply didn’t cause the visitors enough problems on the day. It was a physical game and Sakamoto, who has had his fair share of rough treatment since joining the club, just didn’t seem himself.
It was interesting that Lampard didn’t take him off, particularly given he had Thomas-Asante on the bench – who eventually went on for Torp in a more central attacking role – as well as Fabio Tavares, who has been deployed out wide on the right in the past to good effect, albeit not his best position. Raphael Borges Rodrigues was also on the bench but, at 0-0, it’s perhaps understandable that the City boss didn’t want to throw him on for his debt in such a rough game and risk the lad looking out of his depth.
