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Resolute Mark Robins makes direct appeal to Coventry City fanbase
Mark Robins has called on the Coventry City fanbase to remember the club’s mantra ‘Rise Together’ as he and the players strive to get through their difficult start to the new Championship season and turn the team’s fortunes around.
The Sky Blues boss remains steadfast in his belief that he has the best group of players in terms of quality of overall squad depth during his time at the club, and confident that they will come through the current “hit and miss” spell and start climbing up the table.
He also feels “aggrieved” that his side have been on the wrong end of poor decisions and not necessarily had the luck they have deserved in certain matches so far this term. The defeat at Preston is a case in point when a disallowed Haji Wright goal for handball denied City a draw.
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“Look, the game against Preston was a difficult result to take after the performance, which I didn’t think was that poor. It wasn’t bad,” said the manager, speaking at today’s pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s home game against Luton Town (12.30pm kick-off).
“There were some really good bits in that and we had been in that game as much as we’d been in any game against a Preston team previously, so it was disappointing. The goal that was disallowed, it’s incredible because there’s no way the ball has touched Haji’s hand and we have definitive proof.
“Haji has said it didn’t touch his hand, we have video footage that shows it didn’t touch his hand, so we feel aggrieved and I think we are right to feel aggrieved in that instance because there have been instances in a few games where we just haven’t had the rub of the green or the luck that the play has deserved, or the right outcome from decisions.”
Robins went to see the referee after last weekend’s game. Asked what the match official said, he revealed: “He said it was handball and that’s why he’d ruled it out. It’s just difficult to take. And it’s difficult for them, they have a difficult job to do. But regardless of whether you are top, bottom or wherever, you want the outcome to be the correct one, and we have been on the end of too many that haven’t been right. It’s there, it’s in black and white and you can’t make things up. And that’s where we are at the minute.
“It will be interesting to find out how many points we have lost on poor decisions. It doesn’t help now but it’s something I am interested in looking at because there are a few things in games that stop momentum. I think back to the Swansea game when we had to come off for a thunder storm and the momentum that we had just stopped.
“But I am not hiding behind that because the results haven’t been good enough, and we’re clear on that. Football being football, there are times when you go through these periods and you have to try to block out any noise because that can become pretty loud at times, particularly on social media or if you listen to comments from individuals or small groups. It can affect a little bit of confidence and you have got to try to help with that. I don’t think performances have been particularly poor; there have been good spells, as there were again on Tuesday when we started off brightly.”
He added: “Things will turn around, there is no doubt that things will turn around and the players will look back and hopefully have this as a learning experience for the future. We have all been in football a long time and you get periods like this where you start to feel things might go against you, or have gone against you; not performing to a level we expect or want but, again, there are things mitigating those results that are generally out of our control.
“In our control, we have got to do better on the defensive side of things because we have conceded too many goals so far and we have got to try to stop that whilst continuing to create chances and growing into that and taking the chances at the other end, and maintain the belief that they have got and build on that because it’s a fine line between success and relative failure.
“So we have got to keep going. There’s no easy option. We have got to work hard, and work hard on he mental side of things as well because that has become so much more prevalent in today’s society, hence you have to help, support, build and grow. And that’s what we’re trying to do in pretty difficult circumstances, I have got to say, with a young team, young players. I keep saying it but it is really relevant.
“And the support that we have had from the fanbase has been fantastic and we have to ask for that to continue because, undoubtedly, if they stick by the players they’ll come through it a lot quicker, that’s for sure.”
Back on home turf at the CBS Arena this weekend, Robins says the players need the supporters to be behind them more than ever.
“When you talk about being in it together, and there’s been a mantra of ‘Rise Together’ for a number of years, and the fanbase being together, they have seen what happens when everyone is together,” he said.
“We have also seen what happens when it becomes fractured, so they will have learned and seen that, and know that I am not talking rubbish.
Tuesday night’s support was incredible. The majority were incredible at Preston, just one or two not, and sometimes people go to games and want to vent; there are things on the pitch they don’t like or we haven’t won a game and they want to see us win. They pay hard-earned money and have given their time up to travel, but I’d just ask them to support the team, support the players, and if they do that then things will turn around a lot quicker.”
He added: “The players are young men and they have their own challenges. They will be having some self doubts. It’s normal for people to doubt themselves and then that can put them on the back foot. And, by the way, opposition teams will feel that when they play us because we have got some really good players. I have got no qualms about the players; it’s circumstances that sometimes we allow to dictate our mindset, and we have to change that. That’s the challenge and we are addressing it but it doesn’t change overnight, but it will change a lot quicker with the support from the fans, and we really appreciate that.
“It’s difficult because the noise builds. I know what it’s like, I am not stupid. It is just a difficult moment where you have got to try to come through it and believe in what you’re doing. I think they (the players) do, you’d have to ask them, but I think they do. Performances have been intermittently good, interspersed with periods where there’s a little bit of doubt creeping in, but that’s what happens in this division. And if you can get on top of teams in the division you put them on the back foot, and we have to do that to our opponents but we have to grow into that.
“The atmosphere at Loftus Road was another outstanding one. It wasn’t an ideal result but I think the majority of people will see that we have worked hard, fought hard and created a number of chances, taken one and on another night could have had three or four goals. But that will come.”
