Sideways Sammy

Coventry City drew 1-1 on the road at Swansea City in a game of little incident aside from a two-minute spell where both goals were scored.

Neither team got into much of a rhythm throughout the 90 minutes in a classic early season encounter. When Coventry City took the lead in the 39th minute via a neat move involving Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Haji Wright and Matt Godden, that could really have been a three-points-worthy moment of quality. However, Swansea City quickly rallied to create a cross for Jerry Yates to get on the end of, beating Ben Wilson with a flicked header.

Following that brief spell of excitement, both teams looked content to restrict the other as the game devolved into a pretty drab, low-energy contest.

Some Signs Of Promise

In what was largely a disjointed performance from Coventry City, there were occasional moments of promise for what this team might become once things gel and a higher standard of fitness is reached. The move to a more deliberate passing style with a focus on working as a collective, rather than harnessing the talents of stand-out individuals was epitomised by the goal that the Sky Blues scored here.

It was a move that began with Bobby Thomas striding out of defence to play a pass into Matt Godden, he then picked out Tatsuhiro Sakamoto who drove to the byline to cut the ball back for Haji Wright, who then held off a defender to feed Godden for the finish. Coventry City moved the ball quickly from back to front via a combination of players, all of whom were looking to then get their team-mates in the best position to keep the move going before the optimum moment for the effort on goal was generated.

There were a few other moves attempting something like this, aided by Ben Sheaf and Josh Eccles’ energy and composure in midfield, as well as the overlapping runs of the wing-backs on either side, but the final pass wasn’t quite there or a team-mate in space in the penalty area to pick out on the end of it. That is something that will come in time once this set of players develops an understanding of one another’s game, and it’s encouraging to see this early on that there is the intent to become a slick, pass-and-move team this season.

One of the key reasons Coventry City weren’t able to sustain this over the 90 minutes was fitness. The team notably tired during the second-half, with players less capable of getting into space to receive the ball in the opposition half as a result. That is the kind of situation where stand-out individuals make a difference, and could be something that the Sky Blues will miss out on until or unless they can reach a high standard of fitness to sustain the energy required to maintain passing and movement over a full game.

The Left Side Looks A Weakness

It is early days, but the combination of Joel Latibeaudiere and Jay Dasilva on Coventry City’s left side hasn’t looked the most assertive. It was down their side that Swansea City managed to create their equaliser in this game, and while the duo both look like they have something to offer the team in possession, that neither of them are particularly strong in their positioning or forceful physically makes them an area to be targeted by opponents.

The idea behind bringing in Jay Dasilva as the first-choice left wing-back this season is that he is a quicker, more technically-assured and attack-minded option down that side of the pitch. While he has yet to get going as an attacking force, there are signs that he is going to provide a useful outlet for the team once he gets up to speed. However, to get the best out of Dasilva may require having a forceful left-sided centre-back behind him to fill him with the confidence to push forward with abandon.

As an individual, Joel Latibeaudiere has had a decent start to life at Coventry City. He’s quick and good on the ball, offering a good outlet to play out from the back and can be forceful in the challenge on occasion. As part of a defensive unit, Latibeaudiere has had issues bedding into the team, with his positioning off the ball dragging his team-mates into awkward areas.

For Swansea City’s goal, Latibeaudiere had stepped into midfield, which was a problem when a ball was then played behind Jay Dasilva and he was nowhere close to being able to cover that space. That left the defence scrambled, meaning that Jerry Yates could get in front of Kyle McFadzean and send a header past Ben Wilson.

That weakness down the left became more glaring in the second-half, once Latibeadiere had been booked, limiting his ability to make lunging challenges to cover being caught out of position. That meant that Jay Dasilva was in turn less likely to commit to pushing forward, contributing to the team’s shortage of attacking impetus in the later stages of this game.

While neither Joel Latibeaudiere nor Jay Dasilva have been guilty of glaring defensive mistakes for Coventry City, they don’t look to complement each other well as a duo. That could improve with time together on the pitch, or it could be the case that this isn’t the manager’s ideal left side of his defence and this combination will change over the next few weeks and months.

Signings Are Needed

There were already holes in the squad to be filled prior to Gustavo Hamer’s departure last week, Kasey Palmer being unavailable for this game exacerbated the shortage of options that Mark Robins currently has. For the second week in a row, Coventry City had three players on the bench (in Kai Andrews, Justin Obikwu and Bradley Stretton) who were playing under-18 football last year, with Ryan Howley making it four teenagers out of the eight outfield substitutes available to the manager.

With the team running out of steam in the second-half, this was when aneeded a fresh injection of energy and inspiration from the bench was needed and not available. Ellis Simms was the only senior attacking option to bring on, while Liam Kelly was an injury replacement for Milan van Ewijk. More than that was needed to change the flow of a game that petered out.

Right now, Coventry City’s starting XI is probably good enough to be somewhere close to the play-offs, especially if Callum O’Hare and Kasey Palmer can be counted on to play a significant number of games this year between the two of them. It’s finding the depth, and possibly some even further star quality, that will be the difference between being close and making that leap towards a tangible achievement this year.

This was a good draw on the road for the Sky Blues, but the chance to win the game in the second-half passed them by due to that shortage of options on the bench.