Sideways Sammy

Depending on your outlook, Coventry City are five games unbeaten or four without a win, The Sky Blues have had a pretty tricky start to the campaign but the lack of a big performance or result thus far makes it hard for fans to see what Mark Robins and his team are working towards. It’s not that this team is under pressure for results, but getting the next win as quickly as possible would kill off some of the anxiety that is starting to brew.

This away trip to Cardiff City is the first time this season that Coventry City will have faced a team that isn’t either recently-relegated, were in play-off contention last year or is currently in the top-six. While those are the opponents that a team with play-off aspirations needs to be able to take points off regularly, it is early days and the Sky Blues aren’t quite in that flow to do so. Cardiff are off the back of a confidence-boosting derby win over Swansea City, but should be present a challenge more representative of where this Coventry side currently is.

Expected Line-Up

Mark Robins’ early season task of figuring out his best starting line-up has been made more difficult by two of the team’s best players, Callum O’Hare and now, Ben Sheaf, being injured, which was made worse for the Hull City game due to Kasey Palmer not being realistically available to start after attending international duty for Jamaica earlier last week. While Palmer’s return to contention for this game provides the manager with an additional midfield option, it might take a bit of a rethink tactically to make the midfielders currently available work until O’Hare and Sheaf are available in a month or so’s time.

On the positive side, Yasin Ayari was a bright creative spark on Friday night and if Mark Robins can get him and Palmer in the starting XI that could be a way forward for this team in the absence of Sheaf and O’Hare. The question is whether Ayari offers enough physical presence in a midfield two, especially in an away game, for the manager to trust him. That doubt could mean the Ayari-Palmer axis will not be tried out for this match, instead leaving a pretty dour midfield duo of Josh Eccles and Liam Kelly with probably Kasey Palmer ahead of them, and Ayari held in reserve as the spark from the bench.

Elsewhere, a solid debut from Luis Binks on the left of the back three should mean that area of the team won’t be touched for this game. Instead, the call is what to do in attack, where Haji Wright and Matt Godden struggled to impose themselves on the Hull City defence last time out, allowing the opposition to control possession for long spells without fear of being caught on the break. That could hand a chance for Ellis Simms to take what will probably be Haji Wright’s place in the team, with the other option being to bring in Kasey Palmer for one of the strikers and move away from a 3-4-1-2 system for the first time this season.

Last Time We Met

It was a thoroughly forgettable game in a thoroughly forgettable time of year – the week between Christmas and the New Year. Coventry City were still in a post-World Cup funk, Cardiff City turned up at the CBS Arena desperate for a point and that is what they got.

The Opposition

The Manager – Erol Bulut

A man who has never managed outside of Turkey, Erol Bulut was a left-field choice as Cardiff City manager heading into a summer where the club were restricted to loan and free agent signings in the transfer market. That the club went on to sign Aaron Ramsey, along with proven Championship performers such as Yakou Meite and Karlan Grant has made something of a mockery of those restrictions, but Bulut has done reasonably well to take on a hodge-podge of a Bluebirds squad and turn it into something competitive in the early weeks of the new season.

Billed as a defence-first manager during his time in Turkey, Cardiff City have been anything but under Erol Bulut thus far. With a squad top-loaded with quick, powerful attacking players, with the craft of Aaron Ramsey pulling strings from midfield, Cardiff have been ebullient going forward but leaky at the other end. That has undermined some promising positions in the opening weeks of the season, with Saturday’s derby win over Swansea City providing Bulut with the big result he needed to achieve buy-in from the fans.

Who To Look Out For?

It is that combination of quick attacking options along with Aaron Ramsey’s quality just behind them that has made Cardiff City dangerous going forward in the opening month of the season. Yakou Meite and Karlan Grant are two very attack-minded wide players, with Meite particularly exciting with his combination of dribbling and upper-body strength, who get fans off their seats on the ball, even if tracking-back is a low priority for them. Former Chelsea youngster, Ike Ugbo, is another source of both pace and physicality from centre-forward, while Callum Robinson and Kion Etete are more than handy options from the bench, along with academy youngster Rubin Colwill and Ollie Tanner as further rotation options. That means that an injury to the talented winger, Josh Bowler, has barely been felt.

As far as Aaron Ramsey is concerned, it is no surprise that he is proving to be a cut above in the Championship with his technical ability and understanding of the game, the main doubt about him returning to the club was whether he has the physical capacity after so many injury struggles over the year to last a full 46-game campaign. Having started every game thus far, those doubts look to be unfounded, allowing Ramsey’s quality to drag a Cardiff City team that had been expected to struggle into one that can push for mid-table, and maybe even better.

It’s not just about Ramsey’s quality in midfield, as Ryan Wintle in a deeper role further supports the team’s efforts in possession. The Crewe Alexandra academy graduate is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated players in the Championship, having had few chances to shine since joining the Bluebirds a few years ago due to the team constantly struggling and changing managers. With the team looking to be in a better place, Wintle looks to have the chance to earn wider recognition.

While Cardiff City are weaker at the back than going forwards, summer signing, Dimitris Goutas, has already proven a fan favourite with his all-action style in central defence. The addition of Goutas has allowed Perry Ng to operate at his stronger position of right-back, providing a steady presence with some quality on the ball to support the team’s efforts in building from the back. Furthermore, the availability of left-back, Jamilu Collins after missing a large chunk of last season through injury provides another source of pace to the team’s attacking play.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

While Cardiff City can be an exciting team when breaking forward, they can also be pretty open at the back. For Coventry City, the challenge in this game will be balancing trying to take advantage of the Bluebirds’ openness without dropping deep in the manner that they did in the second-half against Hull City, which allowed the pressure to build and made a late goal inevitable.

One of the key areas of this match will be out wide, where Cardiff City have some really quick and skilful players, and will also support them with their full-backs bombing forward. The danger is that Milan van Ewijk and Jay Dasilva will be outnumbered, which could then leave the wide centre-backs exposed in unfavourable one-against-one situations. However, if Coventry City can maintain their positional discipline and protect their penalty area well, that could shut down Cardiff’s main source of threat and then provide opportunities to hit them on the counter-attack.

With Ben Sheaf injured and a likely midfield duo of Liam Kelly and Josh Eccles, it looks like Coventry City will be best-off deploying a counter-attacking style due to that lack of passing quality required to dictate and run games, especially an away match. That should play into the strengths of Kasey Palmer and Haji Wright as the team’s biggest sources of attacking threat, and if those two can get their decision-making right, there should be chances to create and score against a stretched Cardiff City defence.