Coventry City’s winless run was extended to six games after a last-gasp Huddersfield Town equaliser denied them the three points at the CBS Arena.
The Sky Blues started the game positively and were deservedly ahead at half-time after Ellis Simms sent a thunderous strike onto the crossbar, with the rebound deflecting in of Yasin Ayari. While there were few chances to extend that lead, the home side looked comfortable against a Huddersfield Town side showing little intent or quality on the ball.
As the second-half wore on, however, Coventry City became increasingly panicky with the ball and ceded control of the game to their opponents. Some determined defending and a few decent Ben Wilson saves looked to have preserved the win and the points should have been wrapped up when Bobby Thomas forced an excellent stop at the other end from the Terrier’s Lee Nicholls, which fell to Haji Wright, who blazed over from point-blank range.
There was little sign of final rally from the away side, until the last knockings of injury time, when Huddersfield Town loaded the penalty area, causing chaos in the Sky Blues back-line, before the ball fall to Michal Helik to fire in the latest of equalisers.
Simms Takes A Step Forward
The biggest positive to come from this game was Ellis Simms making a huge contribution to what should have been an important winning goal. While Simms is yet to register his first goal for Coventry City, the striker visibly grew after seeing his powerful effort deflect off the crossbar and in off Yasin Ayari, and went on to play with an intensity that had been missing from his previous appearances in Sky Blue.
Prior to this game, it hadn’t quite been clear what it was that Ellis Simms could provide this team in attack. Billed as something of penalty area striker, Simms hadn’t been getting in scoring positions consistently, nor had he looked particularly assured when taking chances on. Out of the penalty area, Simms had been making runs into channels and attempting to challenge defenders but hadn’t looked particularly convincing in doing that either. In reacting first to a loose ball, driving to the penalty area, assessing his options and then producing a fierce strike in the lead up to the opening goal, Simms finally demonstrated what he is capable of in Sky Blue.
Ellis Simms looked to visibly grow in stature following that key contribution, offering the team intensity up front that has been lacking for much of the campaign. Winning aerial challenges, peeling into the channels, Simms forced Huddersfield Town’s defenders onto the back-foot. Just after the break, he was at the centre of a promising counter-attack and backed himself to shoot from outside the penalty area, in his best chance following Ayari’s earlier goal.
As the game wore on, Ellis Simms tired from being asked to constantly chase low quality punts in his general direction and eventually came off. While Simms showed that he has a few strings to his bow as a centre-forward, he is not someone who can do everything on his own. Getting team-mates in support around him and releasing him in areas around the opposing penalty area will help Simms build on this performance. It was an important step forward but both the play and the team will need to ensure he translates that into a run of form.
Lack Of Composure Kills
It’s not really the late goal that is the annoyance with this performance, nor Haji Wright’s point-blank miss minutes prior, not was it even that the team sat back on their lead in the second-half, it was the utter lack of composure and the poor decision-making that translated a good start to this game into a grim hanging on for a result. This was a classic case of a team taking a lead and then stopping do what it was that had put them ahead to allow the opposition back into the game.
Coventry City looked bright in the first-half, playing quick passes to get around the limitations of Liam Kelly and Josh Eccles in central midfield. The wide centre-backs striding into midfield farther helped address the lack of a playmaker in the team’s engine room, which meant Jay Dasilva and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto could get into advanced areas from wing-back as the team’s main source of creativity. It wasn’t perfect, the team still looked a little unsure of the combinations that would create scoring chances, but they were on top and deserved their lead.
What changed in the second-half is that the team lost its energy and accuracy in possession. Whether it was down to tiredness or sheer panic, players started smacking the ball down the pitch before they had assessed their options. Huddersfield Town may have stepped up in terms of their pressing following the break, but there were opportunities to pick shorter passes and stem the opposition’s momentum that simply weren’t considered because the team was desperate to get the ball away from danger, which ultimately led to the ball coming straight back at them.
Through a combination of some determined late defending, some decent Ben Wilson saves and Huddersfield Town lacking a cutting edge up top, the frustrating thing is that Coventry City managed to dig themselves out of the hole they had got themselves into. The introductions of Haji Wright and, especially, Jamie Allen, added some energy and seemed to remind the team that they had options on the ball, but the cost of a panicked 30-40 minute in the second-half was that it meant the game wasn’t killed off and Huddersfield could score from the only time in stoppage time that they were out of their own half.
The Kelly-Eccles Issue
Coventry City’s problems in this game largely stemmed from the inability of the midfield to control possession and take the game away from the opposition. The quick, snappy football of the first-half had to be rushed at times because there wasn’t the ability there to play slower and more precisely, while the second-half capitulation was because the team didn’t perceive that they had shorter options that could get them out of danger.
While the second-half was where the momentum of the game shifted, it was in the period just before half-time that offered Huddersfield Town hope. Both Liam Kelly and Josh Eccles were caught on the ball shortly before the break and while that didn’t lead to danger, it demonstrated to the opposition that they could cause Coventry City problems if they stepped up and caught the team’s midfield duo on their heels. That is why the Terriers began to push up the pitch and press in the second-half and that was why the Sky Blues began to clear the ball down the pitch as the first option in possession.
Liam Kelly and Josh Eccles aren’t bad players but they are limited in possession. It clearly wasn’t the plan for Liam Kelly, in particular, to be starting a significant amount of games this season as the main thing he is capable of at this stage of his career is breaking up play. Josh Eccles, meanwhile, covers a lot of ground, wins the ball well and can play nice little combinations further up the pitch, it is in receiving the ball from deep and picking passes to open the game out where he struggles.
Ideally, it would be one of Liam Kelly or Josh Eccles playing a holding midfield role alongside two creative players in the middle of the park. However, Gustavo Hamer was sold and only replaced with a teenage loan signing, Ben Sheaf, Kasey Palmer and Callum O’Hare are injured, while Jamie Allen is at least a week or two away from being able to start games consistently. Kelly and Eccles look to be the midfield pairing the team is stuck with for a while yet.
This game demonstrated the double-bind that this team is in with this midfield duo. If this team looks to stick with a short passing style, teams will look to catch them out by pressing Liam Kelly and Josh Eccles. If this team looks to sit in and take the midfield out of the equation, there doesn’t look to be the quality to threaten on the counter or even to confidently repel pressure. It is either going to take a dramatic change in tactics or a dramatic improvement in Kelly and Eccles themselves for the team to pick up wins while they remain the starting midfield duo.
Sideways Sammy 