Sideways Sammy

Coventry City fell to a fourth defeat in a row, spurning a lead at Preston North End in short order in a worrying manner.

The Sky Blues looked sloppy and nervous from the start of this game but somehow had the lead when Haji Wright poked home a rebounded Matt Godden shot from a seemingly offside position. However, Preston North End quickly got what they deserved after Duane Holmes fired in an equaliser after Jay Dasilva headed a cross tamely into his path, before Kyle McFadzean made a lame attempt to foul Milutin Osmajic as he fired wide, which was spotted by the referee and punished with a spot-kick that the home side scored from.

There was some semblance of a rally in the second-half from Coventry City, but with Haji Wright unable to convert the team’s best chance after being teed up by a determined Ellis Simms, Preston North End were able to seal the three points with Liam Millar firing in a cross for an unmarked Milutin Osmajic to head home.

Wright was able to muster a consolation when he was first to a rebounded Josh Eccles shot, but the Sky Blues failed to generate much to truly pressure Preston over the ultimate direction of the three points.

Taking The Lead Makes No Difference

After three defeats in a row where Coventry City had been more than competitive at 0-0 and then struggled after falling behind, the most concerning aspect of this loss is that the Sky Blues finally got their noses in front in a game and then proceeded to capitulate immediately. For a team that hasn’t won a game from a losing position in over 18 months, it is especially important that they can hold onto winning positions.

Coventry City were especially fortunate in this game to be ahead in a variety of manners. After Mark Robins changed up the starting XI and formation once again, the team looked tentative and unsure of itself in the opening exchanges. While certain selection decisions, most notably, Joel Latibeaudiere at right wing-back, seemed to signal the intent to play for a clean sheet, that the Sky Blues continued to play deliberately out from the back signaled that this wasn’t the case. Instead, the team was looking to take the game to Preston North End but was unable to progress the ball into dangerous enough areas to do so.

The hosts were on top, with their winger, Liam Millar, giving Joel Latibeaudiere a particularly torrid time down the Coventry City right side. However, the Sky Blues benefited from a stroke of fortune from a rare break when Matt Godden was able to get a shot on goal across Preston North End’s Freddie Woodman, only for the parry to fall at the feet of what looked to be a pretty clearly offside Haji Wright for a tap-in. When a team is on a poor run, this is the kind of luck that can change that. However, it made no difference at all to the nervy and tentative football that the Sky Blues were playing in this game.

Coventry City quickly invited pressure back onto themselves and defended poorly both as individuals and as a unit. The equaliser came just five minutes after taking the lead, with the Sky Blues inviting a cross into the box down that troublesome right side of their defence, with the diminutive Jay Dasilva unsurprisingly struggling to make a commanding clearance with his header, putting the ball straight into the path of an unmarked Duane Holmes to fire home confidently. Preston North End were then ahead after they played a ball in behind Kyle McFadzean, who made a crude attempt to foul Milutin Osmajic as he shot wide miserably, allowing Alan Browne to score from the spot.

This was an example of a team getting what they deserved after taking an undeserved lead. Contrast that with the manner in which Preston North End played after going ahead, sitting back, defending their penalty area with force and confidence, playing the ball forward quickly and with purpose whenever they got the opportunity to. Coventry City had shown little semblance of a plan to begin with and that was exposed when it was put under pressure by an opponent chasing the game.

The End Of The Road For Kyle McFadzean?

For the second time this week, an opponent has played a ball in behind Kyle McFadzean and gone on to score. While on Monday night against West Bromwich Albion, that was because of an offside call that didn’t happen, for the second goal in this game, it’s not just that McFadzean’s lack of pace was exposed but his lame attempt to cover it that led to the penalty. That was a particularly shocking piece of defending from Coventry City’s oftentimes captain.

Moreover, the situation when the Sky Blues were ahead in this game should have provided Kyle McFadzean the perfect platform to take charge of the penalty area and lead the team to a clean sheet and victory. The 36-year-old’s lack of pace is hardly a surprise, but the idea behind continuing to play him is that he can command the defense both physically and in terms of intangible leadership qualities when dropping into a deep position. While he wasn’t directly involved in the equaliser during the short period where Coventry City was focusing on defending their box, he needed to provide the organisation to help either prevent the cross or get players in a position to defend it better than they did.

Perhaps Kyle McFadzean isn’t being helped this season by playing alongside defenders of lower quality than Luke McNally and Callum Doyle, who formed that tight defensive phalanx last season. But if he is not providing the benefit of being able to coax his colleagues to better performances, the question is: what role is he playing in the side? At the moment, he is not dominating opposing forwards, not commanding the penalty area, not offering a ton of quality on the ball, and he has been caught out for pace on multiple occasions. From being one of the team’s key strengths in recent years, he is increasingly looking like a weak point.

Taking Kyle McFadzean out of the side would allow Coventry City to play higher up the pitch, knowing that they have greater pace at the back to cover for balls over the top. That change could also coincide with Brad Collins coming in to the goalkeeping position, who is much more willing to come quickly off his line to sweep up behind the defence than Ben Wilson is. However, Preston’s third goal in this game highlighted the key drawback of taking McFadzean out of the team: there isn’t anyone commanding enough in defence to be able to defend the penalty area with confidence.

That really would make the plan for Kyle McFadzean-less Coventry City back-line all about committing to a high-intensity, high-risk style of play in order to look to prevent the issue of teams getting into the penalty area. The concern with doing that is this team looks short on confidence and quality going forward, making it a sacrifice for defensive solidity without the guarantee of improved attacking threat. However, this game showed that McFadzean may no longer assure the defensive dominance he once did.

A Better Second-Half, But Don’t Get Carried Away

Coventry City were better in the second half of this game, with Kyle McFadzean and Yasin Ayari replaced with Ellis Simms and Josh Eccles. They switched to a 4-2-3-1 formation with Ellis Simms on the right wing and Haji Wright on the left wing, despite it being suboptimal to play two of the club’s most expensive players ever away from their natural positions. However, it nearly worked, with Simms, in particular, looking like a threat with his pace and intent from a wide position.

However, it is important to note that Preston North End dropped off their pressing game to allow Coventry City time on the ball to get into something approaching a rhythm in attack. Even then, there were a lot of sloppy Sky Blues passes and touches as they looked to force the issue. Additionally, they still lacked a clear plan for getting the ball into shooting positions when in the final third. On top of that, Preston were able to break and score a killer third goal, rendering another Haji Wright later tap-in a meaningless consolation effort.

This points towards the issue mentioned in the previous point of taking Kyle McFadzean out of the side and looking to play in a more attack-minded manner. Coventry City doesn’t look to have the players to control games with possession, with Ben Sheaf being the closest to that but who is currently being forced to be an attacking contributor at the same time due to the lack of a final third playmaker. With Callum O’Hare understandably still rusty after missing nearly a year’s worth of football, the fact that Ellis Simms from a wide position was the team’s biggest threat highlights the lack of creative players in the team despite all the money that was spent on it over the summer.

It was little surprise that the flurry in the second-half ultimately led to nothing. This had been seen in the three games prior where Coventry City has looked to chase games, had some promising moments in attack, but has left itself open to the sucker punch at the other end. It has been a long time since this team has won a game from a losing position, and that’s more about tactical clarity as it is about quality. A key tenet of Mark Robins’ sides has been the reliance on key individuals to build the team around. Currently, there isn’t that individual to do so, leaving the team looking pretty rudderless.