Sideways Sammy

Coventry City picked up a respectable point at home to Southampton but were left frustrated that they couldn’t hold onto a winning position.

The first-half was largely about the Sky Blues trying to contain the Saints as they knocked the ball around at the back, waiting for opportunities to spring the dangerous Adam Armstrong into dangerous positions in the penalty area. However, they were able to find some intent in the second 45, pressing Southampton more dangerously and finally getting the timing of the ball into the forwards right.

The home team’s goal came from Ben Sheaf and Callum O’Hare hassling Ryan Manning off the ball high up the pitch, allowing O’Hare to slide through Haji Wright into a promising position from which the American forward cut inside and finished with aplomb. Coventry City threatened to build on that lead, but eventually ceded control to Southampton as they looked to see out the win.

The Sky Blues had looked to be doing a good job of preventing Southampton creating anything clear-cut, but the defensive concentration seemed to dip for a moment as a result of a lengthy injury break after the Saints’ Kyle Walker-Peters went down, with Ben Sheaf caught on the ball near the home penalty area, allowing Adam Armstrong to tease in a cross that found its way to Samuel Edozie to finish.

After a late injection of energy from the bench via Josh Eccles and Kasey Palmer, Coventry City recovered to work a golden opportunity between Palmer and Ben Sheaf for the latter to draw an excellent save out of Southampton’s Gavin Bazunu to ensure the game ended as a draw.

Waiting To Uncoil The Spring

This game was always going to be a test of patience against a Southampton who love to hoard possession. With the home crowd desperate for Coventry City to get on the attack, the danger was that they would give in to that urge to force the issue and get picked off with balls over the top. However, there was also the risk of sitting in too deep and allowing the Saints to push forward without causing them pause for thought on the ball. It was a difficult balancing act, but City largely got it right and gave up few chances while looking a danger on the break.

With such little time on the ball, this game was about maximising what little of it the Sky Blues had. In the first-half, they looked rushed and often ended up exposed by playing the ball too quickly into teammates who weren’t quite ready to receive it, leaving space for Southampton to play quicker passes into. Just on the stroke of half-time, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto mounted a break to send Ellis Simms clean through on goal and that set the tone for a more purposeful second-half display.

Ben Sheaf and Callum O’Hare began to click into gear in the latter half of the game and started to get passes into the forwards in more accurately, Coventry City began to look the likeliest team to score. One well-worked move involving Milan van Ewijk and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto saw the former play a cut-back for O’Hare to fire narrowly over from. The goal itself came from the Sky Blues spotting the right time to press, with Sheaf and O’Hare squeezing Ryan Manning off the ball high up the pitch, providing space for the latter to dart into and time a pass to slide Haji Wright through, with the American producing a composed finish.

After a burst of impetus immediately following the goal, the Sky Blues began to tire and allow Southampton back into the game. The frustration is that the home side kept the Saints to relatively few good chances on goal and that their equaliser came from a loss of concentration when Ben Sheaf was caught trying to play too hastily on the edge of the penalty area, allowing Adam Armstrong to tease in a cross for Samuel Edozie to finish from. Coventry City probably could have benefitted from the injection of energy from introducing the substitutes around 15 minutes earlier to prevent the sloppiness that led to the goal, but they showed here that they have teeth as a fast, counter-attacking team, so long as they can time the pass into the forwards correctly.

Ben Sheaf Is The Beating Heart Of This Team

Having given the ball away in the build-up to the equalising goal, in a performance where that wasn’t the first time he lost possession for the team, Ben Sheaf still came out of this game for Coventry City as the team’s most important player. With the most touches, passes, tackles and interceptions of anyone in a Sky Blue shirt that night, for every mistake that Sheaf made, he responded to it with some crucial interventions on either side of the ball. The former Arsenal youngster is becoming the type of player who, when he plays well, the teams plays well – with the obverse being true – epitomised by him playing a crucial role in the goals for both sides here.

Ben Sheaf has been asked this season to replace the presence and leadership that Gustavo Hamer provided for the team over recent years while maintaining his role as the metronomic, organising presence in midfield. At times, it has felt that Mark Robins has been asking too much of a player who is very tidy on the ball to become the truly destructive, creative presence that this team has been missing in the centre of the park. However, Sheaf hasn’t shirked the responsibility and has been willing to introduce risk-taking into his game to drive the team forward. This game underlined the benefits and pitfalls of asking him to do so.

Whenever Coventry City were able to get on the front foot here, it was often Ben Sheaf that had either won the ball, played it forward, or both. In the first-half, Sheaf had struggled to get up to the tempo of the game and looked pretty sloppy as a result but when he found his accuracy in the second-half, the team notably became more dangerous. Without Sheaf playing well, this team has a harder time getting the likes of Callum O’Hare, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Haji Wright into the game, when he steps up, it provides the platform for others to shine.

Sheaf’s role in Southampton’s equalising goal underlined the downside of asking him to do just about every job in midfield. Attempting to play a pass under pressure into Milan van Ewijk to get the team on the attack, Ben Sheaf ends up giving the ball away due to feeling that responsibility to get the team on the attack at just about every opportunity. Out of possession, Sheaf appeared to be caught between two minds of looking to press up on Southampton and sit in to protect the defence, which often left room for the away side to play passes right through Coventry City’s midfield.

When Josh Eccles came on later on, that provided Ben Sheaf with a fresh lease of energy that saw him so nearly win the game for the Sky Blues. With Eccles able to ease the burden on Sheaf to hold the midfield together out of possession, Sheaf could focus on organising the team’s attacking play. The best indication of how teammates view each other’s importance is who they turn to when the team is looking for a goal late on, here it was Sheaf – just as it has been Gustavo Hamer in recent years. The presence of mind and quality that he showed to spot an opportunity to play a quick free-kick to combine with Kasey Palmer for a shot on goal in the final minutes of the game, underlined that it is Sheaf who is leading this team’s attacking play and he’s starting to relish that responsibility.

Substitutes Shoe City’s Rising Strength

For much of this season, it has been a struggle for Mark Robins to find a starting XI that functions. This game not only demonstrated that this 4-2-3-1 system with Brad Collins, Liam Kitching, Bobby Thomas and Jake Bidwell leading the defence, Ben Sheaf and Jamie Allen providing energy in central midfield, Tatushiro Sakamoto and Milan van Ewijk combining down the right, Callum O’Hare floating dangerous in the number ten role, and Haji Wright and Ellis Simms bustling energetically in attack is proving an effective formula, but that there are players on the bench who can change things up positively when the team needs it.

The introductions of Jay Dasilva, Josh Eccles and Kasey Palmer later on provided the team with a burst of energy and intent just when they needed it, the latter two in particular. Eccles’ energy and physicality in central midfield helped the Sky Blues win the ball at crucial moments to prevent Southampton building momentum in attack at a time they were looking to move into the ascendancy. Kasey Palmer, meanwhile, was free to harry defenders and show moments of skill around the penalty area in a late, harem-scarem, role his talent and fitness levels are probably best-suited to.

Having players available on the bench that provide more than just fresh legs is something that Coventry City haven’t really had since their return to the Championship, barring the brief spell last year when both Callum O’Hare and Kasey Palmer were fit. It allows Mark Robins to approach games differently, breaking them into periods before and after substitutions and allowing whoever is on the pitch to maximise their energy levels, knowing that a replacement will come to maintain the intensity.

In a game where Coventry City threatened to lose control of it completely after the equaliser, the substitutes allowed the team to press Southampton with intent and knock them out of their rhythm to swing the momentum. Perhaps, if the substitutes had come fifteen minutes earlier, that might have prevented the equaliser happening in the first place, but it shows that this team is continuing to make progress that they now have replacements available that can make such a positive impact.