Sideways Sammy

A battling point at Leeds United means that Coventry City have navigated two thirds of this tricky run ahead of Christmas unbeaten. With a week’s rest, the Sky Blues could well be looking to finish off this tough set of games with a victory that would help transform this recent uptick into a concerted good run of form as the season reaches the half-way mark.

The opposition are a Sunderland side who are just three points off the play-offs and are welcoming a new manager into the dug-out, in the form of former Queens Park Rangers and Glasgow Rangers boss, Michael Beale, having parted ways with the popular former Coventry City boss, Tony Mowbray. Beale arrives with more than a few points to prove given both his personal circumstances and that of Sunderland’s, which could make for a delicate atmosphere the Sky Blues may be able to take advantage of with the right blend of discipline and adventure at the Stadium of Light.

Expected Line-Up

Mark Robins battened down the hatches to manage both fitness and the occasion at Elland Road last week. While it proved a formula successful enough to earn a point against one of the most dangerous attacking units in the division, the same approach here would probably be unnecessarily negative. Most notably, it seems unlikely that Robins will start with two defenders, in the forms of Jay Dasilva and Joel Latibeaudiere, in midfield once again.

Out of the two, Laitbeaudiere has the best chance of staying in the team. His battling qualities could be useful for what is going to be a testing away fixture, however, his lack of experience of playing as a midfielder is likely to be exposed if the team ends up having longer spells of possession here than they did last week. Taking him out of the side allows for Callum O’Hare to come in to play as a number ten and cause Sunderland problems both on the break and in their attempts to build from the back.

With Jay Dasilva likely to be replaced by Haji Wright on the left of the attack, the remaining area for debate as far as the team is concerned is who starts at centre-forward. Ellis Simms has been doing a good job of late utilising his physical presence, pace and work-rate as a focal point up front, even if he hasn’t been getting on the end of chances. While that lack of goals potentially opens the door for Matt Godden, Simms’ all-round qualities feel better suited to the task at hand here of threatening on the break.

Last Time We Met

The meeting between these two teams in August was defined by neither side seeming to want to risk much out of fear of being picked off at the other end. Both Coventry City and Sunderland had long spells of tepid possession that provided little danger of breaking the deadlock. The game was perhaps best summed up by one of its best chances being a hopeful late Yasin Ayari effort from the half-way line that nearly caught out Anthony Patterson in the Sunderland goal.

The Opposition

The Manager – Michael Beale

When Sunderland made the surprising decision to part ways with Tony Mowbray with the team still in a good position to challenge for the play-offs a few weeks ago, it was expected that the club would go for an ambitious appointment to push them forwards, yet Michael Beale doesn’t exactly feel that way. While Beale turned down approaches last year from Premier League Aston Villa and Wolves while at Queens Park Rangers, a poor and short-lived spell in Scotland with Rangers casts a negative light on his managerial approach.

There are similarities between the squad Michael Beale had at Queens Park Rangers last year when they were flirting with automatic promotion early on and Sunderland’s, with young, technical players taking centre stage. The task for Beale is to add the killer touch that this team has been lacking at times this season to move above that dotted line into the play-offs. He will benefit from an excellent set-up at the Stadium of Light but faces the pressure of both replacing a popular predecessor and answering some of the recent criticisms that arose from his time at Rangers.

Who To Look Out For?

The key element of this Sunderland team over the past 18 months has been the combination of nimble-footed attacking midfield players that they have collected to make them a really unpredictable, tough to contain team. With the guile and experience of Patrick Roberts and Alex Pritchard to co-ordinate the efforts of the team’s younger players, the explosive skill and pace of Jack Clarke is especially threatening with the winger able to pick up positions anywhere around the penalty area to isolate opposing defenders and create chances. Jobe Bellingham is another benefitting from the platform Sunderland provide to young, skilful footballers, replicating some of his older brother’s instincts for ghosting into scoring positions at just the right time to round off attacking moves.

Further back, Dan Neil is one of the most talented ball-playing midfielders in the division right now, fully capable of running games on his own with his passing range. He is generally assisted in the centre of the park by the bustling physical presence of Pierre Ekwah who covers a lot of ground in midfield but also has quality of his own to offer on the ball and loves to get shots away whenever he is around the edge of the penalty area.

With that effervescent attacking unit, Sunderland’s defence is made up of real warriors who help the team stamp their authority on matches. This is best embodied by Trai Hume at right-back, who has made more tackles than anyone else in the division this season, while Dan Ballard at centre-back regularly dominates opposing attackers with his physical presence and timing in the challenge and his partner, Luke O’Nien, is someone who loves throwing his body in front of shots or winding opponents up by being aggressive in the challenge. Backing that up is Anthony Patterson in goal, who can be relied upon to make big saves and is a rare example of a non Premier League youngster making it into the England under-21 side.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

While Coventry City aren’t likely to be as negative as they were against Leeds United last week, this looks set to be another game where they will have the minority of possession and will look to make things happen on the break. Sunderland have really struggled to find a goalscoring centre-forward, which means that they Sky Blues can focus on sitting relatively deep and stewarding the opposition’s attacks into relatively safe wide areas before looking to break at pace. The key for Coventry here is getting that first pass into the attack right to be more direct on the counter-attack than they were last week.

The return of Haji Wright to the left wing will be helpful in adding a concerted threat on the break, although the American will likely be up against a thorny opponent in Trai Hume at right-back for Sunderland who will really test Wright’s ability to beat a defender one-against-one. With Ellis Simms against Dan Ballard another really tough match-up, Coventry City really will need their two big summer signings to be at their best to provide the team the threat they need to cause problems in this game. Callum O’Hare making runs off the back of Sunderland’s attack-minded midfield is a potential area of opportunity to aid Wright and Simms’ efforts.

The positional discipline of Coventry City’s defensive unit will be under stern inspection here against a Sunderland attack that are likely to interchange positions dynamically throughout the contest. Milan van Ewijk’s pace should be helpful if he ends up in one-against-one match-ups with Jack Clarke, as was seen at the CBS Arena back in August, but if Clarke floats into different areas, then the rest of the back four will also need to be ready for their individual defending to be tested. While Clarke is clearly the key man to contain, paying too much attention to him could then open up space for Jobe Bellingham, Alex Pritchard and Patrick Roberts to win the game for the opposition.