Sideways Sammy

A tepid performance in drawing at home to Bristol City on Tuesday night begins to raise the concern as to whether Coventry City are starting to cool down from their recent hot streak. The heavy fixture list over the past couple of weeks hasn’t helped, with the team looking short in midweek of their typical zip and with a few errors creeping into the game too, the Sky Blues need to re-calibrate slightly to keep this run going.

A trip to away to a Norwich City side who could go level on points with Coventry City with a win makes this an important game to maintain the team’s grip on a top six spot. The Canaries have had an inconsistent campaign, going from extreme highs early to complete depression a few months ago, before rediscovering some of their old mojo recently. A team with goals in it, the Sky Blues will have to be wary not to be drawn into another slugging contest here as they could get a blow to the jaw that will be difficult to get up from.

Expected Line-Up

An injury to Ben Sheaf early on Tuesday night feels like the kind of thing that could make or break the season for Coventry City. The midfield laboured through the rest of the evening and while Victor Torp showed some bright touches after he came on in the second-half, it could well be a little too early for the Dane to play 90 minutes – which is what he ideally would do in this game.

The decision over what to do with Victor Torp is one of the key calls that Mark Robins will have to make in this game. On the one hand, starting him even if he can only last 60-70 minutes could put the team in a position to see out the game. On the other, Torp’s forward-thinkingness and skill later on could provide that extra gear later on to grab the win. The sensible decision here would the later, with Joel Latibeaudiere and Josh Eccles starting in central midfield, due to Torp’s lack of fitness and familiarity with his teammates.

The other major decision is who starts at centre-forward. Ellis Simms’ goal on Tuesday night, combined with an indifferent showing from Matt Godden looks like it will be enough for the former to start, unless Mark Robins feels like Godden deserves one more chance to get back into scoring form.

Elsewhere, whether Haji Wright is fit enough to start on the left of the attack looks to be the final quandary on Mark Robins’ mind ahead of this game. The American looked a touch rusty off the bench against Bristol City in midweek, but it might not be a terrible idea to hand Kasey Palmer a rest after his recent run of starts and known fitness issues.

Last Time We Met

In what had been one of Coventry City’s most convincing performances of the season up until that point, the Sky Blues dominated at the CBS Arena against Norwich City but could only muster a draw. A key reason why that was the case was because Norwich were able to take the lead before half-time, when Josh Eccles was caught on the ball at the edge of the area and Jonathan Rowe bundled a toe-poke into the back of the net.

The second-half was almost entirely one-way traffic, with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Milan van Ewijk occupying the two wing-back roles and stretching Norwich City all over the pitch as Coventry City looked to force the issue. However, an equaliser was hard to see coming, until Ben Gibson nodded a Van Ewijk cross into his own net. The Sky Blues could then have won it late on, when Tatsuhiro Sakamoto had a close-range effort blocked in the penalty area.

The Opposition

The Manager – David Wagner

That memorable promotion with Huddersfield Town back in 2017 is looking an ever-distant memory for David Wagner as he attempts to hold onto the job at Norwich City. Once well-known for a super energetic and risky style of pressing football, Wagner has become more pragmatic over time, with the sense that he is currently chopping and changing hoping to stumble onto a successful formula engendering the sentiment that he’s not really taking Norwich anywhere.

The season had started so well for David Wagner and Norwich City, based entirely on the manager deploying that energetic, pressing football, however, injuries to key forwards, Josh Sargent and Ashley Barnes, saw not only the team’s form tail-off but caused Wagner to completely abandon his approach. While the Canaries are ticking along just outside the play-off places, that is largely down to stand-out individual contributions than any sense that the team is working towards anything as a collective unit. While that individual quality could be enough to sneak into the play-offs, this team could just as easily drift into mid-table nothingness with the next month or so potentially decisive in which direction Norwich head off in.

Who To Look Out For?

The star name for Norwich City this season has undoubtedly been winger, Jonathan Rowe, who has had a break-out year from almost nowhere, having played a few games for the club previously but struggled with injury issues. The academy youngster has the ability to produce something out of nothing, whether that’s long-range bangers or sniffing out goals from half-chances in the penalty area, which has been invaluable in a team that has flitted between styles and formations at random throughout the campaign.

Less obvious than Rowe’s scoring ability has been that of Gabriel Sara in midfield, who acts as the team’s orchestrator in either a number ten or deeper role. The Brazilian is pretty much the last big investment Norwich City have made with their recent Premier League money, and he has been worth it. Capable of conducting affairs from deep, picking telling passes into the forward line or stepping up with goals himself, Gabriel Sara could easily slot into a top-flight side.

The other key players for Norwich City are forwards, Josh Sargent and Ashley Barnes, whose absences for a significant chunk of the campaign left David Wagner flailing in the managerial dug-out. Sargent and Barnes are so important for the energy they provide the team in pressing opponents high up the pitch, along with their physical presences as a reference-point to build attacks around. They have both returned to fitness of late and the team’s form has improved, with Sargent’s relentless running and physicality in attack something that could be very unsettling to the Coventry City back-line.

There remains quality elsewhere in this Norwich City side, lingering from their recent stints as Premier League also-rans, with Borja Sainz out wide showing Jonathan Rowe-like habits for snaffling goals from nowhere, Onel Hernandez’s pace and directness from the bench something that could stretch the game late-on, while full-backs Jack Stacey and Dimitris Giannoulis can supply quality in their crossing when they get up the pitch.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

With Josh Sargent back fit in attack for Norwich City, it provides them with the ability to press and harry Coventry City in awkward areas as they look to build from the back. It’s not just about the direct threat that Sargent provides on his own but that he is able to draw attention away from the dangerous Jonathan Rowe (although, there is a suggestion he will miss this game due to a hand injury), Gabriel Sara and Borja Sainz floating behind him. Any looseness at the back from the Sky Blues has a good chance of being pounced upon.

The more time Coventry City can spend on the ball, the more they can ask questions of Norwich City’s defensive organisation and shape, which isn’t the best. The issue there though is that the likely starting combination of Joel Latibeaudiere and Josh Eccles doesn’t look to be considered enough in possession to be able to provide the team the control to wear Norwich down. In fact, the concern with Latibeaudiere and Eccles is less to do with how they progress the ball in the opposing half than how they may be harried in their own. This is going to be a big test of that duo’s ability to be starting central midfielders in a top six Championship team.

Both teams are likely to feel that the longer they keep the game tight, the more it benefits them. For Norwich City, it will be because they have attacking players who can produce something out of nothing, for Coventry City, it will be because Haji Wright and Victor Torp coming off the bench could provide that burst of energy that could take the game away from the home side late on. Unless either team is guilty of glaring errors, expect a tight contest up until the 70-minute mark.