Sideways Sammy

Coventry City’s long unbeaten run came to an end at Carrow Road, despite taking a lead early in the second-half.

After an opening 45 where Norwich City were the most threatening team, the Sky Blues were quick out of the blocks after half-time, with Victor Torp pouncing on some loose play at the back from the hosts to set up Callum O’Hare to tease the Norwich defence and finish with aplomb. Coventry could have been two up not long after when Haji Wright was clean through on goal but saw his side-footed attempt saved by the feet of Angus Gunn.

Norwich were level on the hour mark, when a cross into the box was only half-cleared by the Coventry City defence and Josh Sargent finished. The hosts began to control affairs from that point on, with Sargent getting in behind and felled by Liam Kitching for a clear red card.

The Sky Blues nearly snatched the game with ten-men, when a lovely move involving Callum O’Hare and Jamie Allen set Kasey Palmer up for an effort that was well-saved by Angus Gunn. However, there was no stopping Norwich’s winner, when Borja Sainz got into space on the edge of the area to curl an arrow past Brad Collins.

Live By The Sword, Die By The Sword

Coventry City’s unbeaten run has been predicated on turning games into open slug-fests in the belief that this team could pull off the killer blows. However, Norwich City proved here that there are teams in this division who can swing just as hard as the Sky Blues and they were able to grab the win here with two moments of quality in an otherwise scrappy contest.

A key reason why this game in particular was so open was the decision to pair Victor Torp and Jamie Allen in central midfield, two players who prefer to be on the ball in the opposing half. The aim seemed to be to push up on Norwich City, with the defensive line playing high, in an attempt to play the game in their half, but Coventry City were rarely able to apply enough pressure on their opponents up the pitch to pen them in. Instead, it allowed the mobile Josh Sargent to repeatedly get in behind the Sky Blues defensive line, while the dangerous Gabriel Sara and Borja Sainz floated into the space behind Torp and Allen in central midfield.

Norwich threatened to take advantage of the Sky Blues’ openness early on, with Sargent being sprung behind the away side’s defence on several occasions in the first 15 minutes without quite being able to pull the trigger. It was only in the second-half that Coventry City started to see the benefits of their approach, with Callum O’Hare’s goal coming from Victor Torp punishing some loose passing out of Norwich’s defence, leaving the home side rattled.

After Haji Wright missed a glorious opportunity from a quick break to make it 2-0, Coventry gradually lost their energy levels and Norwich City got back into the game. From the first decent move the home side were able to string together in the second-half, Josh Sargent, finished with aplomb. Sargent’s dangerous runs then produced what was arguably the game’s key moment, when he drew a last-ditch foul from Liam Kitching to leave Coventry City with ten men with around 20 minutes remaining.

Mark Robins was bold in delaying the forward-thinking,, Callum O’Hare, Jamie Allen and Kasey Palmer in midfield, with the team down a man and that kept the Sky Blues with a fighter’s chance of not just taking a point but winning. The combination of the aforementioned midfielders produced a scintillating exchange that played Palmer in that could so nearly have led to a match-winning goal. However, that openness in midfield provided enough space around the penalty area for Borja Sainz to curl in a delightful finish to win the game.

While there was an element of lethargy to Coventry City’s performance here, there was still the opportunity take all three points here. The issue was that, from a winning position, the team did little to try and manage the contest. That Jamie Allen looked to take a quick free-kick in his own half that nearly set-up Haji Wright for a crucial second goal highlights what this team has been so good at in recent months, but it was also part of the open mind-set that helped Norwich City turn things around.

This run of form has demonstrated what this team is capable of when making games exciting, end-to-end contests, but this defeat has highlighted that such an approach means there will be times when opponents produce the moments of quality and not the Sky Blues.

Clean Sheets Should Be A Target

It is now nine games in league and cup since Coventry City have kept a clean sheet, which has been an issue over the past two matches, when the team hasn’t quite had the quality to win it at the other end. The failure to keep the opposition out has seen the Sky Blues drop five points over the past week, having taken the lead in both games. Instead of sitting in fifth, four points clear of seventh-place, Coventry are back on the outside of the top six, looking in.

One of the key reasons why this run got going in the first place was down to that understanding between Brad Collins in goal and Liam Kitching and Bobby Thomas in front of him at centre-back, however, the trio have been responsible for some of the leakiness of late. While they have been far from terrible, there has been a missing element of composure to help calm things down at the back. With Collins prone to parrying shots he has a chance to catch, Kitching a bit too aggressive in pushing up the pitch and leaving space behind him, and Thomas susceptible to the odd poor touch around the penalty area, it is allowing opponents to feel they have a chance of causing danger to Coventry City at the back.

The onus, however, shouldn’t necessarily be on individual performances but the manner in which the team defends as a whole that is leading to this leakiness. Norwich City’s equaliser came from Tatushiro Sakamoto being a touch slow to come out to stop a ball into the box, highlighting that the team’s decision to play with such a forward-thinking front four has its drawbacks.

It goes back to the previous point that this team’s open approach always means opponents have a chance against Coventry City, the question is how much this needs to be corrected to reduce that risk without limiting the team’s attacking threat. Finding a midfield combination that can provide stability in front of the defence is probably the key area to target, as well as playing a little more sensibly from winning positions.

With the counter-attacking threat that this side has, if the defence can return to keeping clean sheets more reliably, that could well be good enough to make the play-offs.

Fatigue Bites

The other reason why things have become a touch sloppy for Coventry City of late is clearly down to fatigue. While the Sky Blues had the chance to win this game, they rarely were on top for long spells in an attempt to force the issue, and some of that defensive looseness surely has to be the result of players being tired and not being able to cover distances to make up gaps at the back.

Even just one or two injuries has proven limiting for Mark Robins. Ben Sheaf’s absence for this game, along with the manager deciding Josh Eccles could do with a rest, led to a sub-optimal midfield selection of the attack-minded and not fully-fit, Victor Torp, alongside the forward-thinking Jamie Allen. Meanwhile, Haji Wright has yet to find sharpness in the couple of games since he’s been back fit and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto on the other wing simply cannot be rested.

It is why the relative lack of action in the January transfer market seems almost bewildering, especially, in being unable to ensure Ephron Mason-Clark could join the club right away. With the likes of Sunderland, Hull City and the opponents in this game, Norwich City, having been willing to deal in short-term loans to bolster their play-off bids, this could be an area in which the Sky Blues’ charge for the top six falls short. However, taking a longer-term view to January business also highlights that the priority is to ensure this team can challenge for the top six, or better, for years to come.

Mark Robins has proven adept at managing relatively limited resources and that is his task for the remainder of the season. That this team is in this position in the first place highlights the good work that was done over the summer in assembling a team nearly entirely from scratch after last year’s play-off final defeat. While a couple of additional bodies would have been nice to have added in January, the strategy is that those bodies will arrive over the next couple of transfer windows and that they will be players who can make an impact, rather than just there to plug some holes.