Sideways Sammy

A point on Wednesday night at Plymouth Argyle ensured that Coventry City stayed in the top six, but with three other teams level on points with the Sky Blues and another just a point behind, anything other than a win in this trip to Stoke City will surely see them slip out of the play-off positions. While there is still plenty of the season left not to overly fret about league position, maintaining this spot through a congested run of fixtures may well be prove crucial at the business end of the campaign when Mark Robins has the luxury of a bigger, fitter squad to choose from on a game-by-game basis.

This trip to Stoke City sees Coventry City come up against a side that arrested a tailspin with a narrow midweek win but still looks to be fragile as they look to maintain a buffer from the relegation zone. While the Potters have eased the pressure on themselves immensely by beating Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday night, they are short on confidence, coherence and patience in them from their fans. There is an opportunity here for the Sky Blues to take advantage of that, as long as they can produce a strong performance with fatigue starting to bite.

Expected Line-Up

After rotating the team on Wednesday night, Mark Robins is likely to play something much closer to his preferred starting XI this time out. However, there is doubt surrounding just how serious Callum O’Hare’s fatigue-induced absence in midweek was, while some of the first-choice players that started against Plymouth Argyle looked like they could do with a rest.

In particular, Bobby Thomas and Milan van Ewijk put in error-strewn performances that could put their positions in the side in some doubt. The issue though that the understudy for both players is Joel Latibeaudiere, who is currently being used in central midfield, who obviously cannot play in three positions at once. A solution could be to play Latibeaudiere at right-back, bring Luis Binks at centre-back (with either him or Liam Kitching playing on their unfavoured right side), with Josh Eccles in central midfield, but that decision rests on how important Mark Robins feels the need is to rest both Thomas and Van Ewijk.

Further forward, Haji Wright and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto look almost certain to return to the starting line-up after getting the opening hour off against Plymouth Argyle. For Callum O’Hare not to have even been on the bench due to his reported fatigue raises a doubt as to whether he will be available for this game. Ellis Simms will probably start at centre-forward, although him having played 90 minutes on Wednesday might provide a look-in for Matt Godden to atone for his big midweek miss.

Finally, another player to look out for with rotation in mind is Victor Torp, the team’s current leading light. While it might seem crazy to take a player who has had a direct hand in four of the team’s last five league goals, he is someone who has only recently been able to complete 90 minutes and after doing so in midweek, he could well be in need of a rest here.

Last Time We Met

With Coventry City keen to stop the rot after a poor run following the October international break and Stoke City utterly uninterested in scoring goals under Alex Neil, it was little surprise that the clash between these two teams back in November ended in a goalless draw with little of note occurring.

The Opposition

The Manager – Steven Schumacher

After impressing in leading Plymouth Argyle out of League One in style, Steven Schumacher has struggled to stamp his mark on Stoke City, as just about every manager they have had since relegation to the Championship in 2018 has failed to do either. Having played an entertaining brand of attacking football with Argyle, Schumacher hasn’t been able to replicate that with a Potters squad that is, theoretically, full of exciting, skilful players.

A narrow midweek win over 22nd place Queens Park Rangers has bought Steven Schumacher some breathing room after a poor run of results and performances had put him under pressure. However, there is still a need to pick up the handful of wins required to keep the team in the division, with performance levels likely to take a back seat for the time being as Schumacher looks to earn some buy-in from both players and fans in the Potteries.

Who To Look Out For?

As mentioned earlier, Stoke City have a good handful of players who are, theoretically, incredibly exciting and could make for an entertaining, winning outfit. With the skill of wide-men, Million Manhoef and Andre Vidigal, the finishing ability of Tyrese Campbell, the ability of Bae Jun-ho to drive forward with the ball through the middle, the ball-playing abilities of Lewis Baker, Luke Cundle and Wouter Burger in central midfield and the pace of Luke McNally and Michael Rose to cover at centre-back, Stoke have a lot of really tasty ingredients that somehow neither Alex Neil nor Steven Schumacher in the managerial dug-out have been able to blend into a wholesome meal.

The danger from this Stoke City side looks to be primarily from some of the quick-footed attacking players they have, with Bae Jun-ho leading the charge at the moment, while Andre Vidigal and Million Manhoef look to be sidelined at the moment, along with striker Ryan Mmaee, due to disagreements with Steven Schumacher. With the energy and physicality of Niall Ennis at centre-forward, Stoke also have midfield players in Wouter Burger and Lewis Baker who can threaten picking up the pieces of the chaos those nimble attacking players can cause.

At the back, Stoke benefit from the pace that both Michael Rose and Luke McNally can offer covering for the rest of the team as they look to push up and impose themselves on opponents. In goal, Daniel Iversen is a fantastic shot-stopper who can shut up shop when on top form, although, he has seen his confidence knocked over the past year or so after struggling to make the grade at Leicester City, who wanted a goalkeeper better with their feet.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

With Stoke City scrambling for points at the moment, Steven Schumacher has abandoned his attacking principles in order to keep the side disciplined without the ball and looking to score either on the break or via set-pieces. This could well be a test of Coventry City’s ability to play through an organised defence, which is something they have tended to struggle with when asked to do so this season as it limits the space for players like Haji Wright, Callum O’Hare and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto to take advantage of on the counter-attack.

The concentration at the back could be important here, in preventing Stoke side living off scraps somewhat getting just what they desire to nick a goal. Niall Ennis’ energy and physical presence up front for the Potters could be unsettling to the centre-backs if they are not prepared for a battle, while the midfield runners of Bae Jun-ho, Lewis Baker and Wouter Burger are all capable of taking advantage of any space that opens up.

An area that could go in Coventry City’s favour here is that Stoke City’s midfield is not the most tenacious, made up of three players who see themselves as ball-players, which could provide time on the ball for the likes of Victor Torp and Callum O’Hare to pick holes in a Stoke back-line that has been rather leaky of late. There is an opportunity here to take advantage of Stoke’s recent troubles, provided the Sky Blues can avoid giving away soft goals to give the attack the chance to kill this game off.