Sideways Sammy

After a game against West Bromwich Albion on Friday night that was over barely after it started, Coventry City have lost more ground in the play-off race and now head into a crucial week to preserve their chase for the top six. Recent injuries have exposed some gaping cracks in the squad that Mark Robins is struggling to plaster over, but if the team can hold firm over the two games, there is relief on the horizon heading into the business end of the campaign.

The first of this double-header is, on paper, the easiest game Coventry City will face all season. At home against a Rotherham United side who are 19 points adrift of safety, have an extended injury list of their own and have picked up just four points on the road this campaign, anything other than a win here is effectively handing points to the rest of the division. The question is whether the Sky Blues, in the state they are currently in, are equipped to accept the gift in front of them.

Expected Line-Up

Mark Robins made a switch to a back three for Friday night’s game against West Bromwich Albion and saw his team fall two goals down by half-time. For many, that would be enough to give up on the experiment, however, Coventry City were able to restrict West Brom to just seven shots over the course of the game, providing the manager with reason to stick with the set-up for the time being, with better options not readily apparent.

One of the biggest decisions heading into this game, and perhaps for the remainder of the season, is whether Ben Wilson stays in goal. While there wasn’t much the goalkeeper could do about an excellent strike for West Bromwich Albion’s first and a tap-in for the second, Wilson has conceded seven goals from the last ten shots on target he has faced, which isn’t a good statistic for any goalkeeper, regardless of the circumstances. The only doubt as to him losing his place is quite why Brad Collins was dropped in the first place and there is little evidence that the last few games have changed Mark Robins’ thinking over Wilson’s current first-choice status.

As for the rest of the team, Jake Bidwell and Liam Kitching’s recent absences from the team feel a little conspicuous given the team’s lack of defensive stability. It’s hard to find reasons for their continued exclusion, although the switch to a wing-back system perhaps justifies Jay Dasilva being preferred to Bidwell, but there could well be reasons apparent to Mark Robins that aren’t to the fans. Bidwell seems the likelier of the two to start this game, but there is no guarantee that he will.

The other key call is how to line up the attack, which is a choice between sticking with the pairing of Kasey Palmer and Callum O’Hare behind a centre-forward, or pick one of those two to line-up behind a strike duo. Mark Robins may want to keep one of Palmer or O’Hare fresh for the weekend’s trip to Watford, and the sense is that O’Hare might be the most in need of a rest. The strike partnership should be Ellis Simms & Haji Wright, which hasn’t really clicked yet, with Matt Godden possibly able to get a look-in as a result of that lack of understanding between the aforementioned strikers.

Last Time We Met

It was one of Coventry City’s poorer performances of the season as they lugged themselves up to Rotherham United on a Wednesday night in October and came away with zero points. The Sky Blues were toothless in front of goal and weak in defence, despite being on top for most of the contest. After missing some decent first-half chances, Coventry were made to pay early in the second-half when Rotherham took the lead from corner-kick routine.

The Sky Blues appeared to be pushing for a point, with Ellis Simms seeing a point-blank header saved and then fired into the side-netting from inside the six-yard box in quick succession, but Rotherham were able to counter against a frail back-line on multiple occasions, before killing the game off shortly after a throw-in when Ollie Rathbone fired emphatically past Ben Wilson to secure his team’s second league win of the campaign – they have only won once since.

The Opposition

The Manager – Leam Richardson

After finally staying up in the Championship last season, this campaign has demonstrated why it’s so difficult for Rotherham United to survive at this level. With one of the smallest budgets in the division and tending to rely on experienced veterans and loanees, there is little strategy for growth at the New York Stadium and they have looked out of their depth from pretty much the opening game. That lack of competitiveness saw Matt Taylor pay the price with his job, but it is hard to describe Leam Richardson, a man with just one full managerial season under his belt and last seen struggling in this division with Wigan Athletic, is a better manager than his predecessor.

There had been some hope of greater fight under Leam Richardson, who places an emphasis on hard work and guts over anything else, with an early victory against Middlesbrough and a recent narrow defeat at Ipswich Town highlighting that Rotherham United have the potential to be thorny opposition under his management. However, back-to-back defeats to direct relegation rivals, amid a slew of injuries, have ended any realistic prospect of the Millers staying up.

Who To Look Out For?

Rotherham United have looked to build a team around physicality and experience, with giant strikers, powerhouse midfielders and wily defenders. Aside from Sweden international goalkeeper, Viktor Johansson, the team is desperately short on players who can sprinkle some quality over that work-rate and dependability.

Up front, Rotherham have some awkward strikers in deploy in the forms of the giant Jordan Hugill, Tom Eaves and Charlie Wyke. They can potentially make life difficult for Coventry City if they can get their wide players, such Peter Kioso and Arvin Appiah up the pitch to provide service, but the lack of scoring form from anyone up top for the Millers highlights that their big men aren’t reliably getting good balls to attack in the penalty area.

In central midfield, players like Andy Rinomhota, Christ Tiehi and Cafu form a potentially intimidating phalanx in the middle of the park. Again, the issue is that there isn’t enough quality on the ball between the trio to get on top of opponents through anything other than hard-running. If Rotherham can get their noses in front, that physicality in midfield could come to the fore.

At the back, Viktor Johansson’s goalkeeping is the difference between Rotherham United being cut adrift at the bottom of the table and being a complete joke of a team at this level. An excellent reaction shot-stopper, the only reason why he won’t stay at this level next year is if he is attracted by a move to a top-flight team on the continent. As for the rest of the defence, the versatile and giant Hakeem Odoffin has impressed this season in a variety of roles at the back or in midfield, largely for his work-rate.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

Rotherham United’s season looks to be over after recent results, the question heading into this game is whether they will be motivated to play for pride. They showed against Ipswich two weeks ago that they have the ability to cause good teams problems when they utilise their energy and physicality to press opponents, which is definitely something they could utilise to prey on Coventry City’s weaknesses of starting slowly and playing into dangerous areas in their own half. If the Millers are given reason early on to believe they can get a result here, this could prove a trickier assignment than it looks on paper.

Just how the Sky Blues go about managing the game will be important here. After recent league matches where they’ve fallen behind early, getting through the opening 15-20 minutes level could be important in taking some of the sting out of this contest. The back three and the likely midfield duo of Josh Eccles and Victor Torp will be key in maintaining control of possession and to begin using Rotherham’s desperation to wear them into the ground later on.

Further forward, Coventry City need something to click here to give them something to build upon for the remainder of the campaign. As much as Kasey Palmer and Ellis Simms frustrated on Friday night with their wastefulness when in good areas, that they got into those areas could be where the Sky Blues threaten here. The risk is that Palmer in particular might make poor decisions on the ball that will allow Rotherham the chance to slow the game down, but that unpredictability could be just what forces a set defence to push up and out of position to open up space elsewhere in attack – particularly, if the wing-backs and wide centre-backs can support the attacking play by pushing up the pitch themselves.