Any fears of a post-FA Cup hangover were allayed with a routine victory over Huddersfield Town on Good Friday. The focus on making the top six cannot be allowed to dim, considering the form of the teams above Coventry City in the play-off picture. Anything less than a fourth win in a row in this upcoming game could see sixth place slide out of reach, standards cannot slip at this time of the campaign.
The opposition at the CBS Arena on this Easter Monday is a Cardiff City side pretty much in the last chance saloon for their play-off hopes. The Bluebirds started the campaign strongly and while they have flagged in recent months, they remain a dangerous side capable of taking points off the better teams in this division. This would be a dangerous encounter to underestimate at a time where there is little margin for error for Coventry City.
Expected Line-Up
Mark Robins resisted any consideration to hand those who were on international duty over the past week a breather against Huddersfield Town and was rewarded with a comfortable, convincing victory. While there has only been a couple of days between the two games, the indication from the manager’s team selection last time out would suggest that he’s of little mind to change what has proved a winning formula of late.
If there are to be changes, the two most likely ones that come to mind both involve bringing Callum O’Hare into the starting line-up. The most obvious way to do so would allow Kasey Palmer, who has been playing some of his best football for the club of late, a rest, which may need to be a consideration at some point given Palmer’s fitness record over the years. Alternatively, O’Hare may come into the side in place of Joel Latibeaudiere, allowing Milan van Ewijk to drop back to right-back as the team looks to adopt a more attacking approach for a home game.
However, any change to the starting line-up right now looks unlikely. While the fixture list may eventually necessitate Mark Robins switching things up, the majority of the team is off the back of a two-week break, with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto the only current absentee over the remainder of the campaign. Form feels the greater consideration right now over fitness, be aware that this mind-set may need to change soon.
Last Time We Met
It was one of Coventry City’s poorer performances of the season as they travelled to an in-form Cardiff City side on a midweek night in September. The Bluebirds took an early lead when Dimitrios Goutas powered home a header after being left unmarked at a corner-kick. The home side looked the likelier team to score next, until Matt Godden poked in a Liam Kelly pass after a set-piece to level proceedings going into half-time.
A key decision proved to be when Milan van Ewijk went off with an injury in the second-half, with Mark Robins making the bold call to replace him with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto at right wing-back. The Japanese winger’s defensive naivety was quickly punished when Karlan Grant ghosted in behind him to head in a cross to restore Cardiff City’s lead. More soft defending lead to the killer third goal, when Kion Etete was somehow found in an ocean of space in the Sky Blues’ penalty area to fire past Ben Wilson, rendering a late, well-worked, Godden effort a consolation.
The Opposition
The Manager – Erol Bulut
Having been a left-field appointment at the Cardiff City Stadium over the summer, Erol Bulut quickly made an impact with a strong start to the campaign, fuelled by the return of Aaron Ramsey, along with strong defensive organisation and pace in forward areas. The combination of Ramsey missing the majority of the campaign since September and teams starting to figure out not to leave Cardiff space on the counter has seen the team’s play-off bid falter.
Investment in the January transfer market – the first since Cardiff City came out of a transfer ban related to the non-payment of a transfer fee for the late Emiliano Sala – threatened to pull the Bluebirds back into the top six race, but a derby defeat to Swansea City before the international break was followed up by a dreadful performance at home to Sunderland last time out where the team barely created a chance, to leave Cardiff’s hopes of the play-offs hanging by a thread. Erol Bulut’s side tend to be at their best when they can sit back and hurt teams both on the break or via set-pieces, recent games have underlined their struggles when handed possession – although, the return of Aaron Ramsey may well change that.
Who To Look Out For?
The formula at Cardiff City for the majority of the campaign has been relatively straightforward, defend well, get it to the quick, attacking players or take advantage of set-pieces. It is the Bluebirds’ variety of quick-footed forward players that looks the key area of danger here, with the rapid Callum O’Dowda, the tricky Josh Bowler, the powerful Yakou Meite, or the niggly Callum Robinson all excellent options for a team to have to threaten on an away trip to side looking to control matters in front of an expectant home crowd. In addition, Karlan Grant at centre-forward is no slouch himself.
Aaron Ramsey looks set to be fit to start his first game for Cardiff City since the middle of September, which would be just his seventh of the season, could well be a game-changer for the Bluebirds after a couple of poor recent results. The vastly experienced Wales star is clearly a cut above in the Championship with the time and space he is able to find on the ball, along with his use of it. The risk with bringing him back had always been surrounding his fitness, which has been proven the case this season. Likely not to last the 90 minutes, having the impressive youngster, Rubin Colwill, to come on later in the match to run at a tired defence and pick out a final ball could prove an effective formula.
Cardiff City’s other key strength is their power at the back, led by the key summer addition of the dominant Greek centre-back, Dimitrios Goutas, with Liverpool loanee, Nat Phillips, providing a further physical presence alongside, the Bluebirds are more than comfortable sitting back, repelling attacks and waiting for their front four to devastate at the other end. With Perry Ng at right-back a very strong defender too, along with the sturdy midfield pairing of Joe Ralls and Ryan Wintle, that allows the freedom for former Coventry City loanee, Josh Wilson-Esbrand, to provide further attacking pace from left-back, having impressed since joining on loan in January.
Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost
There are two key areas of this game that Coventry City are going to need to pay attention to. The primary one is Cardiff City’s pace on the counter-attack. The Bluebirds are likely to be happy ceding possession to the Sky Blues, waiting for any loose play in midfield or defence to pounce upon to allow Aaron Ramsey to thread through whichever set of rapid wide players that Erol Bulut chooses to start this game. The second area is that Cardiff’s ability to freshen up that pace in attack in the final stages of the game via the combination of which of their wingers they choose not to start and the nimble-footed attacking-midfielder, Rubin Colwill, who could either nick the win against tired Coventry legs or take the game away from them.
How Coventry City look to go about killing off counter-attacks will be important here. The danger is if Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching at centre-back get isolated, as the duo have a habit of getting sucked into risky challenges when left one-on-one against pace, which could either see them beaten and allow their opponents a free run at goal, or pick up bookings that could be upgraded to red cards later in the game. Ben Sheaf and Josh Eccles will have an important role to play in screening the centre-backs, while it may be an idea for one of the full-backs, Joel Latibeaudiere and Jake Bidwell, to sit narrow and deep in possession to provide a touch more cover at the back. On top of that, avoiding loose passes when trying to build play from deep will further help avoid unfavourable one-against-one situations at the back.
The physical battle between Ellis Simms and Cardiff City’s centre-backs could well define how much of a threat Coventry City offer in the final third. Simms has shown he can make his presence known at centre-forward, but Cardiff’s discipline and physicality at the back could really test just how effective the striker is when faced with a stern inspection. Additionally, Haji Wright is going to need to be on it to get any change out of Perry Ng at right-back for Cardiff. The key area of opportunity is probably Milan van Ewijk’s pace off the back of Josh Wilson-Esbrand at left-back, which could drag the opposing back-line across to cover, providing room for Simms, Wright and Kasey Palmer to take advantage of.
Sideways Sammy 