Sideways Sammy

Coventry City fell to a defeat on the opening day of the season at Stoke City in a game they never really got going in.

An early half-chance for Jack Rudoni aside, the first-half belonged to Stoke City. The Potters took advantage of a disjointed Sky Blues to control proceedings and should have been ahead at half-time, with Junior Tchamadeu failing to connect with a header from point-blank range just before the break.

The second-half was better from Coventry City, but they were only able to create half-chances. When the home side took the lead via Lewis Baker late on, there looked to be little response. The game faded out to a 1-0 defeat, making it four seasons since the Sky Blues have won on the opening day.

Problems Begin In Midfield

Dominated in the first-half, on top but unable to take advantage in the second, if there was one explanation for those two issues for Coventry City in this game, it came down to the midfield. Lacking authority early on, Stoke City were able take control. While improvement came after the break, the lack of a killer pass and the authority to protect the back-line allowed the home side to win the match with a solitary counter-attacking goal.

Barring Ben Sheaf, Mark Robins picked what he felt was his strongest midfield for this game, with Jack Rudoni operating behind the strikers and Victor Torp paired with Jamie Allen in the deeper positions. Of the three, Allen was the surprise pick, given his lack of defensive instincts or authority when joined by two attack-minded colleagues in the centre of the park.

Both Jamie Allen and Victor Torp were caught in possession in dangerous areas during the first half, contributing to Stoke City’s domination of the early exchanges. It was made worse by neither really asserting themselves in the challenge to allow the hosts to sustain spells of pressure. Jack Rudoni was the brightest of the midfield three but simply wasn’t allowed to get on the ball in threatening areas often enough to affect proceedings.

The second-half was an improvement. Aided by the front three pressing more effectively, Coventry City were able to get on top. The benefit of playing Jamie Allen, Victor Torp and Jack Rudoni together was their ability to move the ball quickly, which allowed the transition from defence to attack at pace. The lack of familiarity the trio had seemed to tell in the final third, when it came to play telling passes to spring the attack in on goal.

Stoke City’s goal came from poor defending, but their efforts would have been aided by an authoritative presence in front of them. That could have prevented Bobby Thomas’ failure to win the initial ball from leading to danger or allowed Jake Bidwell to get across and cover the through ball to Lewis Baker to finish. Instead, a defence many feared lacked authority were left scrambled and overloaded from a rare Stoke attacking foray in the second-half.

Mark Robins undoubtedly got his midfield team selection for this game wrong. Whether it was the shape or personnel, the players he selected could neither deal with an opponent controlling possession nor allow the team to sustain pressure. Not having Ben Sheaf available was a blow but there were still better selections and configurations in the centre than the manager deployed just in this game.

The Tyranny of Choice

Coventry City undoubtedly have a stronger bench than ever before this season but that they finished a game they were chasing without their best striker, passer of the ball and a winger who had the beating of his full-back highlights that having good options doesn’t guarantee that they will be used effectively.

The key changes came when the game was still at 0-0 and Mark Robins was looking for some extra edge in attack. Few would have disagreed with putting extra forwards in Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante on, but the players they replaced were the bigger issue. Ellis Simms’ presence in the penalty area was missed, despite Thomas-Asante occasionally unsettling the Stoke City backline with energetic runs. On the left, Wright looked short of sharpness in replacing Ephron Mason-Clark, who had shown he had the better of Junior Tchamadeu, Stoke’s right-back.

In midfield, taking Victor Torp off in favour of Josh Eccles did little to improve the team’s creative play while also doing nothing to protect the defence against the counter-attack. When the team fell behind and needed some quality on the ball to sustain pressure, Torp’s passing ability was badly missed. That the best chance after falling behind was Jack Rudoni sliding an offside Brandon Thomas-Asante in behind underlined just how little threat the team were after making their changes

Putting more attacking players on doesn’t make a team more threatening if there isn’t the service to get them into the game. This match was a classic example of why this is the case. Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante could have been game changers had the Sky Blues found a way to load the box and get them into favourable situations against Stoke City’s defenders, that never happened. If the supply line isn’t there, it doesn’t matter how many forwards there is in the team.

If this season is to be a successful one, Mark Robins has to think about what needs to addressed and how to make that happen with the available players from the bench than he did in this game.

It Should Get Better

An opening day defeat is always deflating but it doesn’t need to define the season, or even the start to the season, if lessons can be learned from this. There is plenty of time to address the shortfalls seen in this game, which could ultimately allow this team to justify their pre-season status as promotion candidates.

The way Coventry City responded to a sloppy first-half performance here should be seen as encouraging, even if they ended up losing the game in the second 45. The team will have learned the importance of pressing opponents to exert control over the game, while being a little more patient in possession can allow sustained pressure, which the second-half pretty much was. There are a lot of attacking threats in this team, the longer the team has the ball, the more likely they are to make a breakthrough.

That the defence managed to hold firm when under pressure in the first-half may well be another source of encouragement. While there remain doubts as to the quality of Coventry City’s defensive players; that they were able to keep Stoke City to only one good chance when they were on top early on suggests this young backline may be moving in the right direction. In particular, Luis Binks remained a firm defensive presence despite picking up a harsh early booking.

The biggest source for optimism is that the return of Ben Sheaf from injury should go a long way to addressing the midfield issues that cost Coventry City in this game. The Sky Blues currently lack the balance between defence and attack that Sheaf should be able to provide. Furthermore, there is still time in the window left to address that.

A narrow defeat on the opening day, will mean little over the course of a full season. This is still a strong side with a lot of talent. It will just take a few tweaks to get it ticking. Early in the campaign is the ideal time to figure those tweaks out.