Sideways Sammy

Coventry City were made to rue missed chances away at Watford, dropping two points after looking to be in a good position at 1-0 up to kill the game off.

The Sky Blues took the lead early on, when Ellis Simms was left free in the penalty area to head in a Jack Rudoni corner-kick. What followed was largely a slew of great chances for Coventry City, with Ephron Mason-Clark, Josh Eccles, Ellis Simms, and Jack Rudoni all close to making it two before half-time. However, that came at the cost of some good chances for Watford too, with the home side fluffing two great chances in the opening 45, via Giorgi Chakvetadze and Vakoun Bayo.

Coventry looked to have tired in the second-half, with Watford building a head of steam, led by the influential Chakvetadze on their left side. It was the Georgian who led the charge after the Sky Blues were caught short on a rare attacking foray, tearing up the left side of the pitch and picking out Tom Dele-Bashiru for a tap-in.

From then on, the game could really have gone either way, but Coventry City probably had the better chances during thirteen minutes of stoppage time, with Jack Rudoni and Brandon Thomas-Asante seeing deflected efforts go agonisingly close.

All Those Forwards, Yet Milan van Ewijk On The Right Wing?

After a summer in which Coventry City’s transfer business has been focused on adding forwards to the squad, it was surprising to see the team line up in the opening minutes of this game with Milan van Ewijk ostensibly playing on the right of the attack. It was something that was last tried in the depths of last season, when both Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Fabio Tavares were injured, and while it had worked reasonably well, to have had at least three natural forwards available to play the role ahead of this game, it felt a curious decision to instead play Van Ewijk out of position.

In practice, the role Milan van Ewijk played was somewhere between a right winger, right wing-back and right full-back. Perhaps it was in response to Watford’s biggest threat, Giorgi Chakvetadze, who likes to drift around the left central area. It meant that in possession, Van Ewijk was advanced up the pitch, only to then drop back when the team didn’t have the ball to support Joel Latibeaudiere’s defensive efforts.

That Coventry City created a host of great chances in the first-half indicated that the experiment was successful. Milan van Ewijk was able to use his pace to pin his opposing wing-back, Yaser Larouci, back for much of the opening half and was a source of creativity for the team. The Dutchman was integral in creating great chances for both Ephron Mason-Clark and Jack Rudoni in the first-half that could have put the Sky Blues in a commanding position.

Defensively, Milan van Ewijk made some key contributions by utilising his pace to track back and protect Joel Latibeaudiere at right-back, but Giorgi Chakvetadze remained a key influence on the game. The Georgian was able to drift into awkward areas between Van Ewijk and Latibeaudiere, as well as Victor Torp on the right of midfield, to allow Watford to threaten in a first-half they were second-best in. With more composure, Chakvetadze would have levelled the game much earlier, after ghosting in behind Latibeaudiere to give himself an open goal soon after Ellis Simms had put Coventry City ahead.

With Joel Latibeaudiere and Victor Torp on yellow cards by half-time and tiredness starting to become a factor, Mark Robins was eventually forced to change things up in that area of the pitch to avoid a costly red card. Josh Eccles swapped sides in midfield with Victor Torp, while Latibeaudiere had to be taken off due to that risk of a second yellow. That Watford’s equaliser came by attacking Coventry’s right side on the counter, with Giorgi Chakvetadze leading the charge,

The overall reflection on this experiment with Milan van Ewijk in this hybrid right-sided, attacking-defensive role, was that it largely worked. It was a contributing factor to the team’s best away performance of the season and only really ran aground due to a combination of bad luck in chances not being taken, coming up against one of the best players in the division, and fatigue.

Whether this was a one-off, a decision made based on both the opposition, the injury to Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and that several players had been away on international duty until a day or so before this game, remains to be seen. It has shown itself to be a useful option to have up Mark Robins’ sleeve, but probably not a permanent one given the current balance of the squad towards attacking players.

Not A 90-Minute Team Yet

If Coventry City had replicated their first-half performance in this game over 90 minutes, they would have won this. While Watford had chances throughout the game, the Sky Blues were on top, in control, and creating excellent opportunities for the opening 45. They dominated and were genuinely unfortunate to see good chances for Ephron Mason-Clark, Josh Eccles and Jack Rudoni not find the back of the net.

A key reason why they were unable to sustain that dominance over 90 minutes was, yet again, down to energy levels. It has been a consistent theme this season, with the Sky Blues having had some excellent spells over the five league matches thus far but struggling to sustain that, with players looking flat on their feet as games wear on. Whether that’s down to the conditioning work over pre-season or the somewhat mysterious element of ‘match fitness’ is hard to speculate on as a fan. It can only be hoped that it will improve as the campaign progresses.

It was a combination of that loss of energy and the inability of the defence to sit in and repel pressure that proved costly for Coventry City in this game. There was a drop-off in intensity early in the second-half to allow Watford to build a head of steam. The equaliser came from a rare sustained attacking foray from the Sky Blues, with the Hornets taking advantage of a tired effort in tracking back to walk the ball in the back of the net, with Ephron Mason-Clark, Milan van Ewijk and Jay Dasilva all guilty of not having the legs to get tight to players they should have been tracking during the move.

The drop-off was probably also influenced by the fact that Coventry City were ahead for much of the game. It is only natural to take fewer risks when in the lead, which eventually manifested itself in much of the team sitting behind the ball looking to stay in shape. That the Sky Blues were able to rally later on to create some good opportunities to win it, underlines the impact that the state of a game can have on a team’s mindset.

It has been a theme this season to question Mark Robins’ use of substitutions here, but he probably did the best he could with what he has available. Had Ben Sheaf been available or Kasey Palmer hadn’t been sold, they would have been valuable options to add energy to a flagging midfield. Instead, Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante both came on to add freshness up front and were both close to making winning contributions.

This early into the season, there has to be hope that the ability to sustain performances will improve over time. Whether it’s through increasing fitness levels, players returning from injury, making use of the bench and depth of the squad, or simply increased familiarity between players, there are more reasons than not to believe that what are currently good spells can be gradually extended into longer, match-winning periods.

A Step In The Right Direction

As frustrating as it is to have not won from a winning position, the overriding sentiment from this game should be one of positivity. This was the most dangerous Coventry City have looked this season. They had a team that has started the campaign strongly on the back foot at their own ground for long spells, only a couple of goal-line clearances away from their resistance breaking. This is the closest the Sky Blues have looked yet to being the promotion candidate many, including myself, billed them as just six weeks ago.

There were some exhilarating passages of play in the first-half in particular, with Victor Torp, Milan van Ewijk, and Ephron Mason-Clark looking in excellent form. The manner in which the chance for Jack Rudoni that was cleared off the line towards the end of the first-half was created was especially encouraging, with Torp and Van Ewijk teasing out space on the right side with a few wonderful pieces of combination play before the former picked Rudoni out in space in the box with a teasing cross.

Furthermore, Ellis Simms getting off the mark in the league this season was another step in the right direction. The centre-forward had looked a little lost against Norwich City last time out, unable to get into the game. After scoring early on here. heading in unmarked from a corner-kick, he forced Watford’s defence to work hard to suppress him. It was his shot when clean through in the first-half that set up another glorious chance for a second that Josh Eccles rushed. Moreover, he continued to work to give the team an outlet when they were under the cosh in the second-half, holding the ball up well on a few occasions to generate dangerous counter-attacks.

Having a strong enough squad to leave players of the calibre of Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante on the bench is one thing, identifying the right moment to use them is another. Mark Robins almost played his cards perfectly here, with both Wright and Thomas-Asante positively impacting the game to give a tired Coventry City a lift, almost enough to salvage the win.

The positivity has to be counteracted a touch by just how many chances the Sky Blues allowed Watford. While the Hornets have shown themselves to be a good side, especially at home, allowing an opponent 18 shots on goal is simply way too many to be able to keep a clean sheet without getting lucky. Even when Coventry City were on top, the defence was guilty of ball watching on several occasions to allow Watford to work some excellent opportunities. It remains far too frantic and reactive at the back for Coventry.

Overall, this was a performance that was far closer to what Coventry City should be trying to be this season and was ultimately just a few fine margins away from being a winning one. The Sky Blues did almost everything they could to get what may have been a killer second goal when ahead and could easily have rallied to claim the win later on. Tweak just one or two things and play like this more often, Coventry will do well this season.