Sideways Sammy

The club’s record signing, it has been largely a successful first year or so at Coventry City for Haji Wright as fans have become accustomed to his idiosyncrasies. The kind of player who can often get things wrong, the key thing with Wright is his relentlessness. Each loose touch, piece of skill that doesn’t come off or missed shot is one step closer to him getting it right. His return of goals and assists, bears out that Haji Wright is a match-winner when he is afforded the patience to get into his groove.

The making of Haji Wright at Coventry City has been in moving him to a wide position. His early appearances for the club at centre-forward saw him struggle to impose himself against physical defenders and get caught offside a little too often, making him a peripheral figure on games. Moving out wide has allowed Wright to get more involved, benefitting from that slightly deeper starting position and facing against defenders he has a physical advantage against. A threat with his ability to carry the ball or to drift into positions to attack balls into the box, Haji Wright has that part-winger, part-striker role nailed down. The key thing is that Wright isn’t deterred by things not going his way, he is someone who will continue to roll the dice until they land in his favour.

A minor injury just before the start of the season and going away on international duty in September have slowed down Haji Wright’s momentum at the start of this campaign. As he showed against in the league game Oxford United, he remains a match-winning talent who should be trusted to play himself into form. It also hasn’t helped that the addition of attacking options to the team has tempted Mark Robins into taking Wright off, instead of allowing the forward to keep at it. Probably the team’s best player, getting the best out of Haji Wright has to be one of the primary objectives this season.