Sideways Sammy

Coventry City went down with ease at Elland Road to a Leeds United side that barely had to break a sweat to beat them.

Disorganised and unsettled from the start, it took 16 minutes for Coventry City to fall behind, with Wilfried Gnonto firing confidently past Ben Wilson in goal after a swift Leeds United move. The only reason it wasn’t more than one by half-time was surely Leeds couldn’t believe how easy it was for them.

Coventry’s first shot came just after the break, with a rare attacking foray seeing the ball come to Ben Sheaf to fire wildly in the vague direction of the goal and into the stands. Stirred into life, Leeds United made it two soon after, with Jayden Bogle firing past a flailing Ben Wilson. From then on, Leeds sat off, knowing Coventry City had no way through.

It was eventually three when Leeds stole the ball after yet another laboured period of Sky Blues build-up play, with Joel Piroe firing straight at an unbalanced Ben Wilson to wrap the game up.

The Plan

In one of the toughest away fixtures of the season, the plan for Coventry City surely was to slow Leeds United down in possession, make them work hard to break the Sky Blues down and look to hit on the counter. There was a lot wrong with the performance from Coventry, part of it was how they were set up initially in this attempt to try and make things difficult for Leeds.

That crucial early first goal came from Leeds United being able to work the ball out wide quickly to their left-back, Junior Firpo, who was then able to pick out Wilfried Gnonto in space just outside the penalty area to find the back of the net with aplomb. It might have been a good move and finish from Leeds, but a team that had been properly drilled to put in a gritty performance would simply have not afforded them the space to move the ball so quickly in their defensive half.

It was especially baffling as to why Leeds United were able to find space on their left flank, given that Milan van Ewijk had been pushed forward from right-back to supposedly improve the team’s defensive stability on that side. In the event, Van Ewijk was tucked in far too narrow on the right flank, forcing Joel Latibeaudiere to have to scramble to track the run of Junior Firpo, which opened up space in the middle of the pitch as the defence was forced to shuffle over to cover.

It’s not a criticism of Milan van Ewijk but in the manner in which the team is set up off-the-ball. Coventry City have been continually exposed in wide areas by opposing full-backs this season because the wide forwards in the 4-2-3-1 system seem to have been asked to sit so narrow out of possession. From this goal, to Swansea City’s second last week, then Norwich City’s winning goal just before the international break, the team is not set up to track the runs from deep out wide.

From then on, the nature of the game completely changed as Coventry City were forced to chase against a team that were excellent in pressing to prevent easy passing lanes into midfield and were always dangerous in transition. Through a combination of individual errors and the lack of a presence up front to hold the ball up or get Leeds United’s defence on the turn, the Sky Blues were left to play aimlessly into danger with no way of turning it around.

Coventry City only had one shot on goal by the time they were two goals down, a hit-and-hope volley from Ben Sheaf early in the second-half. Despite conceding three goals here, the bigger problem than the defensive effort was the utter lack of a plan to threaten Leeds United at the other end. Between a defence and goalkeeper that looked uncomfortable on the ball, a midfield that was swarmed out of the game and an isolated attack, the only way the Sky Blues would have scored in this game would have been through a completely freak incident.

The Execution

While there are big questions to be asked of Mark Robins and the coaching staff as to the manner in which the team was set up here, the execution from the players was seriously lacking. It is just as bad to be poorly set-up as it is to have players incapable of executing what they were told to do.

The most noticeable issue in this game was how often Coventry City gave the ball away under little pressure. The period of play up from kick-off to Leeds United’s opening goal saw the Sky Blues string barely three passes together. The intention may have been to put in a dogged defensive performance but giving the ball away so consistently meant that Coventry didn’t give themselves the chance to dig in.

From Ben Wilson in goal, Liam Kitching in defence, Josh Eccles and a clearly unfit Ben Sheaf in midfield, Coventry lacked anyone from deep who could be trusted to keep possession ticking over. It wasn’t until Leeds United sat off the Sky Blues at 2-0 up that they were able to keep the ball for longer than a few passes, the problem was, there was no way through and no outlet further forward to unsettle Leeds’ defensive shape.

The task of keeping the ball was made all the more difficult by Ellis Simms having a terrible game at centre-forward. It is easy to tell when Simms is lacking confidence as his touch completely abandons him, that was the case here. On top of that, his runs were consistently out of sync with what his team-mates were expecting of him, either leaving him caught offside or nowhere near the direction of the intended pass.

Making it even more difficult were the three players behind Simms, who played as random individuals rather than any kind of unit. From Ephron Mason-Clark constantly telegraphing that he was going to cut inside whenever he got on the ball, to Jack Rudoni failing to link the play in the number ten position or make runs beyond Ellis Simms to offer the centre-forward support, to Milan van Ewijk, who barely figured in the team’s attack play, there was no link up between that front four and the rest of the team.

One of many issues the team faces right now is the lack of creative players in the final third. There are a lot of strikers in this squad but none of them can really make an impact because there is no service to them. Aside from that right-sided combination of Milan van Ewijk and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto – which has been stymied this season by Sakamoto picking up an injury – this team is constantly getting stuck playing slow when looking to create because there is a lack of a link player in the final third to bring others into play. Losing both Callum O’Hare and Kasey Palmer in the same transfer window is looking increasingly to be very poor business for the balance of this squad.

The Fight

Finally, the most worrying thing about this defeat was how little fight they offered. From that one shot taken by the time they were 2-0 down to the only booking being a petulant one for Joel Latibeaudiere in the 84th minute, the team showed no resistance, even allowing for it being a difficult away trip.

It was a truly spineless display. To single a couple of players out not already mentioned, Bobby Thomas put in an utterly brainless display, constantly looking to step out of defence to try and win the ball and opening up gaps behind him against a team Coventry City were looking to sit in against and deny space. Joel Latibeaudiere looked completely lost at both right-back and central midfield, while the decision to play Ben Wilson in goal was a complete disaster, with the keeper inept with both his feet and his hands.

It is now just two wins in 15 games, with just one clean sheet in 17. From an attack that misses chances, a midfield that doesn’t create and a defence that is addicted to conceding goals, there isn’t just one problem with this team. Coventry City look unfit, unable to fight and poorly set-up. Things are only going in one direction at the moment and no-one involved, from players, to coaching staff, to the recruitment team looks capable of rectifying what is going wrong.

This was an awful performance that summed up everything wrong with this team right now. It may be another slow start to the season, but things simply have to turn around soon before the solutions become more serious and unsettling.