Sideways Sammy

Coventry City twice came back from behind to secure a draw at home to league-leaders, Sheffield United.

The Sky Blues started the better side, playing on the front-foot, but were undone by Sheffield United’s first attacking foray of note, with Gustavo Hamer sliding Jesurun Rak-Sakyi in behind, who was able to pick out Tyrese Campbell for a tap-in for the away side.

Coventry City were good value for their equaliser, with Norman Bassette guiding Josh Eccles’ deep cross past Mike Cooper in the opposing goal. However, the Blades went back ahead when Hamer again opened up the Coventry defence with a splitting pass, with Rak-Sakyi taking up the opportunity this time to grab himself a goal.

The effervescent Bassette was involved in the game’s defining incident, antagonising Sheffield United defender, Anel Ahmedhodzic, to get the latter sent-off. It led to an almost complete Blades retreat for the rest of the game, which nearly earned them all three points, only for Bobby Thomas to thump in a header from a corner-kick to earn the home side the draw.

Versatile Sky Blues Show Promise

Coventry City started this game strongly, playing, quick, inventive football that got themselves on the front-foot. What was nominally a 3-4-2-1 shape could have been described as one of several other formations based on if the game had been freeze-framed at certain points. When searching an equaliser, they were able to move to a 4-2-3-1 and then a 4-2-2-2 to find those extra attacking gears.

The Sky Blues are blessed with a number of versatile players that are able to take up a number of positions, which offers the ability to not only play different formations but to be flexible within an overall shape. Over these past two games, Rhys Carr looks to have been searching for ways to dovetail players’ strengths in interesting and complementary ways. The focus has been less on what a player’s position is and more about how their role relates to their team-mates’.

Starting with a 3-4-2-1 formation here, there were moments where Joel Latibeaudiere stepped up into midfield, Milan van Ewijk pushed high on the right and Jay Dasilva dropped back to make it look more of a 4-2-3-1. However, Joel Latibeaudiere could also drop alongside Bobby Thomas to allow Luis Binks to make forward runs to support Jay Dasilva bombing forward, with Milan van Ewijk tucking inside to maintain defensive numbers.

Furthermore, Josh Eccles was given licence by Ben Sheaf tending to sit in midfield to bomb forward to help Victor Torp and Jack Rudoni support Norman Bassette up front. At times, one of Torp or Rudoni would join Bassette in pressing the opposition, giving the formation an almost 4-4-2 look. That flexibility surely took the opposition by surprise as they struggled to figure out who they should be picking up, contributing to the Sky Blues’ strong start.

Sheffield United going down to ten men allowed Coventry City to be more enterprising in their approach, with the loss of extra bodies in midfield accounted for by the full-backs tucking into midfield and the newly-introduced wingers supplying the width that the wing-backs had been. Luis Binks was given further licence to bomb forward with the ball from centre-back by the Blades’ lack of numbers, while Ben Sheaf often sat deep to get to loose balls and sustain the pressure.

While it feels like this team currently lacks a defined style of play, starting formation or strongest XI, recent performances have shown that the players are versatile enough to adapt to pretty much any system presented to them. The exciting thing could well be becoming a truly flexible team that can change itself up both between and within games to take opposition weaknesses. What that will be the case, remains to be seen.

Another Chase At Home

It has become a habit for Coventry City during this calendar year to fall behind at home to one of the opposition’s early attacks and then have to find a way through a massed defence that takes every opportunity to wind down the clock. This game continued that trend, with Sheffield United scoring from their first attack with a tap-in for Tyrese Campbell. While this side has also shown it is also capable of throwing away winning positions at the CBS Arena, victories tend to be easier if they don’t require more than one goal to get there.

The issue looks to be just how reactive the back-line tends to be when opponents attack them, rather than looking to assert themselves and force their will on the game. This manifests itself in chronic ball-watching, which was evident for the first goal here, where both Bobby Thomas and Joel Latibeaudiere were so focused on Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, who had been released behind the back-line that neither of them seemed to notice the opportunity to get in front of the lurking Tyrese Campbell, to prevent the obvious ball across the penalty area.

That first goal also came from a brilliant ball in behind by Gustavo Hamer, who had drifted off the left flank and into space in the middle of the pitch, which no-one seemed to notice. That is also what led to the second, where Hamer again managed to find a huge pocket to again play Jesurun Rak-Sakyi in, with the winger taking the opportunity to fire past Brad Collins to again nullify the great work the team were doing in possession.

This is perhaps where the tactical flexibility that had been praised earlier in the article becomes something of an issue. If players are constantly interchanging positions, there are going to be transitional moments in those periods of adjustment for opponents to exploit. Without an organising figure to identify those spaces before those opportunities crop up, these moments of confusion may well continue to happen.

This level of flexibility is a new concept for this Coventry City team and doesn’t explain why the trend of conceding first at home has happened so often this year. Whether it’s down to personnel, pre-match routine, or something else entirely, it has to be addressed. It is simply not sustainable to require three goals to secure each win.

Playing For Set-Pieces

Having praised the team for their display in possession in this game, the difference between the two sides was that it took Sheffield United three or four passes to make the progress up the pitch that Coventry City seem to require double or treble that to replicate. While the Sky Blues grabbed a another goal from a set-piece here, the worry is that the crutch of being able to win a corner or dead ball from long spells of possession is contributing to these slow, aimless spells on the ball.

Every indication this season is that Coventry City’s strikers are better served with quick, early balls in behind that they can chase and isolate opposing defenders against. Norman Bassette made himself a menace here with his tireless chasing of just about every cause sent in his direction, while Haji Wright, Ellis Simms and Brandon Thomas-Asante have also all had their best moments this season when released early to get opponents on the back-foot. That Bassette’s first goal for the club came from attacking an early, deep cross in the box, rather than rounding off a 10-15 pass move in a crowded penalty area, underlined this miss-match between the strikers’ strength and what the rest of the team is largely producing for them in service.

Of course, it goes hand-in-hand with this tendency to leak opening goals that the strikers are not getting the space to chase balls behind the opposing defence. For the most part, it was fairly easy for Sheffield United to defend their lead with ten-men, because they could sit deep and pack out the box to stymie Coventry City’s attacking threat. In that regard, it was surprising it took so long for Rhys Carr to put Ellis Simms, the striker who is best at attacking headers in crowded penalty areas, on and move to two up top.

There is a real hesitancy that has crept into this set of players that has held them back from taking opportunities to take control of games this season. Both Milan van Ewijk and Jay Dasilva were incredibly reluctant to cross the ball, while similar uncertainty could be seen in Jack Rudoni and Ben Sheaf when they had opportunities to release team-mates in space that they eschewed, seemingly out of fear of losing possession. Having someone prepared to take risks on the ball, like Gustavo Hamer, Callum O’Hare and Kasey Palmer have in recent years, looks to be what this team is missing.

If it wasn’t for the ability to score from set-pieces, Coventry City really would be in the mire. As useful a card as it is to play within this deck, if this team wants to move beyond one that simply plays nice football to winning matches, it is going to be that ability to score from open play more reliably.