Sideways Sammy

Coventry City were summarily defeated at Fratton Park by Portsmouth in a game they looked in control of early on.

Norman Bassette had poked home an Ephron Mason-Clark cross early on to make it 1-0 and the Belgian was almost instantly clean through on goal for a second following the re-start, only for him to fire straight at the opposing goalkeeper. Jack Rudoni also fluffed another golden opportunity during a first-half that Coventry City dominated but failed to build on their one goal lead in.

A key reason why the game was turned on its head was a poor piece of goalkeeping from Brad Collins, who let a shot from range from Callum Lang to roll under his body at the near post with plenty of time to read the attempt. The Sky Blues looked the likeliest team to score next, but Jay Dasilva failed to defend a quick free-kick played on top of him, providing room for Lang to make it two with a powerful strike just before the half-time whistle.

The second-half was complete capitulation from Coventry City, embodied by Lang being left completely unmarked from a corner to flick a header past the hapless Brad Collins early after the re-start to make a difficult situation worse for the Sky Blues. If there had been any hope of salvaging a result, that was put paid to when Collins somewhat perplexingly palmed a save straight to the feet of Lang, who will surely have the Coventry stopper on his Christmas cards list, having handed him at least two of the four goals he helped himself to in this game.

Failing To Make Hay With The Sun Shining

1-0 up inside the first five minutes and with Norman Bassette clean through on goal for the second time already, Coventry City should have been well out of sight before their meltdown later on. While the Sky Blues’ back-line will come in for most of the scrutiny here, Portsmouth’s defending in the first-half was significantly more inept and should have allowed Coventry to put themselves completely out of sight.

Portsmouth defended exactly like a team who were playing a centre-back pairing of a 33 year-old central midfielder and someone who has only played regularly in League Two would be expected to defend. Their back-line struggled to hold a consistent line, making it easy for Norman Bassette to make runs behind them into acres of space. Every time Coventry City got on the ball, they were being allowed to get into great goalscoring positions.

Perhaps it was too easy for the Sky Blues and they allowed that complacency to seep into their attacking play. There was maybe a lack of conviction in taking some of those early opportunities out of the belief that they would continue to present themselves. However, Portsmouth re-organised in the second-half to be more aggressive in their pressing and that denied Coventry City the ability to keep exploiting the opposition’s lacklustre defence.

This game was a classic lesson in why a team needs to take advantage of when they are on top. A one-goal lead is always fragile, prone to a moment of fortune or skill in the opposition’s favour – here, it was the former. From there, Coventry contrived to get hammered in a game they should have been doing the hammering in.

Brad Collins Has A Shocker

There’s no getting around it, Brad Collins’s goalkeeping display in this game cost Coventry City the points. From diving over a shot that he had plenty of time to see for the first goal, to needlessly palming the ball directly into the path of the opposing forward for the fourth, Collins handed Portsmouth two goals and probably should have done better for the others.

The hope after last week was that some big saves against Hull City would have bolstered Brad Collins’ confidence and allow him to establish himself as the undisputed first-choice goalkeeper. Here, he played so badly that it’s not unreasonable to suggest he may never play for Coventry City again. While everyone makes mistakes, what Collins produced in this game feels more in line with his performances for the club than the better showings he has occasionally produced.

A lot of Coventry City fans have been questioning why Brad Collins was even in the team for this game, but it’s important to bear in mind what the circumstances behind his recent run in the side have been. Third-choice at the start of the season, injuries to Ben Wilson and Oliver Dovin saw Collins unexpectedly parachuted into the team.

Moreover, whoever has played in goal this season hasn’t been particularly convincing. Coventry City have the worst record in the division of goals conceded versus Expected Goals, with the opposition converting 13.3% of the shots they have against the Sky Blues, versus 9.1% vice versa. For all the criticism the defence has come in for this year, the bigger issue has been the ability of each of the goalkeepers to make saves.

That was why Brad Collins’ performance against Hull City was so notable, it was pretty much the only game this season where Coventry City have been able to look back on and feel the goalkeeper made any kind of positive contribution. The notion that there is some clear improvement on Collins waiting on the sidelines, in Oliver Dovin and Ben Wilson, doesn’t correlate with what has been in evidence when either of them have had their go in goal. Collins had come into the team recently through fortunate (from his perspective) circumstances and there simply wasn’t a compelling case to take him out.

However, it wasn’t just the mistakes that Brad Collins made in this game for the first and fourth goals but the all-round lack of authority he demonstrated between the sticks that encouraged Portsmouth to put him under pressure. From flapping at corners – which led to both the first and third goals – to fumbling routine saves, the opposition quickly identified Collins as a weak-point and that allowed them to go from no-hopers before the 15th minute to the dominant side in the second-half.

This level of defeat might not all be on one person’s shoulders, but Brad Collins showed here just how devastating a poor goalkeeping performance can be. What’s perhaps more concerning is that Coventry City don’t have an alternative who can come in and guarantee improvement. Having used three goalkeepers already this season, the prospect of requiring a fourth is starting to seem realistic.

A Spineless Second-Half

It can’t be helpful to be playing so well and to end up behind thanks to a goalkeeping error and a momentary defensive lapse but Coventry City’s response in the second-half was lacklustre and ensured that only one team would win the game, and it wasn’t the Sky Blues.

As mentioned earlier in the article, Portsmouth – who, to their credit, waited until half-time, rather than manufacturing a goalkeeping ‘injury’ tactical break – changed their approach in the second-half to account for their defence’s shortcomings. Coventry City did not respond to that at all. Pompey upped the intensity of their pressing, forcing the Sky Blues onto the back-foot as they struggled to move the ball into the opposing half.

Portsmouth forced a series of corner-kicks and throw-ins early in the second-half by limiting the amount of time that Bobby Thomas and, especially, Luis Binks had on the ball. Coventry City continued to attempt to try and play around the opposition’s press, rather than look to mix up their approach. Unable to get out of their own half, the Sky Blues lacked the fortitude to hold firm during that spell and were out of the game before they had a chance to sort themselves out.

Perhaps it was a failing of Frank Lampard not to make changes earlier than he did, either in response to Portsmouth being ahead at half-time or to them scoring early after the re-start. The key issue was the lack of an out-ball, with Norman Bassette isolated and not suited to playing that target-man role of battling for long passes and getting team-mates up the pitch. The flow of chances in the first-half completely stopped, Coventry City’s first shot after the break came when they were already 4-1 down.

The overriding sentiment, however, is that the players themselves have to shoulder most of the responsibility here for this heavy defeat. It was their inability to take chances when the game looked there for the taking, their mistakes that opened the door for Portsmouth and their lack of character to respond when put under pressure that turned a deficit into a shellacking. There is only so much a manager can do to affect those shortcomings.

The notion that this is Coventry City’s best ever squad looks increasingly laughable. Soft at the back, toothless up front and spineless in the middle, Having been eyeing up the top six with a decent run over the festive period, avoiding a relegation battle looks the bigger priority. The Sky Blues are at the bottom end of the division for a reason.