Sideways Sammy

Three wins in a row have come at a great time in order to keep interest in Coventry City’s season going into the later months. The task now is to keep the points ticking over and reduce both the size of the gap to the top six and the number of teams between the Sky Blues and their goal. Winning a few games is one thing, translating that into a bona vide play-off chase is another.

There looks to be a good opportunity to turn that three-game winning streak into a four-game one, as Coventry City make the trip to Wales to take on a thoroughly out-of-form and demoralised Swansea City outfit. Notably, this game comes in the wake of the Sky Blues having signed Swansea’s captain off them, kicking the Swans at a low ebb. There is a risk, nonetheless, that Coventry are about to take on a team looking for a big reaction – not to mention the fact that this is an opponent the Sky Blues haven’t beaten since the 80s.

Expected Line-Up

It seems highly unlikely that Matt Grimes will come in for his Coventry City debut for this game. Between the likelihood of there being some kind of agreement not to play him against his former side immediately after signing and the fact that the Sky Blues have settled on a nice balance in midfield, it seems needless provoke Swansea City, play someone who has barely trained with the team and break up a winning team in the process.

Grimes aside, there are few contenders to come into the starting line-up here. With few senior outfield players currently on the bench, the starting XI in such good form and off the back of a week-long break in action, it really would be surprising to see Frank Lampard make any changes. it would only be if someone has picked up an unexpected injury that would force the head coach’s hand.

Last Time We Met

Mark Robins was punished for sticking with a team that had nearly knocked Tottenham Hotspur out of the League Cup back in September with a lamentably poor opening half hour that cost the team any chance of taking points out of a home game against Swansea City. The away side were ahead in the opening ten minutes, when Liam Cullen was first among a sea of Coventry City defenders to react to a loose ball from a set-piece. It was two just after the half-hour mark, when the Sky Blues allowed Ollie Cooper the freedom of the city to casually stroll into the penalty area and fire past Oliver Dovin.

Jack Rudoni pulled a goal back not long after, with a strike from range that deflected in off Swansea’s Ronald for an own goal. However, Lawrence Vigouroux in the opposing goal was in good form to deny the Sky Blues the chance to equalise, pulling off a particularly impressive save from Rudoni later in the first-half, after Norman Bassette had contrived to head the ball onto the cross-bar from point-blank range.

The Opposition

The Manager – Luke Williams

A reminder of just how capricious football is, at the start of the month, Swansea City were sitting pretty in 9th place under Luke Williams and looked to be reaping the benefits of the manager’s patient approach. A few short weeks later, Williams is under-fire, thanks to a shocking run of form that has seen the team concede 15 goals in five league games, at a time where he had been linked to the West Bromwich Albion manager’s job – and, seemingly, openly interested in it – and key players look set to leave late in the transfer window with little sign yet of permanent replacements.

A talented coach who players love working with, the difficulty Williams has faced at multiple clubs when trying to establish himself as a manager is his ability to deal with being in the limelight as the main man. A patient man both in his approach to working with players and his possession-based style of play, Williams can frustrate with a seeming lack of focus on the here and now. Along with difficulties in dealing with the media and conveying his ambition to fans, Luke Williams can unintentionally rub people up the wrong way.

Who To Look Out For?

Swansea City are a tidy side that have largely been competitive in most of their games this season without possessing individual stars. The closest thing to that is probably academy graduate, Liam Cullen, in attack, who looks to have blossomed since scoring his first international goals for Wales over the Autumn. A nippy, energetic striker who is starting to develop poacher’s instincts in front of goal, Cullen is the team’s most reliable match-winner.

The mercurial Brazilian, Ronald, is another who can spark what is otherwise a pretty one-paced Swansea City side to life. While he can blow hot and cold, Ronald is a barrel-chested maverick who will attempt the impossible from either wide areas or centrally and can make things happen. Winger, Florian Bianchini, may be another potential star in this team, if he can earn the trust of Luke Williams to start games regularly.

Losing Matt Grimes – and, potentially, Harry Darling in defence – risks taking the heart out of this Swansea City and their signature ability to build from the back. Lawrence Vigouroux in goal will help maintain that approach but with stalwarts like Joe Allen and Kyle Naughton already in the process of being phased out, it is hoped that a Swansea team geared around the all-action Goncalo Franco in central midfield and the physical Ben Cabango in defence can be more assertive and play with greater urgency.

Another potential danger-man to watch out for is Josh Tymon from left-back, who is a very attack-minded player with a great cross on him. While he risks leaving the team open on his side of the pitch, the quality of his delivery is such that he needs to be paid special attention to.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

On paper, this looks like a great time to be playing a Swansea City in a funk and has had little time to bring in signings to change the mood around the club. The danger is that they are a team and a manager that have a point to prove, with Coventry City a particularly good team to prove that point against, having just signed their captain to add fuel to the sense of crisis around the club.

Leaving that aside, the challenge for the Sky Blues here is how they deal with a team that wants to dominate possession. The poorer performances under Frank Lampard thus far have largely come when Coventry have been unable to dictate the game to the opposition, which has exposed the gaps the team leaves in defence. That channel between the wing-backs and wide centre-backs continues to be an area of joy for opponents, with Swansea having quick players in the final third who can look to exploit that.

Not having the lion’s share of possession need not be a reason for Coventry City to threaten here, with the ability to play quickly into Ellis Simms and have Brandon Thomas-Asante, Jack Rudoni and Victor Torp making runs around and beyond him a key feature of the team’s play recently. That battle between Simms and Ben Cabango in Swansea City’s defence could be crucial in allowing Coventry to threaten here.