Sideways Sammy

Last weekend’s win over Oxford United saw Coventry City move into the top six for the first time this season, which brings a whole new challenge as to how to maintain and cement that position over the final months of the campaign. With a tricky run of games surrounding the upcoming international break, winning the next two feels crucial in setting the Sky Blues up ahead of a tense final month. Good thing that the first of those two games is just a standard league fixture with no greater significance beyond that…

Just whether Mark Robins’ return to the CBS Arena has any impact either way remains to be seen, but the worry is that it could prove to be a bigger distraction than a round of applause before a game of football. Stoke City have been underperforming and are in need of points, Coventry may well have to be ready for an opponent approaching this fixture with a big game mentality – the like of which had defined Robins’ seven years in the Sky Blues’ dugout.

Expected Line-Up

That win last time out came at the cost of losing one of the league’s most in-form players, in Jack Rudoni, to injury, for seemingly a month or so. The key decisions for Frank Lampard heading into this game surround how to deal with Rudoni’s absence in that key role linking midfield and attack.

Ben Sheaf was brought on against Oxford United as Rudoni’s replacement, but a midfield trio of Sheaf, Josh Eccles and Matt Grimes seems too negative for a home fixture. That could well hand Jamie Allen an opportunity to get back into the team, playing in that more advanced midfield role that saw him plunder seven goals two seasons ago during the team’s run to the play-off final, with Josh Eccles likely to drop out of the starting line-up. Alternatives are Victor Torp or Jamie Paterson, although both are likely to be short of the fitness required to start at this moment in time.

Elsewhere, the time is getting closer for Frank Lampard to come to a decision of how to integrate Haji Wright back into the starting line-up. This game might still be too soon, especially with Ephron Mason-Clark and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto starting to build some form in the wide positions, but there could be pressure on either of those two wide-men to perform here, on top of Ellis Simms finding some scoring form at the CBS Arena, to avoid being the victim of Wright’s return to fitness.

There are unlikely to be any other changes to the side, even if there may be concerns on the left side of defence, where Jake Bidwell isn’t in the best of form.

Last Time We Met

It was back on the opening day of the season, when everyone was tipping Coventry City to challenge for automatic promotion, when Mark Robins’ Sky Blues travelled to Stoke and produced the kind of flat, lifeless display on the road that defined yet another slow start to the campaign. Neither side were much of a threat on goal throughout the 90 minutes, only for Stoke to break late on and Lewis Baker to score the game’s only goal.

The Opposition

The Manager – Mark Robins

Do I really need to introduce Mark Robins to you, dear reader?

There’s no two ways about it, Mark Robins is the man who saved Coventry City, multiple times. From that injection of hope back at the start with the Checkatrade Trophy win, winning a first promotion in half a century to get immediately out of League Two, surviving exile in Birmingham, establishing the club back in the Championship, missing out on Premier League promotion and an FA Cup final by a matter of spot-kicks, it really can’t be understated how much he changed this football. When you’re taking your seat for this game, looking over a packed out and revitalised CBS Arena and a Sky Blues squad assembled for the best of £50 million, remember what it was like before Robins, then stand up and give that man the round of applause that is really the least one of the club’s best ever managers deserves.

As for his time at Stoke City, Mark Robins has had the experience just about every Stoke manager over the past five years has had – a poorly assembled squad, under-performing key players and a sense of apathy at how a club owned by one of Britain’s richest families can be so irrelevant. Robins has, unsurprisingly, been unable to change that in the short time he’s had in charge, with just two league wins in his ten league games. With the bottom three starting to close in on them, the task right now is to be solid enough to put points on the board ahead of bigger changes over the summer.

Who To Look Out For?

While it’s little surprise these days to see Stoke City in lower mid-table in the Championship, that shouldn’t hide from the sense that a lot of their players are severely underperforming. With the club having churned through managers and been forced to keep spending in line with Financial Fair Play limits, Stoke are a collection of individuals, rather than a team. Nonetheless, some of those individuals are perfectly capable of winning games at this level without that team structure around them.

The one player that really looks to have taken to Mark Robins’ management at Stoke City is Lewis Baker, in midfield. The former Chelsea youngster had been farmed out on loan to Blackburn Rovers over the first half of the campaign but was recalled by Robins – having been someone he may well have wanted to sign for Coventry at various points of his reign – and scored four goals in nine games since returning to the club. Baker is someone who can sit deep for long spells of games, before crashing the box at just the right time or producing individual moments of brilliance from range.

Other difference-makers are attacking midfielders Bae Jun-ho and Lewis Koumas, both are big threats with their ball-carrying ability, which could really open up the game on the break for Stoke City. On top of that, the rapid dribbler, Million Manhoef, is another who can commit and beat defenders if given opportunities to run at the opposition.

In attack, Ali Al-Hamadi was brought in on loan from Ipswich Town in January to lead the line after the recall of top-scorer, Tom Cannon. Al-Hamadi is another pacey player who’ll make Stoke are danger on the counter-attack. The giant Sam Gallagher is the team’s best form of mixing things up in attack, while youngster, Nathan Lowe, is back at the club after a stand-out loan spell in League Two with Walsall earlier in the campaign.

The aim further back is to keep things tight for those quick attacking players to take advantage of at the other end. Having probably the best shot-stopper in the Championship, in Viktor Johansson, may well be keeping this team out of relegation danger currently, with the Swede a reliable source of goalkeeping heroics. On top of that, the tough-tackling Ben Pearson and the hard-working Jordan Thompson is a solid midfield partnership, while Ben Gibson may return in this game to the defence to add some valuable experience.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

Stoke City are likely to enter this game with a clear game-plan of looking to absorb pressure before hitting Coventry City with their pace and skill on the break. The task for the Sky Blues is to be dangerous enough in possession to prevent Stoke from settling into a defensive phalanx, along with preventing opportunities for them to run directly at the home defence.

A particular area of concern for Coventry is the left side of the defence, where Oxford United last week got a lot of joy of targeting Jake Bidwell, who received almost no protection from the attack-minded, Ephron Mason-Clark, in front of him. In Lewis Koumas, Stoke have a skilful winger who will relish the opportunity to run directly at Bidwell, especially if he gets support from the attack-minded and pacey right-back, Junior Tchamadeu. Frank Lampard may well consider swapping the wingers around so that Tatsuhiro Sakamoto can track back on that side, or else instructing one of the midfielders to drop over to that flank when out of possession to help protect the left-back.

Stoke City may well feel comfortable in allowing Coventry City to generate headed shots on goal. The Potters have conceded the second-most attempts on goal from headers in the division, but have conceded among the fewest goals from such situations in the league – emphasising Viktor Johansson’s quality as a shot-stopper, rather than cross-catcher, as a goalkeeper. Where they are weak is in being caught on the counter-attack, which is likely to be something they’ll look to avoid here by sitting deep and only breaking in small numbers.