Sideways Sammy

A fortunate win over Stoke City at the weekend keeps up Coventry City’s incredible run of form over the past couple of months. Nine wins out of ten has catapulted the Sky Blues into the top six, but with a challenging run of fixtures either side of the upcoming international break and still a month of the season still to play, there is little room for any let up if this team wants to stay in its current position.

A trip to Derby County is the final in a run of ‘winnable’ games that Coventry City need to make the most of – ahead of games against Sunderland, Sheffield United and Burnley to come. The Rams had gone 12 games without a win until beating Blackburn Rovers at the weekend and desperately need to back that up with another three points in order to get back in touch with safety. With Derby having secured all but one of their league victories at Pride Park, this may be a tougher test than it looks on paper.

Expected Line-Up

For the second game running, a Coventry City victory has come at the cost of injuries to key players. In the wake of losing Jack Rudoni for a spell, both Ephron Mason-Clark and Milan van Ewijk limped off against Stoke City with the extent of their prospective absences not yet clear. The potential absence of Van Ewijk for any length of time is a potentially crippling blow, given the lack of alternatives at right-back.

In his post-match media on Saturday, Frank Lampard sounded hopeful that neither Mason-Clark nor van Ewijk’s injuries were too serious but it might be smart to consider handing either or both of them a rest if they are not 100% heading into this game. Presuming that both are absent, it may allow the manager to experiment with the shape in order to rectify the leakiness at the back that is threatening to creep back in.

A switch to a back three could well be a consideration for this game in order to mitigate Milan van Ewijk’s potential absence. While it doesn’t rectify who exactly should fill in at right-back/right-wing-back, adding another centre-back hopefully solidifies the back-line and reduces the impact of having someone playing out of position on the right of the defence. Joel Latibeaudiere is the favourite to come into the team in place of Milan van Ewijk, but his last starting performance in the Dutchman’s stead (against Ipswich Town) was so disastrous that Frank Lampard may well be thinking about playing either Josh Eccles or Jack Burroughs there instead.

Just how the team sets up further forward is a tough to predict. Moving to a back three offers the chance to go with two up front, which clearly suited Ellis Simms and Brandon Thomas-Asante recently, but would involve dropping one of the team’s most in-form players, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto. Playing a back three plus wingers, threatens to leave Matt Grimes and Victor Torp stretched in the middle of the park, although, Ben Sheaf could come in for Torp and offer greater physicality if he is deemed to be fit enough.

With all those moving pieces caused by Milan van Ewijk’s potential absence for this game, Frank Lampard may well opt for continuity in sticking with the 4-2-3-1 set-up and hope that Joel Latibeaudiere is solid enough at right-back and Brandon Thomas-Asante can do a decent enough job on the left wing for it not to matter too much.

Last Time We Met

It was Mark Robins’ last game in charge of Coventry City, a tepid event where the Sky Blues conceded early and lacked the impetus to regain control of the game against a Derby County side who were able to enjoy their only away success thus far this season.

The Sky Blues had won their last two games heading into this one, but were behind when Jack Rudoni, being played at left wing-back, under-hit a back-pass to set Jerry Yates through on goal to finish past Oliver Dovin. The Rams then sat in and put bodies on the line to keep a lacklustre Coventry City side at arm’s length. They made it two with 20 minutes remaining, when Yates’ effort took a wicked deflection off Bobby Thomas and into the back of the net.

A great strike from Tatsuhiro Sakamoto from outside the area was too little, too late for both Coventry on that night and, ultimately, for Mark Robins’ time at the club. Within less than 12 hours, Doug King had decided that the man who always turns things around wasn’t going to this season and pulled the trigger on possibly the club’s best ever manager.

The Opposition

The Manager – John Eustace

The man who looked to have made a decision almost as bad as the one that had seen him sacked and replaced by Wayne Rooney as Birmingham City last season in ditching top-six Blackburn Rovers for relegation-threatened Derby County, John Eustace at least got his first win on the board at the weekend. In fairness, his reasons for leaving Blackburn probably had little to do with this current season and more about the working conditions at Ewood Park, plus the pull to join a club he served with distinction as a player at the end of his career.

As a manager, John Eustace has largely built teams that are happy to cede the ball to the opposition in order to defend with rigour and hurt teams on the counter. The challenge he’s faced in his first weeks at Pride Park is the team has been incredibly short of confidence, leading to the kind of mistakes that make it hard to execute a defence-first game-plan. The Rams battled to a win against Eustace’s former employers, Blackburn, at home at the weekend by demonstrating the kind of grit, aggression and concentration in defence that could make them a tough nut to crack if they repeat it in this game.

Who To Look Out For?

Derby County’s best player this season has been the giant Swedish goalkeeper, Jacob Zetterstrom. A commanding presence between the sticks with a massive kick on him and capable of some stunning reflex saves, Derby really would be mired low down the table without his regular heroics. Losing key centre-backs, Eiran Cashin (sold to Brighton & Hove Albion) and Curtis Nelson (to injury) in January has led to reshuffle in defence, but has seen the impressive Matt Clarke signed on a permanent deal from Middlesbrough to add some crucial experience and quality to the back-line.

The beating heart of Derby County may well be the tireless Ebou Adams in central midfield, the kind of player who can run and run all day, Adams is crucial in breaking up the rhythm of opponents by quickly covering gaps and getting in the faces of teams while they look to pass in midfield. He is joined by Kenzo Goudmijn, who can provide some real moments of quality with his passing and ball-carrying, even if he doesn’t get a lot of time on the ball due to Derby’s style of play.

Further forward, Jerry Yates has chipped in with some valuable goals this season but has struggled at times with a lack of service as someone who prefers to run in behind. Instead of having a big man up top to launch attacks towards, Derby rely on the pace of players like Kane Wilson at wing-back, as well as Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Marcus Harness or Kayden Jackson further forward to be able to turn opposing defences.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

Derby County are likely to let Coventry City have the ball for long periods of this game as they look to defend deep and hurt the Sky Blues with their pace on the counter-attack. Coventry have found so much joy of late from crosses and set-pieces, but Derby are a team that are good at preventing opponents from generating headers on goal, which may well set the home side up to be able to frustrate and battle for a result here.

The challenge for Coventry City here is likely to be how they can deal with an opponent willing to sit in against them. This could be a prime opportunity for Matt Grimes to demonstrate the value of his signing by being that metronome in the centre of the park that keeps possession and drags the opposition around the pitch. The key will be moving the ball into the attack as quickly as possible without being loose and offering chances on the counter, an area where the potential absence of Ephron Mason-Clark will be keenly felt.

With Derby County having a fair amount of pace on the counter-attack, that is going to be a huge test of a Coventry City back-line that will likely be without Milan van Ewijk’s speed to cover. Even with Van Ewijk available, teams have found a lot of joy in exploiting the Sky Blues’ offside trap. The key could well be to try and press aggressively and prevent Derby having time to pick balls in behind, however, that is simply that this team has rarely been able to do for much of this season.