Sideways Sammy

Another cagey home play-off first leg for Coventry City this time saw them leave themselves with work to do at Stadium of Light after Milan van Ewijk’s sloppy late back-pass allowed Sunderland to take the lead in the tie. The challenge the Sky Blues now face is to win a first away game after a five-game winless run on the road. On the one hand, it’s a big ask of this team. On the other, they have nothing to lose, with all the pressure on Sunderland to hold on in front of their own fans.

This game is all about who can hold their nerve as the prize looms tantalisingly in grasping distance. While Sunderland will feel confident that another defensive effort like the one they put in on Friday at the CBS Arena will seal their place at Wembley, the question is will the pressure of the home crowd tempt them into taking risks they didn’t in the first leg. For Coventry City, the key is to understand that the deficit doesn’t have to be wiped out as early as possible, the longer the one-goal margin remains, the more nerves will jangle at the Stadium of Light.

Expected Line-Up

With a one-goal deficit to make up, the positive spin on it is that it makes Coventry City and Frank Lampard’s job in terms of the approach a little bit easier than if the tie was level or there was a lead to hold onto. Instead of worrying about how to manage a tough away trip at a time the team has been struggling on the road, the focus is on how to take the game to an opponent who have shown they are happy sitting in.

The primary concern Frank Lampard and his coaching staff will have is how to generate a greater threat in open play than Coventry City showed at the CBS Arena. The team were a little too content to allow themselves to get funnelled out wide and wait for opportunities from crosses and set-pieces that Sunderland set themselves up well to defend. in retrospect, the decision to start Brandon Thomas-Asante at centre-forward didn’t suit the nature of the game.

That could hand an opportunity for Ellis Simms to come back into the starting line-up as someone who can provide a greater aerial presence up top. Lampard will surely be considering a way to play Haji Wright through the middle, with the American on a run of two goals in nine games since that hat-trick against Sunderland back in March, but that decision will rest on how fit Ephron Mason-Clark is assessed to be. Even if Mason-Clark can only last 60 minutes, that may free up Brandon Thomas-Asante, and/or Ellis Simms, to come on later on to threaten against a tired defence.

Elsewhere, changes seem unlikely but it’s worth bearing in mind that Milan van Ewijk, Bobby Thomas and Ben Sheaf’s fitness levels are in question ahead of what could potentially be a 120 minutes of football. Additionally, Jake Bidwell might have a shout of coming into the starting line-up as an experienced head in what could be a tough atmosphere – that’s probably less likely given Coventry City have a deficit to chase.

Last Time We Met

Coventry City came into Friday’s game with plenty of positivity after some impressive recent home performances that sealed a place in the top six. However, Sunderland stymied the home team’s threat pretty effectively throughout the 90 minutes by playing a narrow 4-4-2 system that slowed Coventry’s passing rhythm down to a halt. There was little goalmouth action until Wilson Isidor got in behind the Sky Blues’ offside trap and finished past Ben Wilson as the home defence casually trotted back.

Coventry looked to have earned themselves a reprieve from a stodgy performance, when, almost straight from the resulting kick-off, Milan van Ewijk found Jack Rudoni from a cross to head in an equaliser. However, in the 88th minute, Van Ewijk sent a soft back-pass that left Ben Wilson in no-man’s land to be beaten by the dangerous Eliezer Mayenda to hand Sunderland the advantage heading into the second leg.

The Opposition

The Manager – Regis Le Bris

Friday night’s performance was a significant one in Regis Le Bris’ Sunderland tenure, demonstrating that poor form of recent months may well have been down to the team not having a target to aim for, rather than any of the manager’s own deficiencies. Playing a curveball by moving to a compact 4-4-2, away from his preferred 4-2-3-1, Le Bris set Sunderland up to frustrate and threaten on the counter and did exactly that. The question now is how he manages the approach for a second leg lead at home.

Sunderland have had a habit of times this season of sitting in a little too much and inviting pressure on themselves. That Regis Le Bris took off both his strikers to see out the closing stages of Friday night’s game may well indicate that he’ll look to contain Coventry City again, rather than look to utilise the home atmosphere to win the tie early. However, that he was willing to risk playing 4-4-2 on the road means that Le Bris may well have further tricks up his sleeve.

Who To Look Out For?

The big decision for Sunderland and Regis Le Bris ahead of this match is whether to stick with the duo of Wilson Isidor and Eliezer Mayenda up top, or sacrifice one of them to stay even more compact from the start and leave the team with something, if they need it, from the bench later on. With the pacey winger, Romaine Mundle, likely to be available as a substitute here, that may allow Le Bris to stick with the system that worked on Friday, knowing he has a difference maker available in reserve.

The first leg showed how well-disciplined Sunderland can be without the ball, despite being a relatively young team. Dan Neil and Jobe Bellingham did an excellent job in preventing Coventry City creating anything through the middle of the pitch – aided by really good off-the-ball work by the two strikers ahead of them. That helped free up Enzo Le Fee to drift off the left wing into central areas, with his pass setting up Wilson Isidor for the crucial opening goal.

At the back, the return of Dan Ballard as a powerful aerial presence proved a significant upgrade for Sunderland against Coventry City’s threat from crosses. If there is to be another curveball from Regis Le Bris, it may be to go three at the back, with Chris Mepham coming into the team, to give the Black Cats even more bodies to deal with balls into the box.

In goal, Anthony Patterson’s ability to claim crosses under pressure was another crucial element of Sunderland’s first leg win. That was particularly impressive given Patterson’s struggles for confidence this season. If he can do that again, it will go a long way to the home side being able to edge out Coventry City again in this second leg.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

Sunderland will know that if they can replicate their first leg performance, that may be enough to prevent Coventry City scoring or even really having a sniff on goal and thus see them to Wembley. The question is whether they are affected by any pressure their home fans put on them to come out and kill the tie off to ease any nerves. As much as Coventry will want to wipe out the deficit quickly, the longer it stays with just one goal in it, the more it is going to set the jitters at the Stadium of Light.

The key area of the game looks to be whether Sunderland can continue to deal with Coventry City’s crossing threat as well as they did in the first leg. The Black Cats did a great job of forcing the Sky Blues to play slowly out of defence, allowing them to get bodies in the way to either stop crosses or dealing with them in the penalty area. Ellis Simms providing some extra physicality at centre-forward may go some way to tipping the balance back in Coventry’s favour.

Coventry City found most of their joy in the first leg on their right-hand side, where Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Milan van Ewijk were able to combine to isolate Denis Cirkin to lead to some dangerous moments. On the other side, Haji Wright was much less effective, often up against two or three defenders and unable to have much of an impact on the game. Whether Jay Dasilva can do more to support the American, or he can have an easier time if he’s moved to the middle, is something that the Sky Blues would, ideally, like to be able to do to put Sunderland under greater pressure, knowing they’re under threat from both flanks.

At the other end, Frank Lampard will probably be reflecting that his team did, largely, a pretty good job of limiting Sunderland’s threat on the counter-attack. This game isn’t about going gung-ho, so being able to contain Sunderland’s threat through keeping the ball and playing a high line will be just as important as trying to score the goals to turn the tie around. The two goals conceded show how much concentration is required in defence to maintain this team’s defensive solidity.