Sideways Sammy

Coventry City began their campaign with a dull draw at home to a determined Hull City side.

In a game of few chances, the Sky Blues looked the closest to making the breakthrough but seemed to lack the imagination or determination to get the ball over the line. Some decent first-half chances for Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Jack Rudoni were not taken and, from then on, the route to goal looked increasingly muddied and full of potholes.

Even as Milan van Ewijk lined up a late free-kick in the depths of stoppage time, few home fans truly believed that the script of a dour 0-0 was about to be changed. Instead, the Sky Blues were left to reflect on what improvements could be made going forward to prevent repeat performances throughout the rest of the campaign.

The Crossing And Set-Piece Crutch

With just one new face in the starting line-up – Carl Rushworth in goal – there was an understandable familiar feeling about Coventry City on this opening day fixture. Dominant in possession, wracking up 37 crosses, and with the best chances coming from set-pieces, anyone in attendance at the CBS Arena could have been forgiven for double-checking their calendar for whether any time had passed since May.

Against a resolute and physical Hull City side that made it difficult for Coventry City to play through the middle of them, it was understandable why the Sky Blues returned to wide areas and dead balls in order to make the breakthrough. Earlier on in the game, Coventry looked to play over the top of Hull, attempting to make the use of new goalkeeper, Carl Rushworth’s, long-range kicking and Brandon Thomas-Asante’s pace up top as a combination, however, the former lacked accuracy and the latter couldn’t quite time his runs. From 20-30 minutes onwards, the home side settled into a familiar pattern of deliberate build-up, which often resulted in working the ball to the flanks or waiting for set-piece opportunities.

It’s fair to say that Coventry City were more threatening during the first-half on their right, rather than left, side. It wasn’t just because Milan van Ewijk and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto clearly have a stronger understanding than Jay Dasilva and Ephron Mason-Clark, but the former duo were more willing to vary things up beyond going outside the opposing defender and looping a cross in. Sakamoto, in particular, looked closest to making the breakthrough, willing to take on shots and attack the back-post from deliveries on the left. Dasilva and Mason-Clark improved in the second-half, but didn’t quite provide the missing element of unpredictability from Coventry’s perfomance.

Aside from the late introduction of Haji Wright, who had a couple of openings that came from being sprung in behind the Hull City defence that he may have taken had he been sharper, Coventry City fell back on that familiar crutch of set-pieces and long throws to break a tight game. A collective groan could almost be heard from the home crowd when Milan van Ewijk was lined up in the first-half to chuck his first throw into the box, less an assessment of their threat and more as an indication of how little has changed from last season. While the long throws had some merit in penning Hull back, the lack of variation at set-piece delivery seemed to bely a team playing on auto-pilot.

Almost every corner-kick Coventry City took in this game was floated to the back-post. Sometimes, it was the Sky Blues making the first contact, but more often it was a Hull City head or goalkeeper glove that gratefully claimed the opportunity to resist any pressure the Sky Blues were attempting to build. Coventry failed to attempt a single short corner-kick and barely considered putting it in towards the near-post or other attempts at variation. As the game wore on, Hull were increasingly comfortable in conceding corner-kicks.

It was a tough assignment against a strong, physical opposing defensive unit but if Frank Lampard and his coaching staff had used the summer to drill in variation to Coventry City’s play, it wasn’t apparent here. The Sky Blues may have been the better team throughout the 90 minutes but there was a lack of imagination and unpredictability to their attacking play. As opponents learn Coventry’s threat from crossing and set-pieces, it feels important that this team finds different ways of creating and scoring or these kind of stalemates could prove common.

Dasilva Continues To Show His Mettle

If there had been a concern that Jay Dasilva’s end of season form had been a flash in the pan, he showed here that he continues to have the bit between this teeth to assert himself on matches and remain one of the team’s strongest performers. Hull City had clearly looked to target him under balls in behind and physical challenges, but the left-back stood up to that inspection to such an extent that it may make other opponents think twice about preying on him as a supposed weakness.

As ever with Jay Dasilva, the concern is that his short stature forces him to play with a high level of concentration and aggression in order to avoid opponents getting on top of him. Previously, that wasn’t something that could be relied upon but it’s looking increasingly the case that Frank Lampard has unlocked that missing element of consistency in Dasilva in recent months.

The only time Hull could get in behind Dasilva required them to be offside – in the first-half, where Carl Rushworth produced an excellent save, regardless. For the most part, the left-back didn’t just show discipline in holding the defensive line but defended positively on the front foot, snapping into challenges and ultimately repelling the Tigers from looking to attack down their left. It was a performance embodied by the yellow card Jay Dasilva was shown in the second-half, where he won the ball against Abu Kamara a little too aggressively for the referee’s liking.

Going forward is the area where Jay Dasilva could further improve, where he gets in good positions to support attacks but can be hesitant with his delivery. Dasilva’s best attacking moment came in the first-half, where he surged to the byline but overhit his cross to let the opportunity pass him by. With competition coming from the form of new arrival, Miguel Angel Brau, who is almost a specialist crosser, if Dasilva can find that final ball more regularly, his place in the team will become unassailable.

Another CBS Arena Clean Sheet

Coventry City kept a fifth clean sheet in six home league games (excluding the play-offs), continuing a positive defensive run at the CBS Arena since that chaotic 3-2 win over Stoke City back in March. With a lot of emphasis having been placed on the defence as a key area of improvement, beginning the campaign with another home match where the opposition barely had a sniff on goal raises the question; has this team already made that improvement?

In a game that came at the end of a week in which Coventry City had been publicly outed as in pursuit of the opposition’s captain at centre-back, Charlie Hughes, the back-line made a compelling case to shelve ambitions of the kind of outlay that maybe required for Hughes’ services. There may have been a couple of wobbly moments at the back – with Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching producing one notable brain-fade between them in the second-half – but with Carl Rushworth producing a quietly commanding display in goal on his debut, there is cause to believe that keeping goals out may not be the issue this season.

The improved defensive solidity may also go hand-in-hand with what has been perceived as slow, deliberate and perhaps even boring approach in possession. Put simply, if the opposition can’t get the ball, their threat is going to be limited. The danger with this approach is it leaves Coventry prone to giving away chances from sloppy passes across the back or on the break, however, the Sky Blues were intelligent enough here to play long out of defence when they needed to and while Hull had a counter-attacking threat, the defence were often in good enough recovery positions for breaks for those not to lead to chances of much quality.

If this Coventry City side isn’t going to be exciting and full of flair going forward, if they can reliably keep the opposition to few chances, that may not be required to win games regularly. On another day, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto’s shot in the third minute could have won the game, or the handful of decent openings created throughout the rest of the game. The attacking performance may have left something to be desired but if Coventry consistently have the better chances in matches, they are going to win more often than not.

Of course, it could be the case that Coventry City were up against a Hull City attack that weren’t up to much, having been one of the lowest scoring teams last season and starting with only one new forward player. There will certainly be tougher challenges to come, but this back-line has started to show that, with better organisation and a move towards a possession-oriented style, they are capable of shutting opposing teams out. If Carl Rushworth can be that veritable upgrade in goal over the likes of Brad Collins and Ben Wilson, that could make the task of keeping clean sheets even easier.

Having looked to have fixed the leakiness at the CBS Arena, the task now is to replicate that solidity on the road and become a team that opponents begin to doubt their chances of breaking down.