Sideways Sammy

Coventry City came out on top of a topsy-turvy encounter at Derby County where the lead changed hands on three occasions, with the Sky Blues winning it with a spell of three goals in seven minutes to go from one goal down to two ahead with ten minutes left on the clock.

An early header from Bobby Thomas, coming from a low Victor Torp set-piece delivery bouncing off Jacob Zetterstrom in the opposing goal into the path of the centre-back, looked to have set Coventry City up nicely on a tough away day, only for Derby County to score from a set-piece of their own, with Callum Elder catching Carl Rushworth out with a whipped delivery into the top corner from the right wing.

Coventry looked to have gained control of proceedings, however, when Ephron Mason-Clark teased a foul out of Dion Sanderson in the penalty area and Haji Wright calmly converted the spot-kick. The Sky Blues could have had a two-goal cushion heading into the break, when Victor Torp swept an effort from the edge of the area into the back of the net, only for the referee to fail to play an advantage. Instead, a sloppy handball from Bobby Thomas allowed Derby to level the scores from the spot, via Carlton Morris.

Shortly after the start of the second-half, Derby County took the lead when Ebou Adams was left unmarked from a long throw-in to sweep Bobby Thomas’ tame clearing header past Carl Rushworth. The Rams looked to have successfully frustrated Coventry City by dropping into a deeper defensive block and denying them much of any threat in their penalty area.

That was until Bobby Thomas made the first contact from a long throw-in, leaving Brandon Thomas-Asante a tap-in to level the scores and kicking off the spell that ultimately won the game. Coventry regained the lead three minutes later, when Liam Kitching hit a sumptuous ball over the top from defence to spring Milan van Ewijk in behind to pick out Ephron Mason-Clark in space to head in. The points were wrapped up shortly after, when Victor Torp was left in space in the penalty area to sweep in Coventry City’s fifth goal of the afternoon.

Wing Play Leads The Charge

There were understandable concerns when it was revealed at the starting line-ups that Tatsuhiro Sakamoto would be unavailable for this game through injury. The Japanese winger’s dribbling and ball-carrying ability has been a central tenet to Coventry City’s threat for much of the past two seasons, but the wide options deployed in this game showed that this team now has a range of high-quality options on the flanks.

Brandon Thomas-Asante filled in on the right and showed that he may well have been the best choice for this game regardless of whether Tatsuhiro Sakamoto was injured. Where Sakamoto lacks physicality and wants to take extra touches on the ball, Thomas-Asante showed he was willing to stand up to a physical, intimidating opposing team and wants to make sure every action he takes on the ball is achieved in as few touches as possible. The forward offered a handy release valve and a desire to keep plugging away in difficult circumstances that helped Coventry City get back into this game from 3-2 down.

Moreover, Brandon Thomas-Asante playing so narrowly on the right side not only provided Haji Wright with some valuable support at centre-forward but freed Milan van Ewijk to stretch the play from right-back. The full-back making a run in behind to get on the end of a Liam Kitching pass put Coventry City ahead, showcasing the Dutchman’s increased confidence in producing a final ball where he has been hesitant to in the past.

One of the stand-out performances in this game, however, came from Ephron Mason-Clark on the left, who dominated Ryan Nyambe and, especially, Dion Sanderson. The winger looked confident from early on, spotting opportunities to carry the ball at the opposition and get them on the back foot. On top of winning the penalty and scoring the goal to put the team ahead, it was telling that Mason-Clark was the player others were turning to at 3-2 down to get the ball to try and make something happen.

In a week in which Kai Andrews and Raphael Borges Rodrigues made impacts in the League Cup, Coventry City suddenly look to be in a healthy place in terms of wide options. Whereas it was once the case that Tatsuhiro Sakamoto was the team’s only winger, there are now plenty who can step up in his absence. Importantly, it provides Frank Lampard with the ability to change things up out wide depending on the nature of the opposition and the match circumstances.

Victor Torp Stands Out

Amid the chaos, if there was one player whose quality really stood out, it was Victor Torp. The midfielder looked was one of the only players on the pitch who looked like they had time on the ball, supported attacks with quick, intentful passing, whipped in a telling delivery for the first goal and produced two strikes of quality – the first of which was disallowed after the referee failed to play an advantage at a free-kick. It was fitting that it was Torp who eventually took the game completely away from Derby County.

The question with Victor Torp during much of his time at Coventry City isn’t whether he possesses this kind of quality but how capable he is of utilising it in high-intensity Championship games. During his first season and a half at the club, Torp has started 33 league games and been substituted off 25 times, highlighting that question over his physical capacity. While he was eventually taken off here – albeit, after the 90th minute – to have been able to get in the opposing penalty deep into the second half is a particularly encouraging sign.

This performance was very much about what Victor Torp was able to provide in moments on the ball in what was otherwise a scrappy, stop-start affair. Making just one tackle and interception, Torp’s role was to get forward from a the midfield two and trouble the opposing penalty area. Constantly positive on the ball, that he had as many shots as Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante showed how well Torp was doing to push into dangerous areas and threaten the opposing penalty area.

If it has been a theme of Frank Lampard’s time at Coventry City of individual players taking turns to step up and have spells where they lead the time, this performance was a sign that it might just be Victor Torp’s time to shine. Now that he looks to be reaching the fitness levels required to keep up to speed with high-intensity, scrappy Championship games such as this one, Torp now looks more capable than ever of allowing his quality to shine through.

The Best and Worst of Bobby Thomas

Linked to Sheffield United in an £8 million transfer bid the day before this game, if there were opposing scouts watching Bobby Thomas’ performance, they would have been provided a thorough demonstration of his best and worst attributes. Scorer of the opening goal and with a big hand in the equaliser at 3-3, Thomas can be a huge presence in the opposing penalty area from centre-back. However, in giving away a needless penalty and producing a poor headed clearance to allow Derby to take the lead, Thomas’ decision-making and authority as a defender remains in question.

In Bobby Thomas’ defence, he wasn’t the only defender for Coventry City in this game who didn’t cover themselves in glory. From Jay Dasilva and Milan van Ewijk in either full-back berth struggling under the physical and aerial bombardment that Derby County put them under, to Carl Rushworth looking pretty indecisive under some high balls later on in the game, even Liam Kitching, who comes out of this game with the most credit out of the back four, has some criticism to take – chiefly, for failing to track Ebou Adams at the long throw that put Derby County ahead.

That a team with eyes on automatic promotion seems to be after Bobby Thomas may well suggest that it’s not the individuals that make up this back-line that is the issue but something in the way it comes together. The big change this season is the addition of a new goalkeeper, in Carl Rushworth, who clearly will need time to integrate into the defence but this game highlighted that the Brighton & Hove Albion loanee is not going to fix all of the problems on his own.

While Coventry City are yet to concede in open play across the first three games of the season, this game highlighted the fragility that remains at the back. The crucial missing element seems to be a missing element of authority to this team’s defending. With Bobby Thomas in mind, specifically, his increased threat in the opposing penalty area shows that he is getting there but the errors he made in his own box prove there is further for him to go in that journey.

Whether Bobby Thomas stays or goes, whether Coventry City sign a new starting centre-back or not, the concern is that replacing one individual with another is not going to make a huge amount of difference in defence if the team overall lacks the focus to avoid the kind of sloppy mistakes that led to the three goals in this game. Defending, after all, is a team effort.