Sideways Sammy

It was the perfect day for Coventry City, beginning with the news that the Coventry Building Society Arena would now be owned by the club and ending with a 7-1 thrashing of a sorry Queens Park Rangers side.

From the moment Haji Wright swept the Sky Blues ahead in the 12th minute, rounding off an excellent move to get on the end of a Milan van Ewijk pull-back, it looked like everything was going to go Coventry’s way. Queens Park Rangers obligingly added to that feeling, with some loose passing out from the back pounced upon by Jack Rudoni, to set up Brandon Thomas-Asante to double the lead.

Any hint of a Queens Park Rangers comeback was snuffed out before half-time, when Rudoni got onto the scoresheet with a heavily-deflected effort. Haji Wright then grabbed his second as he was teed up by Brandon Thomas-Asante to make it four. it was five before the break, when Jack Rudoni’s low shot from the edge of the penalty area beat the hapless Joe Walsh in the opposing goal.

Victor Torp rounded off an absurdly good display of finishing early in the second-half. First, by sweeping an effort through a crowd of defenders beyond the reach of the opposing goalkeeper. Then, he produced an absolute pearl of a strike from the edge of the penalty area that arced perfectly into the top corner to make it seven.

The only bum note was a late Queens Park Rangers consolation, when Carl Rushworth in the Coventry City goal flapped at a set-piece delivery to allow Liam Morrison nod the ball into the path of Richard Kone for a tap-in.

When Haji Wright Plays Like That…

The centre-forward position has been something of a problem area for Coventry City during Frank Lampard’s time in charge. However, Haji Wright showed in what was close to a complete performance that those concerns over the position may well have been overblown, with the American likely to point to a lack of fitness as a key reason why he hasn’t been able to perform at the standard he produced here more consistently during this calendar year.

If the expectation around a centre-forward is that they’re going to stay within the width of the penalty area and battle with the opposing centre-backs, that isn’t really the package that Haji Wright offers. Wright, at his best, is someone who’ll look to float across the forward line, even occasionally drop deep, as he searches for space to attempt to devastate opponents with his awkward combination of height, pace and dribbling ability. The American made himself exceptionally difficult for the Queens Park Rangers defence to deal with as they had no consistent way of telling where he’d pop up next.

What was particularly encouraging about this display from Haji Wright is that he produced that element of unpredictability while also exhibiting those typical centre-forward skills of playing with his back to goal, engaging in physical battles and being on the end of chances in the penalty area. It was one of the most complete performance in the striker position that the club has seen since the departure of Viktor Gyokeres, leaving the opposition’s best chance of stopping Wright being attempting to foul him – which created further space across the front line as Queens Park Rangers’ defenders had to commit to limit his influence on the game.

Any questions as to whether Frank Lampard truly fancies Haji Wright as his lead centre-forward seemed to be answered with this display. The American was that all round threat – a poacher, target-man and link player – at the top end of the pitch that the team has been missing for much of Lampard’s time in charge of the club. There will clearly be tougher challenges for the team and Wright than this game, but his performance here was the most individually encouraging display in an encounter where almost everything possible went in Coventry City’s favour.

The Arsenal Has Been Assembled

Over the past two games, Coventry City have scored ten goals from six different goalscorers. If the goal since the departures of Gustavo Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres has been to move away from a couple of star individuals, recent performances have highlighted the wisdom of such a stategy. Whereas last year, different players stepped up at different junctures, the last two games have showed how dangerous it can be when they all step up to the plate at the same time.

On top of having the aforementioned Haji Wright in superlative form at centre-forward in this game, there were key attacking contributions from Brandon Thomas-Asante, Jack Rudoni, Victor Torp and Milan van Ewijk which meant that Queens Park Rangers couldn’t just focus on dealing with one player to stymie Coventry City’s threat. If Wright could be contained, that left space for Jack Rudoni in the number ten position to jink between the lines, or Brandon Thomas-Asante to push into shooting positions off the right wing, or Victor Torp to shoot from range, or Milan van Ewijk to charge forward from right-back.

A key tweak over the past two games has been the forced replacement of Tatsuhiro Sakamoto on the right wing with Brandon Thomas-Asante. Hardly ideal, but the latter has stepped up with some really positive displays where he’s been able to operate as an additional striker off the wing, allowing him to press and take on shooting opportunities in a manner that suits his effort-over-refinement style of play. Furthermore, Thomas-Asante playing narrowly has freed Milan van Ewijk to carry the team’s width on the right and seen him get into dangerous areas with space to hit crosses in quickly, resulting in three assists in two games. As it stands, Sakamoto will struggle to get back into the team.

With other attacking players stepping up, Jack Rudoni has avoided the fate of being the marked man following his excellent form at the end of last season. Grabbing his first two goals of the season, Rudoni showed here that his pressing, ability to control the ball on the turn and improving eye for a pass can make him someone opponents can ill-afford not to pay attention to. He has a wonderful habit of making things happen around him and is adding an increasing level of refinement to his all-action style.

Frank Lampard will have been encouraged by the performance of Raphael Borges Rodrigues from the bench. The Australian has had a long road from signing to being able to impact a league match and while this came under ideal circumstances, this was a performance that suggested he has something to offer the team. Able to float off either wing, and use the ball well when in dangerous positions, Raphael looks like someone who can offer a different gear out wide. Depth in that area has been an issue for much of the past two seasons, Raphael and Thomas-Asante have shown recently that there are now options to rotate or in case of injury.

With the summer transfer window still open, there have been consistent calls for Coventry City to add another attacker of some variety to the squad. As it stands, if the Sky Blues are to bring someone in, they are going to have a hell of a job getting into the team.

The Danger Of The Hot Hand?

It is not usual to score seven goals in a game and while it seemed one of those days where nothing could go wrong for Coventry City, to have done so from eight shots on target highlights that the goal return in this match was something of a freak occurrence. Whether it was poor opposition goalkeeping, luck or a series of excellent finishes, anything that could have gone in Coventry’s favour here did.

Running through each of the goals tells the story of an afternoon where the footballing gods were smiling on the Sky Blues. It started with a first goal that was probably the best piece of team attacking play from the Sky Blues. Liam Kitching impressed for the second week in the row in playing a killer pass from defence to get it started, allowing Victor Torp space to sweep it out to the right for the onrushing Milan van Ewijk, who played a quick cross into Haji Wright, who delayed his run into the penalty area to perfection. It was the kind of team move the coaching staff have worked on in the training ground.

The second begins to get into the territory of it simply being the perfect afternoon for Coventry City, with Queens Park Rangers hitting self-destruct playing out from the back, giving Jack Rudoni time and space to sort his feet out to pass to Brandon Thomas-Asante to power the ball into the back of the net. Similarly, the third comes from a massive deflection off Jack Rudoni’s shot that completely takes the goalkeeper out of the equation.

The fourth is great play from Brandon Thomas-Asante to take advantage of his pace on the break against an opponent searching to get back into the game. Coming off his right wing, almost all the way onto the left by the time he’s in the penalty area, that leaves Haji Wright unmarked to sweep in a shot through the legs of an opposing defender into the back of the net.

The next three are fantastic finishes that aren’t massively replicable on a consistent basis, with Jack Rudoni grabbing the team’s fifth before half-time with a low, early shot from outside the penalty area that the opposing goalkeeper doesn’t see until late. It’s a similar story for the sixth and Victor Torp’s first goal, where he strikes quickly through a crowd of players to leave the poor Joe Walsh with little time to react. The seventh is quite simply one of the best goals based on pure technique that will be seen at the CBS Arena for some time.

This isn’t to say that Coventry City didn’t deserve the win but that this level of victory was the fortune of both good luck and a compliant opposition rather than simply excellent play from the Sky Blues. There is still work to do in terms of consistently creating high quality chances and breaking down the kind of determined defences that Queens Park Rangers simply weren’t in this game. On top of that, the late goal conceded is concerning from just how poorly Carl Rushworth handled a simple high ball into the penalty area.

It was a great win on a great day, the kind that will be remembered for many years to come. This team shouldn’t be judged, however, on the evidence on a day where just about everything went their way.