Sideways Sammy

Coventry City twice spurned a winning position at Oxford United to leave the Kassam Stadium with a draw, when three points really should have been the most likely outcome.

The Sky Blues started the game confidently, creating several openings before Haji Wright eventually swept the team as he seized on a loose ball in the penalty area to finish in trademark fashion. It looked the signal to move up through the gears and kill the game off early against an Oxford United side that looked to be struggling at the back.

Further chances came Coventry’s way, but Oxford were allowed a route back into the game when Bobby Thomas gave away a soft foul in shooting range just outside the penalty area. Carl Rushworth did well to save the initial effort but was helpless to do anything about the rebound that fell kindly to the feet of the Yellow’s centre-forward, Will Lankshear.

That lapse in concentration looked like it had been overcome, when the home side took their turn to concede a free-kick in shooting range that Victor Torp gleefully took advantage. However, Coventry City failed to maintain their dominance in the second-half and Oxford United battled back into the game, starting to target the away side’s high defensive line with balls in behind into the impressive Will Lankshear.

Having ridden that pressure, Coventry looked set to claim the three points, only for Liam Kitching to continue the game’s trend of giving away soft free-kicks in shooting positions. This time, it was Cameron Brannagan for Oxford who struck through the wall to earn his side a share of the points. Haji Wright could have won the game late on, when a Tatsuhiro Sakamoto pull-back came invitingly to his feet in the penalty area but he shot with slightly too much power to see his effort zoom over the cross-bar towards the Kassam Stadium carpark.

Set-Piece Frailty Strikes Again

This game continued Coventry City’s streak this season of conceding from set-pieces. All eight goals the team has let in this season have come from varying forms of dead ball and, at this stage, any such situation from an opponent has fans watching through their fingers, expecting further goals to come. As soon as Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching conceded free-kicks in dangerous areas in this match, the Oxford United goals felt inevitable.

It has led to an understandable quest for who is to blame for this sloppy streak thus far, which has cost the team its place in the League Cup, two points in this game and the blood pressure of many Sky Blues fans. From Carl Rushworth, the centre-backs, to the coaching staff, the search-net for answers has been cast wide but it is still probably too early to draw definitive conclusions about the cause and possible solutions to it.

Carl Rushworth is already in the spotlight for the goals that he has conceded this season and while there are legitimate concerns to be had over the command he has in his penalty area from crosses and the accuracy of his kicking, there’s a case that both he conceded here were far from his fault. The first sees him make a good save, only for the opposing centre-forward to be anticipating the parry into his path. For the second, he’s not helped by the wall both failing to spot Cameron Brannagan moving the ball slightly to the right before the free-kick was taken and doing its job in blocking the eventual shot.

Perception is so important for a goalkeeper because their performances are defined by a handful of moments in games. Whereas if a goalkeeper who is perceived highly (e.g. Oliver Dovin) conceded the two goals Carl Rushworth did in this game, the criticism would be pointed towards the needless concession of the free-kicks and the actions of the rest of the defence in defending them, the same actions from a goalkeeper who is already perceived poorly (e.g. Brad Collins) the blame is apportioned entirely their way. While there isn’t a wealth of evidence upon which to judge Carl Rushworth, the perception is threatening to turn against him because there haven’t been positive moments and performances to build credit in the bank for the Brighton & Hove Albion loanee.

As for the broader issue with set-pieces, the difficulty at the moment is in finding answers from what is a rather wide variety of goals conceded from such situations. In this game, the issue was conceding two free-kicks in shooting areas. Against Millwall in the League Cup, it was defending corner-kicks. Against Queens Park Rangers, it was the goalkeeper failing to read a high, hanging ball into the box. Against Derby County, it was an unexpected shot from a wide free-kick, a sloppy penalty, and slack marking from a long throw. It has been a variety of poor decision-making from different individuals and maybe even simple bad luck – Coventry have conceded four set-piece goals from an Expected Goals of 1.72.

Not that Frank Lampard and his coaching staff don’t have anything to work on in terms of defending set-pieces over the international break but there’s an argument that the focus on the goals conceded from such situations is a result of how little this team is giving away in open play. Given the team’s defensive struggles over the past couple of seasons, to have set-piece defending as the sole area to improve upon is significant progress.

An Attack In Fluent Form

Had it not been for those two free-kick goals conceded, the focus would be on what was another fluent attacking performance from Coventry City. In the first-half in particular, it felt as if the Sky Blues could score with every forward foray. The entire front four looked confident and assured of their touch, aided by a midfield duo that could keep the ball and play quality passes forward. As much as the goal return thus far this season is the result of abnormally good finishing, the amount of confidence this team is playing with in attack is allowing that quality conversion of chances to happen.

Haji Wright has already gone some way already towards erasing memories of a difficult end to last season where he scored just twice in his final ten appearances with his displays over the past two matches. The American looks far more comfortable in the role of centre-forward than he ever has for Coventry City, benefitting from the fluidity of the rest of the front-line to focus on floating into dangerous positions around the penalty area – nearly doing so to drop into space to hit the winning goal from a Tatsuhiro Sakamoto cut-back in the final minutes. On top of that, Wright is looking far more willing to engage in physical battles with opposing centre-backs and link play with neat touches to give the team an all-round threat up top.

Behind Wright, Ephron Mason-Clark, Jack Rudoni and Brandon Thomas-Asante are proving to be excellent support. Mason-Clark and Rudoni, in particular, look really comfortable taking the ball in tight areas and muscling off contact from opposing players to open up space across the front-line, as well as carrying the ball forward to help create chances. Thomas-Asante’s ability to come off the right wing and effective act as a second striker has helped the team load the penalty area and freed Haji Wright to float away from the centre-forward berth, with a little more composure, Thomas-Asante might have had a goal or two in this game.

The front four’s work is made easier by the quality that Matt Grimes and Victor Torp are supplying from central midfield. Torp looks to be in superlative form, playing with real confidence around the opposing penalty area with the quality of his passing and shooting – capped off by that excellent free-kick goal in the first-half that should have won the game. Grimes, meanwhile, isn’t just keeping possession ticking over from the deep midfield position but is engaging in physical battles to deal with opposition long balls and trying to impose himself in the challenge.

There may have been questions as to why Frank Lampard didn’t make changes as the game wore on and the team appeared to have tired, however, the attacking players are in such strong form right now that it felt like weakening Coventry City’s chances to take any of them off. Tatushiro Sakamoto eventually came on in during the final minutes and nearly set up a winning goal for Haji Wright but it was hard to see who else could have improved the team’s threat from the bench. That’s less a reflection of the quality of Coventry’s substitutes and more about how well the starting attacking players are performing right now.

Controlling The Flow

Where this game began to go wrong for Coventry City was from the start of the second-half right up until Oxford United’s equaliser. The intent to try and keep scoring goals remained the same, but the flow of Coventry attacks reduced and Oxford started to find ways to threaten at the other end. The focus may be on another set-piece goal, but the concession of it was reflective of Coventry’s inability to take the sting out of the match.

Coventry City currently look like they struggle to play in anything other than a high gear, looking to control games by playing on the front foot and attempting to outscore the opposition. That can overwhelm and dispirit teams when that works, but when chances to extend leads aren’t taken, the game becomes stretched as both ends of the pitch and the opposition will have the chance to get back into the match.

In the second-half, Oxford United spotted the opportunity to get in behind Coventry City’s high defensive line and had several chances to grab an equaliser before Cameron Brannagan’s free-kick later on. Will Lankshear up top for the Yellows did a great job in both jostling with Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching to draw cheap free-kicks but also make runs in between them into space to stretch the centre-back duo. The Tottenham Hotspur loanee saw a goal disallowed for offside after he slightly mistimed a run to get on the end of a cross in the second-half, while Liam Kitching just about did enough shortly afterwards to put him off when he get that timing right to streak in behind and through on goal.

The issue throughout the second-half was in how Coventry City continued to stretch themselves looking for further chances that weren’t forthcoming, which provided space for Oxford United to break and spring that offside trap. For all the talk of adding another centre-back or two before the transfer window closes, if anyone is to come in, they are going to have to be blessed with incredible pace and concentration levels to avoid being caught out in such situations with such little protection or awareness from the players in front of them.

For all the free-flowing attacking football Coventry City played in this game, there are times this team needs to spot that they are under pressure and should look to slow the pace down. Whether it’s in keeping the ball for extended periods or looking to win cheap fouls to break up the flow of matches, Coventry don’t seem to have a plan for looking to manage matches when the lead is tight.

Not every game is going to be won by two goal margins or more. The concern with this Coventry City team is that if they are not scoring, they are not in control of matches.