Sideways Sammy

Three wins in a row has transformed Coventry City’s season, from on the verge of dropping out of the automatic promotion places to a firm spot at the top of the division in the space of ten days. With potentially (depending on Bristol City’s progress in the FA Cup) three home games in a row, the Sky Blues have the chance to extend this run of form further and take a great leap towards the 80-point mark ahead of the March international break.

Coventry take on a Stoke City side that have picked up a valuable win in midweek to end a miserable run of form. Having been in the promotion race themselves back in November when these teams last met, Mark Robins’ outfit are firmly mid-table and already starting to run out of road in the play-off race. On top of the Legends Day curse, this could be a tricky game for the Sky Blues.

Expected Line-Up

Frank Lampard has resisted the urge to tinker with his starting line-up over the past three games and it seems unlikely that anything he saw on Wednesday night will have changed his mind. The starting XI is looking very settled at the moment and with at least seven, potentially 11, days until the next fixture, there feels little to change things up in order to maintain fresh legs.

If there are changes, Victor Torp and Brandon Thomas-Asante are probably the likeliest to come into the team. Torp could be preferred for this game ahead of Frank Onyeka in order to provide some quality on the ball to break down a tough opposing defensive unit. Meanwhile, Thomas-Asante remains the ace up Frank Lampard’s sleeve to add a fresh burst of enthusiasm, probably in Tatsuhiro Sakamoto’s stead. However, both feel like the first changes Lampard would make in order to chase a result.

Elsewhere, Ellis Simms for Haji Wright would be another change in the manager’s mind if he is worried about the short turnaround between this game and the last one. Joel Latibeaudiere looks to have secured his place in the team for the time being, that impression might have been different had Patrick Bamford scored the chance that the defender provided him on Wednesday night.

Last Time We Met

Coventry City made a slew of changes back in January as they took on Stoke City in the FA Cup, who were much closer to full strength due to a nightmare injury list. Stoke were the better team for much of the first-half and should have taken the lead, when Divin Mubama missed a sitter from inches out.

Coventry improved in the second-half and should have been ahead themselves, when Romain Esse bewitched the opposing defence and set Haji Wright up to miss a howler of his own. With the game heading to extra-time, the ball sat up beautifully on the edge of the area for Stoke’s Lamine Cisse to belt past Ben Wilson to win the game. Cisse then celebrated by revealing his previously unknown hatred of Frank Lampard – a level only matched by some of my Nii Lamptey Show colleagues.

The Opposition

The Manager – Mark Robins

Having looked to have quickly turned Stoke City from also-rans into promotion contenders, the Stoke-itis seems to have set in with Mark Robins as the winter has seen the team tumble into the familiar embrace of mid-table. A horrendous injury list hasn’t helped, but it looks to be a case of team that was over-performing earlier in the season seeing results finally catch-up to them.

Goals have been the issue for Mark Robins’ team this season, with the team lacking a reliable centre-forward and instead waiting on moments of individual brilliance from their coterie of nimble attacking midfielders. They have the best defensive record in the division, with their games being decided by fine margins either way.

Who To Look Out For?

For all their struggles in front of goal, when things click for this Stoke City team it can look very impressive. Leading the way is the somewhat enigmatic Sorba Thomas who has a bedazzling ability to strike the ball, whether it’s in these deathly accurate, looping crosses or long-range efforts, Thomas can provide something out of nothing, with a lot of his goals and assists coming from unorthodox deliveries that have completely baffled the opposing defence.

The incredibly dribbly Million Manhoef is another individual genius who Mark Robins is trying to foster into being a more consistent performer. Those two have been joined more recently by Lamine Cisse, who was signed in the summer but is benefitting from the team’s injuries to enjoy a run of games, and former Coventry City target, Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, to add further pace and skill to Stoke City’s front-line, with the enthusiastic Korean, Bae Jun-ho to come on from the bench.

Further back, Stoke have some strong individual defenders who make up a great collective unit. Ashley Phillips has been a classy, commanding presence for such a young player in the two years he’s spent on loan at the club from Tottenham Hotspur. Ben Wilmot is a more experienced but no less reliable performer who has formed a great partnership with Phillips but is currently operating at right-back. That recent tweak has seen the giant Maksym Talovierov moved into his natural centre-back position. Backing that up are the heroics of Viktor Johansson between the sticks, who reliably makes big saves when that defensive phalanx is breached.

Where The Game Will Be Won Or Lost

With Stoke City being strong at the back and incredibly quick going forward, there are no surprises for guessing how they are likely to set up for this game. The challenge is likely to be for Coventry City to play through a team happy to sit in and wait for counter-attacking opportunities, which is largely different to how the Sky Blues have won their last three – where their opponents have had most of the ball.

The big question is probably whether or not to play Frank Onyeka in this game as Coventry look to respond to the challenge ahead of them. In Onyeka’s favour is that his physical presence could prove invaluable in protecting the defence against Stoke City’s unbridled pace on the counter-attack. Against him is how little he seems to offer on the ball. Frank Lampard will probably be loathe to change a winning team.

Additionally, Sorba Thomas’ delivery from out wide and dead balls will be a big concern for Coventry to deal with. Milan van Ewijk and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto will have to share getting tight to him in open play. The main response to the dead ball threat will be to avoid giving away set-pieces, which is something this team struggles to do.

Stoke look weaker defensively down their left side, so the onus again falls on Van Ewijk and Sakamoto to perform in this game. If Coventry can stretch Stoke down the left, that could open up space for Ephron Mason-Clark to get in behind, with Stoke likely to otherwise sit deep and mark the winger closely with the centre-back, Ben Wilmot.