Sideways Sammy

After a summer of transfer activity, Coventry City largely have in place the squad that’s intended to keep them in the Premier League. From talk early in the window that only a handful of players would be added, the Sky Blues’ recruitment has proved to be more comprehensive. The question now is whether what they have is enough to achieve their end of season aim.

Goalkeepers

Getting Carl Rushworth on a permanent deal was one of the top priorities this summer and that has now happened, but at a significant cost. Just how much that matters will depend on how well Rushworth, who is yet to play Premier League football, adapts to the level. There were more experienced and less expensive goalkeepers on the market this summer, the club are hoping that paying a little over the odds for Rushworth has secured the best available option to them.

If Rushworth struggles with Premier League football, there is little the team can really do about it. Ben Wilson has looked notably slow in his reactions whenever he’s played for the team in recent years, while Oliver Dovin is a complete unknown quantity at this stage due to how long he’s been out with injury. Ideally, the club would look to bring in a cheap, experienced number two that would enable Dovin to rebuild fitness out on loan while providing cover for Carl Rushworth, however, that seems a low priority for the remainder of the window.

Full-Backs

There is almost no doubt that Milan van Ewijk will make the step up to Premier League level and given how few games he tends to miss, it seems like the team has the right-back position nailed down, with Kaine Kesler-Hayden a decent enough option as cover given that there may be few opportunities to play that will come his way.

By contrast, it seems almost bizarre that the club haven’t brought in another left-back. While Jay Dasilva will probably be okay at Premier League level if his performances for the team over the past year are any indication, it’s the lack of quality in cover that makes it a huge risk to go into the campaign with the current options in the position.

Jake Bidwell has been a great servant to the club but has looked like he’s lost a metre or so of pace over the past 18 months, while Miguel Angel Brau barely featured for the team after signing last summer. It would be farcical to have either Bidwell or Brau as left-back cover at Premier League level, expect something to happen in the position, even if it is with Dasilva remaining first choice for the time being.

Centre-Back

Aurele Amenda was one of the club’s first new additions over the summer, with the giant Swiss centre-back adding some much-needed top-flight experience, albeit not by a significant amount. Bobby Thomas and Liam Kitching probably have the attributes to eventually adapt to the Premier League, either alongside Amenda or as part of a back three, but another addition in that area of the pitch feels important to help steer what is quite an inexperienced group through the campaign.

Joel Latibeaudiere did a good job over the back end of last season as cover in central defence and seems to be valued around the squad for his leadership qualities, however, his lack of height and pace in the centre-back position feels like it would be exposed in top-flight football. Luke Woolfenden, meanwhile, was out of favour over the final months of the previous campaign and seems set to leave the club in some form by the end of the transfer window.

Central Midfielders

Caleb Yirenkyi and Gustavo Hamer add to what was already a strong area of the Coventry City squad, with Matt Grimes, Frank Onyeka, Jack Rudoni, Victor Torp, and Josh Eccles already in situ. The team is now blessed with a range of options in the middle of the park and it’s up to Frank Lampard to figure out which situations will call for which players to be used to their full effect.

The lynchpin of the team looks set to remain Matt Grimes. The captain’s ability to take the ball off the defence, play through opposition pressure and keep play ticking over is the kind of thing no-one else in the squad is quite capable of doing. With so much built around Grimes, it feels like the team’s hopes of survival may live or die on his ability to adapt to Premier League football. Grimes’ lack of pace and physicality as the deepest central midfielder is a concern, which seems to be behind the thinking of adding Frank Onyeka and Caleb Yirenkyi to act as tougher-tacklers and willing runners alongside Grimes.

With Jack Rudoni there to add a box-crashing goal threat from the middle of the park when Coventry City want to play on the front foot, and Victor Torp able to play telling passes and with lethal set-piece ability, it raises the question of what the thinking is behind the addition of Gustavo Hamer. It may just have been a case of adding another talented player to the squad to raise its overall bar, the worry is that he might get in the way of already talented players or simply get frustrated at not being the main man.

Josh Eccles, meanwhile, might still have a role to play even if his position in the pecking order suggests a move elsewhere may be on the cards.

Wingers

Coventry City have signed four wingers since the start of January, yet somehow it looks an area of the pitch they could still do with additions in. Ephron Mason-Clark has missed pre-season, with Jahnoah Markelo being sold, leaving Loum Tchaouna and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto as the only senior out-and-out wide players, with Brandon Thomas-Asante filling in there.

With Coventry likely to see less of the ball at Premier League level, the biggest doubt against the current set of wingers – Brandon Thomas-Asante aside – is their level of pace to provide the team a threat on the counter-attack. Ephron Mason-Clark can dart in behind but isn’t someone known for express running and ball-carrying, while Tatushiro Sakamoto can slow play down by constantly chopping onto either foot to create space for himself. Based on pre-season, Loum Tchaouna looks to be another who likes to have time on the ball.

If there is the scope to add another winger to the squad, someone who can offer pace and ball-carrying on the counter-attack feels like the missing ingredient.

Strikers

Haji Wright and Eliis Simms probably are capable of doing a job at Premier League level, but the additions this week of Taiwo Awoniyi and Sidiki Cherif indicate that Frank Lampard didn’t feel comfortable relying on the duo, plus Brandon Thomas-Asante, to lead the line for Coventry City.

Awoniyi and Cherif add two options to the attack who relish using their physicality to muscle off defenders while looking to make runs into the channels. If Coventry don’t add extra pace out wide, that might be okay if the two new strikers prove effective in acting as that release valve when opponents get on top of the Sky Blues.

Overall

The most obvious weak area of this team is a lack of Premier League experience. In three players – Taiwo Awoniyi, Frank Onyeka, and Gustavo Hamer – almost all of the experience of this level sits with. The worry is that it will set this team at a disadvantage, having to spend weeks and months adapting to the level. The upside is that there at least several players in this squad who don’t yet have that experience but may only get better once they do so.

If last season is anything to go by, Coventry City have less to worry about in terms of scoring goals than they do in keeping them out. While they ended up with the best defensive record in the Championship, a lot of that owed to heroics from Carl Rushworth in goal, who is about to be tested more often against higher-quality opponents. As for goalscoring, this team might lack a singular striker who can reliably score at Premier League level but the variety of scoring threats on display last year suggests that the Sky Blues don’t need to rely on one player for goals.

There is still work to be done on the squad before the transfer window closes, but the core of the team looks already in place. Coventry City look set to retain large parts of the identity that got them promoted last year, while adding an extra element of physicality that may help them adapt to the Premier League.