Sideways Sammy

A late defeat at home to Hull City has put Coventry City in a sticky early situation in the nascent season. The combination of a near-impossible away trip on the opening weekend and the pressure of a must-win home game against the one opponent happy to sit on a point against the Sky Blues has made it hard for Coventry to find their feet in the Premier League. No points, no goals and little threat, Frank Lampard and his team are desperately awaiting for lift-off for this campaign.

It is hard to look at a trip to Manchester City as the panacea to Coventry City’s current problems. The eight-times Premier League champions have won both their league games thus far and looked pretty intimidating in doing so. Any form of result or performance that doesn’t dent confidence any further has to be seen as a positive here.

Expected Line-Up

The challenge Frank Lampard has faced over the opening weeks has been in picking his best team while trying to manage the fitness of key players – chiefly, Jack Rudoni and Ephron Mason-Mason-Clark. The manager hasn’t really had his strongest XI available for 90 minutes and that was one of the key issues that saw Coventry City get weaker after making changes last week against Hull City.

A trip to Manchester City presents a whole different selection formula than a week ago that Lampard must attempt to make sense of. Seeking defensive solidity, a switch to a back three is an option, but that comes at the cost of sacrificing a level of counter-attacking threat that could give Coventry a modicum of hope of claiming a positive result in this game. Having prepared all of pre-season to play a back four, it would be a surprise to ditch the shape so early, even if it’s for something of a one-off in one of the toughest away fixtures of the season.

Frank Onyeka looks set to return to the matchday squad for this game, having missed the Hull City match. It seems likely he’ll come in from the start here to tighten up the midfield. It’s whether it’s for Jack Rudoni or Matt Grimes that seems the biggest individual call, with it seeming to be likely to be the former rather than latter.

The key will be finding the balance between defensive shape and counter-attacking threat. Taiwo Awoniyi will probably continue at centre-forward to offer that out-ball, along with Ephron Mason-Clark on the left wing. New signing, Yann Gboho, may be match-fit but is unlikely to be involved due to the timing of his transfer around 24 hours before kick-off.

In central defence, this feels like the appropriate juncture in which to play Ethan Pinnock. Firstly, because Bobby Thomas pulling up with cramp last week suggests he may not be fully fit. Secondly, as Coventry are likely to sit deep here which provides less risk of Pinnock being caught for pace. Thirdly, as having a natural left-footer on the left of the centre-back pairing mitigates some of the risk of getting caught on the ball in defence.

Last Time We Met

It was Coventry City’s first season out of the top-flight following relegation in 2001, as they took the trip to Maine Road to take on Kevin Keegan’s Manchester City. Roland Nilsson’s Sky Blues were in contention for promotion as late as March 2002, but this defeat to Man City precipitated a poor run that saw Nilsson sacked and the club finish in mid-table.

It was former Coventry favourite, Darren Huckerby, that kicked off the pain, firing past Tim Flowers to put Manchester City ahead. Lee Mills equalised shortly after but it was 3-1 to the home team by the break, with Danny Tiatto and a young Shaun Wright-Phillips restoring the Citizens’ lead. Wright-Phillips sealed the win in the second-half, while Lee Mills grabbed a late consolation.

Interestingly, Jay Bothroyd came off the bench for Coventry City that day, before later going on to play for Manchester City, alongside Reice Charles-Cook, in the TV series, Ted Lasso.

Key Questions

A Good Time To Play Manchester City Or A Bad Time To Play An Enzo Maresca Side?

It has been a significant overhaul at Manchester City over the summer, with key players such as Rodri, Bernardo Silva, and John Stones leaving, along with the more notable departure of Pep Guardiola as manager. A defeat in the Community Shield to Arsenal highlighted just how much work needs to be done at the Etihad Stadium this season for Citizens to challenge the very best teams in the country.

With former Leicester City and Chelsea manager, Enzo Maresca in charge, the wrinkle seems to be that the Italian has tended to perform better in his managerial postings the less time he’s had in charge. Someone who wants to play a very strict, disciplined style of possession that can leave little room for individual expression, it’s in these early months where his star players feel freest to break the script that Maresca looks to enact.

That has felt in evidence over the opening two games of the league season, where Rayan Cherki has stepped up with back-to-back match-winning contributions despite being benched on opening day and reportedly being close to being substituted last week away at Crystal Palace. The French attacking midfielder seems to flourish in the kind of chaos that Maresca’s style seeks to mitigate. At this early stage of the season where Cherki hasn’t had his freedom coached out of him, he is the kind of individual match-winner who could put Coventry City to the sword here.

How To Tailor The Style For Counter-Attacking Success?

If the Arsenal game is anything to go by, any opportunities to attack could end up passing Coventry City by here if they continue to look to play in the methodical way in possession that had brought success in the Championship. Attempting to build through Matt Grimes at the base of midfield and with the wide players checking inside when given chances to run into space, the Sky Blues offered little threat in the rare moments they had on the break against the champions.

It was largely more of the same against Hull City last week, albeit against a side happy to cede possession to Coventry. While Frank Lampard understandably doesn’t want to throw out what was a winning formula last year, against a Manchester City side likely to harry and deny the Sky Blues time on the ball, it seems sensible to try and play forward more quickly with players making direct runs, rather than looking to preserve possession.

While this could be difficult to pull off against a strong team, there is some encouragement to come from some of Coventry City’s best moments last week against Hull City during the rare occasions they got to break. With Taiwo Awoniyi offering a physical outlet in the channels, and Jack Rudoni, Ephron Mason-Clark and Caleb Yirenkyi pushing forward to link up with the striker, there were some encouraging combinations that could develop with more time together on the pitch.

Is There A Matt Grimes Problem?

The captain has been an essential part of Coventry City’s play for around a season-and-a-half but the first two games have exposed issues with Matt Grimes that were apparent heading into the Premier League. The fact that Grimes sits at the base of the midfield to play short passes to keep play ticking over has presented two issues – one is his contribution to the team’s slow build-up play, two is that when possession is given away he is quite slow and lacking in physicality as cover.

The second goal against Arsenal and last week’s losing goal to Hull City both came from opponents running at or past Grimes after Coventry had pushed up the pitch and given the ball away. While it remains early days, there have to be considerations as to how to mitigate that risk.

Matt Grimes still has a lot to offer this team in terms of being someone confident receiving and keeping the ball, it’s about whether he can provide that without either being the deepest midfielder or by other players making more of an effort to limit opportunities for opponents to run at him.

Against a Manchester City side likely to dominate the ball, there is a legitimate question as to whether Grimes has anything to offer Coventry for the challenge ahead. Whether he will eschew opportunities to counter and offer insufficient defensive cover. My suspicion is that it’s too early to drop the captain, making this an important game for Grimes to prove he has something to offer the team for these kind of big away games that will occur throughout the campaign.