Coventry City match analysis from CoventryLive as Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner looks at some of the key talking points from Tuesday night’s CBS Arena defeat to Ipswich Town.
Coventry City lost 2-1 at Ipswich Town, who are on the verge of promotion to the Premier League, continuing a troubling trend of conceding goals.
The Tractor Boys are three points ahead of Leeds United, knowing that a point at home to effectively relegated Huddersfield will ensure they join Leicester City in the top division this weekend, avoiding the play-offs. The Sky Blues aim to finish the rebuilding process they began last year with a final push before taking a break for the summer.
Mark Robins voiced concern at the weekend that his team have only maintained 12 clean sheets this season, compared to 22 last season. And, after conceding 10 goals in their previous five league games, there is definitely a defensive issue that must be addressed before next season if City are to have a successful year.
Looking at the numbers, the Sky Blues have scored 11 more goals in the Championship this season (69 vs. 58 in 2022/23), but they have also conceded 11 more goals (57 vs. 46 last year).
“They had 14 shots, none were inside our box, and Brad (Collins) had to make save after save, which is just ridiculous,” said the clearly angry manager following Tuesday night’s 2-1 CBS Arena defeat.”So we need to improve because we’re passing up too many opportunities. We must defend as a team because we attack and defend as a team, but we lose the ball too easily.
“We’re a little sloppy with the ball at times, and it appears that we’re not paying attention to the pass.” To be fair, we have young defenders, and that happens from time to time, but I don’t want it to appear as if it’s an easy thing and ‘alright, never mind, we’ve given another goal away.’ That cannot happen, so there is a lot of work to be done between now and the start of the next season.
Mitigating circumstances
Without making excuses, injuries and suspensions have caught up with the Sky Blues, and this is something that must be addressed in the summer in terms of recruitment, not only in terms of more players to increase the size of the squad, but also in terms of overall quality to ensure that when the squad is rotated to cope with heavy schedules, performance levels do not suffer.
The inability to sign Ephron Mason-Clark in January was a huge setback for Robins’ intentions to improve his attack for the play-offs in the second half. However, a successful FA Cup run has had a significant impact on the league campaign, serving as both a distraction and a drain on fitness levels for a thin-looking squad ravaged by late-season injuries.
Tantalising target.
Haji Wright’s season goal tally now stands at 19, level with Ellis Simms in all competitions, with both strikers edging dangerously close to hitting the magic 20 mark in Saturday’s final game of the season, which would be an incredible feat to have two players reach those figures in one campaign. Wright has 16 Championship goals and three FA Cup goals, while Simms has 13 league goals and six cup goals, and the record summer signing is level with his USA international colleague Josh Sargent, who has 16 league goals for Norwich City this season. Wright’s 19 goals, however, make him the most prolific American player in the top two divisions since Clint Dempsey scored 23 for Fulham in 2011/12.
Robins excited about kid with all the tools
Mark Robins is thrilled for City’s newest Academy hopeful to get a taste of first-team football.The Sky Blues’ manager gave centre-forward Aidan Dausch his second cameo in as many games, bringing him on in stoppage time for the final few minutes. And the 17-year-old came close to scoring a breathtaking equaliser with a shot that went just shy of the top corner, which the manager stated would have earned him an end-of-season award had it been successful.
“That was a brilliant piece of play because it wasn’t a great ball to him but he brought it down out of the air and got it onto his left foot, so everything he did, the mechanics of that movement were really good,” Robins said. “It was just the last execution, but if it had gone in, it would have been the season’s goal. The way he moved onto it, his first touch and vision to get into space, and the execution of the shot were all there except for the direction of the finish. That’s good and thrilling!”
He went on to say, “He is a self-assured and extremely clever young man. And he wants to learn. He’s new to it and has a lot to learn, but there’s some raw potential there, as well as some really wonderful tools to work with.
Finish with a flourish
City must go all out this Saturday against QPR on the final day of the 2023/24 Championship season. The season was filled with memorable moments, including home victories over Leicester and Leeds in front of crowds of 30,000 or more, a brilliant draw at Elland Road, and a home win over Birmingham, among other highlights.
The club’s pre-kick-off anthem, ‘We’ll Live And Die In These Towns,’ is becoming increasingly popular among fans at the CBS Arena, creating a memorable start to each match. That will be chanted with great vigour one more time this weekend before the summer break, and it is critical that when the fans leave the stadium on Saturday afternoon, they do so full of joy, hope, anticipation, and excitement for the upcoming season.
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