Coventry

[ivoralljack]

Read this today and I hope Alan Sheehan has as well and gets the message. Right now Coventry are top of the table and the following stats might be a factor.

GOALS SCORED: Coventry 27; Bristol City and Ipswich next best on 15.

MOST SHOTS: Coventry 159; Watford 131; Soton 130.

MOST SHOTS OT: Coventry 54; Hull, Leicester, Watford next best with 42.

I'm well aware that shots aren't the B all and end all of a successful team but, given the object of the game is to win it by scoring more goals than your opponent, it certainly helps. Thoughts, anyone?

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Can't score if you don't shoot. Unless your team shoots like a bunch of rugby players, can't imagine how less can be more.

 

[jackodiamonds]

Big fan of shots, especially shots on target. The most important stat bar none. Almost every other stat exists in support of accomplishing that.

 

[ivoralljack]

Watching Coventry v Blades who're surprisingly, and deservedly, 1-0 up at half time. Interesting to hear the comms endorse a point I made recently - .......to take care of Matt Grimes who is such an influence on the flow of Coventry's football. Yet, when he played for us, most of us were complaining that he HALTED the flow of our football with his persistent sideways and backwards passing!

As I said, this can only be because we gave him very little options to play to up front with our safety first football. Coventry are a front foot team, so he invariably has runners either through the middle or out wide to pass to. It's about time that our manager(s) switched on their brains and understand that you need to attack, in numbers, to consistently score goals. Hope springs eternal, I suppose.

 

[We Are Going Down]

 

[ivoralljack]

It's about time that our manager(s) switched on their brains and understand that you need to attack, in numbers, to consistently score goals. Hope springs eternal, I suppose.

Pertinent comment from Frank Lampard in his post match presser where he said that his team play with energy and always play forward - that's what the fans enjoy! That's what we've all been clamouring for on here from our team.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

When you have non-wingers in Eom and Ronald on the field, any manager would struggle to to be good enough. The fact is these two are playing a league above where they should be.

There needs to be a rethink in terms of setup. The 3+2 that's been tried since City looks most promising in getting the best out of the players on hand. With the frequency of matches we have to chop and change out of the best players in that setup, which undermines the opportunity. This is going to rely on the likes of Inoussa and Widell and others with demonstrated flair. Shame that these two can't last 90 and play multiple games per week. This might improve with regular playing time.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

The one big issue that does not get its due recognition is that we are effectively a squad where 50 to 60% are senior international players. And that group represents the majority of the starting XI. Every international break our development is disrupted by the loss of these players, and thereafter by the travel and additional fatigue experienced by these players.

Other clubs within the division do not suffer from this disruption to anywhere near our degree. Their players can be developed, rested, and worked at a beneficial level during this time. It would be interesting to see how many players leave Coventry to play for their country during these breaks and the degree of disruption Lampard has had to deal with.

We are soon going into the third international break. This will accumulate to a total of 6 weeks of disruption. Viewed conversely that's 6 weeks other clubs have had the advantage of working and developing their squads, cohesion and playing style. This is a massive difference between us and other clubs.

How do we offset this? In short, we can't. To borrow a phrase, we get fucked at the drive through! The only way to offset this is to acquire a squad of domestic players, primarily English so we have a longer ability spectrum, that are very good but not good enough to play for England .... a dead easy task due the large number of players available. We haven't done that and we're not likely to in the near future. As a Welsh club, over the last two decades for example we have sent numerous sets of Welsh players away on international breaks ... just look at the number of players in the current Welsh squad with a Swansea pedigree. Whereas another club might have a token Welsh, Irish or Scottish player and typically not that strong, we would have a cluster of Welsh players with the ability to be selected.

This international break disruption is not unique to Sheehan but it has impacted every head coach over the past dozen years to some degree or other. It just happens that the current squad is particularly rich in international players and the disruption is so much greater.