Bertola
Well-Known Member
Decent Article on The Athletic about us and our playoff hopes today
Coventry City are in hunt mode and prepared to pounce on any sign of weakness from the teams above them in the fight for the Championship play-offs.
Along with Norwich City and West Bromwich Albion, Mark Robins’ side are hoping to upset one of Millwall, Blackburn Rovers and Luton Town and sneak into the top six in their remaining eight games.
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They have a trump card in their arsenal — goal machine Viktor Gyokeres. Their Swedish talisman leads the Championship’s ‘goal contribution’ charts alongside Middlesbrough’s Chuba Akpom with a combined total of 26 goals and assists.
But there is much more to Coventry than meets the eye when trying to explain why they could be on track for their best season yet under Robins, who, in his second spell at the club, is the third-longest serving manager in the EFL (after Accrington Stanley’s John Coleman and Harrogate Town’s Simon Weaver).
Gradual improvement on the pitch over the season, as well as positive news off it in January with Doug King becoming the majority owner, has been crucial as City have climbed from the foot of the table following four straight losses in late August to their current high of eighth, three points off the top six. Playing in variations of a 3-4-2-1 formation, Coventry have an impressive defensive record and are able to use width with the versatility of leading man Gyokeres to their advantage in an effective system.
Their 17 clean sheets this season is the best record in the Championship and only Burnley (29), Sheffield United (33) and Luton (35) have conceded fewer goals than Coventry’s 37. It is a vast improvement on last season’s 10 clean sheets as City finished 12th and is helped by their league-low rate of conceding from set pieces with just two goals scored by the opposition all season from corners and free kicks.
Out of possession, Robins has his side well drilled and active as they lead the Championship for most tackles won (432, Sheffield United next best with 422) and ball recoveries (2263, Luton next best with 2122). This fits with what we see from the way they set up with three at the back, as shown in the still below from the 4-1 win over Blackpool, and the way they use a strong defence as a platform to attack.
Coventry can build from the back starting in this instance by using Ben Sheaf, who has dropped deeper from midfield to offer an outlet, but they are not the type of team to dwell on the ball or overplay as shown by their league-high 97 ‘direct attacks’ (a possession that starts in a team’s defensive half and results in a shot or touch inside the opposition penalty area within 15 seconds). That total of 97 is at least 30 more than any other Championship team this season.
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On the whole, their style is fast, with the second highest ‘direct speed’ (how quickly the ball moves upfield) of 1.67 metres per second in the division but does not rely on long aerial balls to Gyokeres.
When Coventry win the ball back they immediately think forward — and fast. The clip of their second goal in February’s 2-0 win over Rotherham United scored by Gyokeres illustrates the type of goal that they have scored multiple times this season after striking fast from a ball recovery.
Dutch midfielder Gustavo Hamer is vital to much of Coventry’s attacking play as part of an exciting and youthful midfield that has seen impressive performances from ex-Arsenal academy product Sheaf and Aston Villa academy product Callum O’Hare.
Hamer’s figure of six passes into the final third per game is only bettered by five players with more than 900 Championship minutes this season and the 25-year-old’s connection with fellow attackers has brought seven assists. Below is a map of his open-play passes that shows how effective he is at progressing the ball into dangerous areas — a trait also illustrated by his tally of 1.9 ‘progressive passes’ (completed passes that move the ball towards the opponent’s goal at least 10 yards) per 90 minutes.
Some of the lighter areas, reflecting a higher concentration of passes, from Hamer are to wide areas that reflect the advanced positions wing-backs Jake Bidwell and Fankaty Dabo adopt. Gyokeres likes to drift wide to be fed into the channel and run onto the ball, which is one of his strengths as well as his hold-up play.
The 24-year-old will be in demand again this summer but his value in the short term for Coventry is in his ability to create by running at players or even when he is man-marked. A repeated passing action in Coventry’s attacks this season has been to work the ball out wide and then pull the cross back to the top of the box allowing one of the central midfielders extra time on the ball at the top of the box.
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This worked to good effect for Sheaf’s goal against Blackpool as shown in the still below where Coventry break quickly, as is their strength, with Hamer releasing Gyokeres on the left with Sheaf in support centrally.
Blackpool’s defenders are so concerned about the threat Gyokeres poses that four have drifted to the left so when he crosses the ball to Sheaf, who has not been tracked, he has time for a touch before a well-executed finish.
In another example, Bidwell is in an advanced position on the left and opts not to use Gyokeres even though he is in a good position — instead, he cuts the ball back to Jamie Allen, who scored the opener.
Gyokeres’ movement poses a real threat and defenders are not wrong to be wary of his presence in the box as his shot map below shows how prolific he is in that area. Only Sheffield United’s Oli McBurnie has a better goal contribution rate of 0.57 non-penalty expected goals (xG) and assists (xA) this season, with McBurnie’s sample coming from half as many minutes as Gyokeres. Those ‘expected’ figures suggest that Gyokeres is frequently finding himself in good goalscoring positions and creating high-quality chances — his goals are not simply coming from lucky potshots and his assists are not a result of his team-mates doing all the hard work.
Unbeaten in nine matches, including seven points from their three games against play-off rivals Luton, Millwall and Sunderland, Coventry are building a head of steam coming into the final throes of the Championship season.
Last season saw Nottingham Forest make a late surge into the top six and in 2019-20, Swansea City snuck into the play-offs on the final day. This season, it seems the late, well-timed push is coming from Coventry.
And in the words of manager Robins before the last international break of the season, “You have got to dare to dream.”
