CoventryLive provides Coventry City match analysis as we examine some of the key talking points from a 1-1 draw with Southampton.
At the CBS Arena, Coventry City’s resolute performance against Southampton—who was playing well—earned them a lot of credit. The Sky Blues were unfortunate not to have scored before halftime, despite having to chase and battle for the ball against a possession-based team in a difficult first half. Jamie Allen and Ellis Simms both came close.
However, five minutes into the second half restart, Haji Wright spearheaded the charge and finished beautifully to give Mark Robins’ team the lead. That narrow lead lasted just 17 minutes until Ryan Fraser and Samuel Edozie, two Saints substitutes, combined to equalise. As both teams pushed for all three points, Coventry appeared more likely as they put pressure on the visitors’ goal.
The main discussion points from the match and the lessons we took away from the 1-1 draw are listed here.
Reset four
In front of the excellent custodian Brad Collins, the Sky Blues maintained a composed back four despite failing to maintain a clean sheet. At the centre of the defence, Liam Kitching and Bobby Thomas are strengthening their relationship and mutual understanding, which began the previous season when they were teammates with Collins at Barnsley. They both did a great job of reading the game and applying blocks and tackles to a tenacious Southampton team, limiting them to just one shot on goal in the first half, which went straight to the custodian.In contrast, Milan van Ewijk and Jake Bidwell appear more comfortable overlapping as full-backs than as raiding wing-backs, and they have both shown themselves to be potent forwards and decent defenders in recent weeks. Mark Robins has been waiting for a consistent lineup to develop and seems to have identified a few individuals who are playing well, at least temporarily.
It’s good to be back.
In place of Callum O’Hare in the 81st minute, Kasey Palmer made a sensational comeback to the pitch against the Saints. Because of his exceptional technical skill, the 27-year-old is a cunning player who can caress, flick, and kick the ball like very few players on the team. After missing nine games due to injury, he is obviously a little underfit, but in the upcoming weeks, he will get more match minutes off the bench. It remains to be seen if he can play in the same side as O’Hare in the present 4-3-3 system, but for the time being at least, he might be a useful impact player.
Haji Wright increased his goal total for City to six from 13 Championship starts and eight from the bench. The USA international’s performance seems to be getting better with each passing game. In order to receive the ball in lots of space, he gets into great positions. He also enjoys cutting across onto his right foot to make shots. He squandered two golden opportunities against the Blues the previous week, but on Wednesday night, when O’Hare played him in, he performed flawlessly. Meanwhile, without getting involved with the goals, Ellis Simms is also looking the part.Though he has only made two appearances overall—two starts and nine substitute appearances—the center-forward is strong and menacing, and his manager claims that all he needs is a goal to get him going.
Going well
Coventry had slightly better statistics when it came to chances, with 11 attempts on goal and four of them hitting the target, compared to 12 attempts from Southampton and only three of them hitting the target, despite Southampton having a whopping 75% of the ball in the first half and 72% during the full 90 minutes of play. The first half was incredibly boring for City as they couldn’t seem to get the ball back and, more importantly, couldn’t hold onto it long enough to put the visitors under pressure. The Saints are adopting a trademark Russell Martin style of ball control. Nonetheless, the fact that they took the lead in a much better second half and managed a point against such a strong team demonstrates the growth and development of this developing Sky Blues team, who came incredibly close to winning it when Ben Sheaf was denied by a superb save deep into stoppage time.
Cal pitches in once more.
Callum O’Hare may not have found the scoreboard, but he came dangerously close after hitting the crossbar and then came up with a fantastic assist for Haji Wright’s goal against the Saints to support his comeback for the Sky Blues after his performance against Birmingham that won the game. The 25-year-old, who was making his third straight start after returning from a long-term injury, demonstrated once more how crucial a member of Mark Robins’ team he is and why the team cannot allow him to leave on a free transfer at the end of the year.
