Frank Lampard lauds Coventry after snatching play-off spot | Full press conference

It's a fantastic day to make the play-offs. We know that there's work to do now but as a club, I think from where we were, for the work that's gone in from players, staff, fans, engagement, it tops off what's been a really good period for us to get to this part of the season and make the play-offs and come fifth in the league. It's brilliant so we can be happy. We need to reboot. We've got big games coming now but that wasn't a certainty this morning because it's Middlesbrough, it's a tough game, there's big pressure on the You needed a big performance from your lads and to a man, they were outstanding. Yes and I've been here before, some of the players have been here before but I knew the stadium would be rocking. I didn't need to over-build it up for them to give them too much from me, a big motivational speech and all those things. I said some things but it was more calm because what we've been doing at the CBS is playing really well against good teams. So we went through the game plan, the players are good with that, they try and go and do what we want to do and they did it against a good opposition and some moments in the second half, some nervy moments, big individual moments, Ben Wilson, Kitsch, Bobby, defensively and we had enough chances clearly to win the game. You scored a really good chance at the time, didn't you? Yes, for sure. They needed to win, it's calmed our nerves, it made half-time easier for me. We were understanding the other results but we knew if we did our business today we would get the job done. It was quite a simple half-time, focus, manage the game and keep giving it to Tats on the right wing because he was flying. Him and Milan and Rudy when he was on that side was a real problem so we tried to do that. It didn't really develop so much in the second half but it was some small details but it was a good feeling for us to get that goal of course. And Rudy's two goals, a fantastic midfield performance again, a man up to your own heart really, don't you, about that performance? Well, yeah. Outstanding energy, quality. When I start with it really, the head is great, timing and technical. He's a fantastic header of the ball and it's a great cross and a great finish and he arrives, he arrives, we talk a lot. I think Thursday me and him just stayed out working on little cutbacks and finishes in different areas and it's good to be able to show him that when you do that, you score. It happens, these things happen. Not always but if you're going to do that. He's so engaging, he wants to train, he wants to ask questions. He's an absolute dream to work with so I'm delighted that he was the main man. You mentioned Tats and it struck me as well as going forward he was a real threat but his off the ball work was outstanding as well, wasn't he? He was tracking back and defending and getting the foot in. Tats has been incredible since I've been here and you know what, he's a perfect example to all young wingers there, some wingers in our club that aren't in the team and I've worked with before. His work ethic and low maintenance nature of train, train, train. I had to sub him after 10 minutes or so last week because he read card. Not a word. Trained brilliantly all week so it doesn't surprise me when he works off the ball. He's a smart player off the ball and he runs and runs and gives everything and we know what he can do I was like Tats is ready for this game and that's a great message for young wingers who sometimes don't want to train at an absolute level and think it's not working for me at the minute. Tats does it every week. Ben Wilson, a big game for him to come back into. He hasn't played for seven months. Was it an inspired decision? Well Ben's character and personality is a sure thing because of how he is in the dressing room. I wasn't worried at all about his handling but that's another thing to go and see him handle because I haven't seen Ben play. I think the goalkeeper thing, I know it's such a talking point, I understand it. When I came in all three goalkeepers had played. That's not normal. That's challenging to be fair for different circumstances. Then Ollie gets in and has a consistent run and does his ACL and I feel for Brad because Brad's done some good things for us as well but in the last couple of games there were a couple of tough moments and Ben's injury was a difficult one. It's been affecting his training for a period of time. I chat with Ben a lot and he's like, I'm just starting to feel better Gaff, I'm feeling better and he's sort of banging on your door in the end. I needed to see that in training and now I've seen him in game. It was a first class performance in many senses. Big save, calm on the ball, comes out of his box and I'm really pleased for him, really, really pleased for him. Was it a difficult decision to make this week or was it an easy decision because you could see it regularly training? No decision like that's easy, particularly with a goalkeeper because I respect Brad and Ben and Ollie or whoever in that position and it's the one position that gets more traction when you make a change. I feel for the lads personally, that's why I chose to not be a goalkeeper, one of the reasons. I can't understand that pressure. It wasn't easy because I have to really think about every part of it but when I thought about it, it was a decision that I felt was the right one and we obviously won the game so I'm happy in this instance. Great to see two lads return from injury, Bobby and Millar, and both because you played up very, very well. Bobby had been out four games so it was a big game for him to come back in. Yeah and it was a tight call. On Tuesday I wasn't sure and on Thursday Bobby felt he was ready to play and he showed it to be fair. It's a tight turnaround he's made there so I give credit to him because it was for the injury to come back as quick as he did. He's ahead of time, he's a great character. I really love working with Bobby, he's a leader in the dressing room, he's growing in that sense for sure. We'll just have to manage him now over the next days to try and make sure he's okay because he had pushed himself there today. Tactically in the second half it was difficult at times wasn't it? But your substitutions, particularly bringing Brandon on, that sort of helped give you and your team a bit of a test by didn't it? He was a great outlet wasn't he? Brandon was fantastic and I was considering it in the game because Brandon's training this week has really stepped up. He had a bit of a chronic pelvic injury which kept him out for five or six weeks so my issue is fitness and that but wow he came on and the impact was huge. Strength, hold up play, run in, assist for the goal. So really, really pleased because I need that. I need people coming in and going here I am and he did it for 20 minutes and obviously influenced the game. At Sunderland in the semis, you were aware of the bit of rivalry between the two teams? Yeah I'm aware because I was told it quite early in my time here but it's not my rivalry but I am Coventry now so I have to be aware of it. If there's that, that's what football is about isn't it? A bit of rivalry, a bit of edge. Reality is we need to prepare well for the games and try and play well in them because they're a good team. No one be fooled by five defeats or whatever it is. They've been in the play-offs a long time, that's not easy to manage. They've still got very good players and a way of playing so we'll have to be at our best. The atmosphere today, from your time here, is that been the best yet? You taking that into Friday night's game, it's great to have that isn't it? Yeah it is, it was brilliant. It is the best yet and that's saying something because the last few games have been really hot here, they've been great. I'll ask the fans again to come again for us and do it again. I'm not sure I have to ask them but sometimes after that, could it come down? I don't think so. These fans have been brilliant. They see today what influence that has on the players when they do that. Players have their side of it to perform and the passion and run and energy and the fans will always react to that but if we are together like that then it makes this place difficult to come to. Efron and Norman, I think they're two outstanding injuries, have they got a chance? We'll see, we'll see. I know it's not that great a question but just going back to Jack, Frank, you've spoken once or twice in the pre-match press conference, you've spoken here about attacking into one side. Is he a bit of a pet project of yours? I don't know, I'm going to give him a teacher's pet vibe if I'm not careful. I try and give all the players the attention. When a player is in a similar position to me, I have to see a much bigger picture than that. But he is a player, to give him credit, because as a coach there's two things you love. One is winning and getting to play-offs and all these things today and the other is individual improvement and engaging with the player and seeing it before your eyes. So Rudy is one that just wants to ask, wants to communicate, wants to talk about Chelsea, what happened in that year, what happened in that final, all these things. He's constant and then where that's in the box should I arrive and after the game to think it was a hole away, it was in the box a few times. So we look at it, we talk about it, we work on it. So I've got time for everyone like that, it's not just Rudy but he's particularly engaging and that's why he's got an incredible chance to have a really, really good career. He's having one now. And then he's tapping into your, what you're renowned for as a player, that's what you saw. Yeah and that's not just me, it's obviously his talent and he obviously has a bit of a name for it. My feeling is to try and talk to him about positions, to get in, to give the opposition problems. He's great between lines and he has to be in the box, he has to arrive in the box and this position we've got him in at the minute allows him some freedom to drift off central but he's got responsibility to arrive. I don't have to tell him, I don't guide him every game. There's bits we talk a bit but he's now at that level of player here at the minute where he's really performing and it's great to go into the play-offs with individuals performing anywhere like what Rudy is now. Can I ask, I think you were 17 when you came, can you talk a little bit about the reunification perhaps of the club because it felt like from the outside it was in a difficult place after Marbalet but not only have you taken on the league but you seemed like a really nice guy. Yeah, I think I was very respectful of Mark's work, no-one will ever do that again to come from League 2 and bring up and get play-off final and FA Cup semi-final so I think I was quite delicate with that and I understand the point. Someone's been here a long time, it's seven years, it's clearly an issue and you're very loved by the fans so I had to come in not quietly but do my work. It didn't feel like the club was broken, it didn't feel like that in terms of reuniting it but my feeling was just to really focus on the football. I had great support to be fair from Doug, I appreciate his opportunity, we work really closely, he's really hands-on, he loves it, he's got a real passion for it which has been really refreshing and then the squad, the lads have been great, they've been really engaging, listened to all the things in the beginning when we were talking about defensively, we're too deep, we're too big, there's too many spaces and they were like video that we're watching and working on the training ground and pushing and pushing and they're great and then they look after each other a bit because they're quite a bouncy dressing team, they get on well and they're good pros, they're coming to work to work and so all those things are really important because they bring wins and then wins bring feeling and they help all the work. I mean we made some wins so we went on that run and then the fans, the big plus point for me, I always respected Coventry because of the history and tradition of the club. I remember watching the Cup Final in 1987, one of my early first ones, but I didn't quite realise this fan base, I didn't quite realise the sound they make here. So if I can play a small part in it I'm pleased but I am a small part in it because I think what's happening now with the fans engaging and the players doing what they need to do has been a great thing for us but we're not there yet clearly but from 17th to 5th it needs everybody together, we've managed to do that. Is that the key thing, that 17th to 5th, is that the key quality, the togetherness, what is it that most determined this outcome for your players? I think there's a lot of football details. I think with the squad we were quite clear I hope of what we wanted to be and quite quickly I think they've realised that in terms of the style of the team to be really compact and difficult to play through and we generally have got a lot better at that and then with the style of play we want to have possession but we also want to have a lot of speed, we want to inject speed into our game and I think you saw that today, that's what makes me want to watch football, not to be too slow. So I think those things, you've got to get the football bit right and that is a big part of my job but it needs the players, it needs the staff, the players and people that have brought in with me, Joe and Chris and then the staff that are already here. I've found it an enjoyable club to work at so I don't say I'm getting too far out of my station here but from this point, from 17th to 50th is a big deal for us at this point and I think a lot of people should take credit for it and mainly the players, they go out there and do that and there's a real good connection with the fans. It's a club I've been in I think where the most fans sing the most players' names, have a song for players. It's a really good connection now, I think it's a big thing for us so yeah, togetherness is absolutely huge, always. There wasn't much jumping up and down on the pitch after the game today, you were very much focused. Is that something that you players or you on the field have been told to do? Yeah, I mean there was a bit of fun and celebration and enjoyment because I think you should enjoy getting in the playoffs but yeah, I was certainly like that because it's great and it's brilliant for the fans. You can smile and relate to them and stuff on the pitch with the families but there's work to be done so I thought it was a good tone of that at the end of the game. The fans have supported us all season so I think this is the end of the season. Thankfully we've got more games but our focus has to go quickly on to the next one. Can I just ask you about Tom Wright? That's about Matt Grimes, he was the one addition that you brought in in January and it seems to me, I come reasonably frequently, but it seems to me that he's really happy to meet you because he allows the likes of Milan, Dece to scamper off down the right and he fills in for him and he fills in for one or two of these selfless players who know his role, he's a very experienced pro and he's been a part of Swansea's success story for a bit. Yeah, I think as a coach, I know it's always up and down that reaction to coaches, you're good and then you're bad but you need good players, you need whoever you are. You can be the best coach in the world but you need players and you want to pass the message on to the players and Grimes is like the brain of the team. He's so smart in terms of the positions he takes up and people might think he's playing deep but yeah, he is sometimes to release full backs as you say and release people around him and he always understands when to drop out. He's a great lad off the pitch, he's engaging on it, he gets the game. I'll speak to him at half-time sometimes for the view from on pitch and he's very ahead of his time for that. He's been a really big signing for us, really, really big signing in terms of the impact he's had in the centre of the team. I'm delighted for him, it was big recruitment and we were together on it and we got him and it's been big for us. Why come back to the game with pressure as seen on Michael today? When the second goal goes in and you're on the other side of the pitch and you're battling to start by jumping on top of each other's shirts hanging out, is it for that moment? Yeah, it is. I try and be respectful and I'm really close to Michael. We're close enough where I respect him enough and I try and get the tone of understanding that I've been on and receive an end. But it is from our point of view. It's like I said before, can you improve the team individually and collectively but at the end of the day it's results because they give you that feeling and everyone on the outside is viewing it and seeing it and the fans get happy when we win. So yeah, the elation is the big part. Otherwise you'd struggle to want to do it. You do need to win some games. When did the Summit video start? What do you mean? Well, yeah. As for staff, pretty much straight away. Not tonight. Not tonight? Not tonight. No, no. For sure not tonight. We played them recently but we'll have to watch some recent games. We played them and played well but this will be a completely different game. We've got a fair understanding of them but we'll watch them closely. It will be about us mainly, what we do. But we have to be clear with the level of play that they have and the problems they try and cause. I remember it well, was it six weeks ago? No, two months maybe, I don't know. But yeah, we'll prep well. It's important because there won't be much active on-pitch training in between. Physically the boys need to recover. As a former top level English midfielder, does it please you to see Chris Wrigg and Joe Bellingham come through? Do you like them? Do you fear them? Do you have to stop them? They're really good players. I saw them at the EFL Wolves the other night. I like Joe a lot. I like his profile, I like his size and his qualities and his work ethic. I like him, I think he's really good. And Wrigg is incredible when you find out what his age is and the talent the boy's got. So yeah, of course we'll have to be aware of them. We were when they came here and we managed to deal with it. But when we play them to that level, there's always moments they can give you. So we'll have to be absolutely aware of them. Can I just ask one on Michael? Because he's the longest-serving manager in the Championship, which probably says a lot about managerial life. But he's very young and it is his first managerial role. So he had a great high when he first came in, but it's been a bit stickier for him since then. But is that just the life of a manager? You've got to have those downs, you've got to have those experiences. Will he benefit? I'm sure he won't want to hear you, but will he benefit from days like this? Well, I don't know benefit. I mean, listen, in terms of that, I've got absolute respect for Michael. He's a really smart man and a gentleman in the game, a standout gentleman in the game. And yeah, I hate to talk too much about other managers because I understand always that there's context I've no idea that Michael knows. So Michael's first season when he flies up the league, he'll know the reasons, the good or whatever. He'll know the things that he felt he affected, he'll know the things that went in his favour. Oh, we all got that. I had that this season. And then he'll have probably a good thinking of what maybe didn't quite go so right this season or whatever to not make the play-offs. And I don't know that. It could be injuries, it could be this, it could be that, he could look at his squad. So I wouldn't say too much other than Michael Carrick, I think he's a really, really good coach. And I don't want to say any more because it looks like I'm talking about his job too much, but he's a top man. Let's have one more guy, so we'll be all done. Running out of work. Frank, obviously, you've achieved everything in the game as a player and you've been in the play-offs before as a manager. How does that compare play-offs to other experience that you've had? Yeah, it compares right up there. I love the championship. I love working in it. I love working at Derby. I love working here because week after week you get different styles, tough games. Things go to plinth and you get beaten through one. It's a real challenge as a coach in a lot of ways. I think the speed of the game, there's something a bit of a throwback to it. No BAR, I don't like that. But it brings different elements. So I think the play-offs is obviously when you've succeeded to a degree or whatever. It's certainly success for us at this point, but I enjoy it. So anything else I achieved in my playing career or managerial career, this is right up there. Because it's just when you work at a club, you end up working with people. So you see people improving and getting results, getting to the play-offs and you see fans excited and people that work behind the scenes. It doesn't matter where you are. It could be Champions League, it could be play-offs. It's the same feeling.