Frank Lampard and Carl Rushworth reflect on Coventry City's draw with Leicester City 🎙️

Frank, a very hard-earned point. What was your overall verdict on that 90 minutes? Yeah, I'm pretty happy. You've got to respect the opposition, they're a good team. I think it's maybe the best they've played. I've watched them, let's not disrespect them. They've got good players, good individuals and I think they know we're a good team at this point. So yeah, both teams traded. We started the game really well. They finished the first half well and then the second half was a bit more wavy, a bit more open at points. But to get a clean sheet here, if you're not going to win a game... We lacked a little bit of quality and sharpness from what we've been showing. Especially on transitions, we've been really good on that. And we were just a little bit off it today and I think that affected our goal threat as such. If you're going to have one of those days, it's very normal. Then you have to make sure you defend well and be a team. The way we wrestled back the last 10 minutes, we had a lot of ball and we felt pretty secure, as secure as you can be at 0-0. So there's a lot of things I'm happy with. And Karl Rushworth certainly earned his clean sheet. I thought he was outstanding today. He's a really good goalkeeper and I think it's such a difficult one. I'm so pleased I never was one because it's such a difficult one. Everyone's focused on it every bit and every part of his game was spot on today. Some of the shots that were bouncing in front of him, the saves that he did have to make, he made. That's why you want top goalkeepers in your team for days like today, where you rely on them a little bit. I didn't think they created loads of great stuff, but when he was needed it was absolutely a very good personal performance. And different types of saves as well. That terrific fingertip one from Jordan James in the first half and then with his legs when Mavadidi was through in the second. Yeah, that was a great save. That was the best one for me. I'm not sure if James' shot was going in or out, but I think that one coming out was a big save for us, obviously. And we had our moments with Hadji in the second half. But yeah, again, that is what a goalkeeper is as such paid for. But he still can applaud it when it happens. I'm really pleased for him to do that and it helps the team because it keeps that clean sheet. And defensively, Hadji Wright put in an enormous shift, I thought, for you today. Yeah, Hadji does. Sometimes I think it can be easy to sort of consider a striker and question things. The work that we do is always a collective off the ball from front to back. Has to be. From Hadji and Rudy starting our press, everybody involved. So yeah, I thought there were some really specific ones that, you know, his recovery runs to win the ball back. It's a great thing for a centre forward to have that and Hadji has that. So yeah, I'm delighted with Hadji's all-round game. You were without Efren Mason-Clark today. What's the news with him? He's got a small hamstring injury. So we're hoping he's around for the next games, we'll see. And Brandon Thomas-Ossante, I thought, again, did his best to offer Jadon Silva as much protection as he could from Fatou. Yeah, it was one of the focus points going into the game. Obviously, they've got two really strong wingers on either side. It's the way they play. They changed a bit, I think, the way they play today. They play very close in midfield and just try to give you a lot of width problems on the sides. So you have to help the players with those qualities and Brandon did, as Tatsu did on the other side. You have to do it diligently and again and again. And to be fair to Brandon, I think whatever you ask him to do, he'll do it. He'll try and do it to his best and had some moments as well of counter-pressing and power, which he always has. So yeah, very happy. And we spoke about the fans in the build-up to the game. They were the only ones you could hear for long periods of the match, weren't they? Yeah, because they're brilliant. You know, they're a great bunch of fans and they come here. I know that there's a Derby feel to this game. It means a lot to them and we're very thankful for them. I hope they had a good day. I think if you can't win this game, obviously you don't want to lose it, particularly because of what it means to the fans. For us in reality of points and remaining unbeaten, but they were very, very supportive as they always are. And so big thanks to them. And just lastly, I was going to come to that. Still unbeaten after six games, two wins and four draws, all good? Yeah, performance has been really good. You know, anyone who watches us, you know, we study everything. We study the stats after we watch the games, you know, we view it and see that we should have more points for our performances. But that's it. That's football. Today we were given a different test and we stood up really well to it. So yeah, we want more points. We're not in a bad place and I think there's still improvement. Absolutely, there'll always be improvement. So we just keep going. One Derby down, another one next weekend, Birmingham. Yep, another tough game. You know, another good team that's just won today and come out, invested a lot. You know, we could have scored anyway, I think. And it'll be a big challenge. But we've got a week to prep for that one. Carl, well played. That must have felt nice today. No, yeah, it was a really good performance, I think, from the team. I think that we was under pressure quite a lot of the game, but we dug deep. Everybody put the body on the line and thankfully made a lot of walks, especially from set pieces. I feel as though that we minimised their threats. And then credit to the players in front of me that, yeah, as I said, put the body on the line. And then whenever I was called upon, thankfully I was able to help them out, like they were helping me out throughout the whole game. But yeah, I think that it's a point gained. I think that it wasn't as one-sided as I thought in the moment when the pressure was on, but we had our chances and we could have walked away with three points, but coming away from home and having a clean sheet and I think taking the point back to Carl, I think that it's a good overall result for us. And I said to the gaffer, different types of saves as well. Fingertips one from Jordan James and the one with your legs from Mavadidi, that must have been especially satisfying. Yeah, quite a lot of them were straight at me, so I'll take that. But yeah, it's good to, like we put the work in, and credit to Allard as well, that we put the work in. We knew their threats throughout the week and we focused on that, especially from the wingers rolling inside. So it was good to see that all the work throughout the week has paid off. I spoke to Bobby Thomas yesterday about the relationship that you're establishing with him and Liam Kitching, obviously the other defenders, and he says it's working well. How's it going from your point of view as the guy behind them? No, yeah, I agree. I think that obviously it's still only the start of the season, so we're just going to keep growing and trusting each other more and more and relying on each other a lot more. I think that that's what will make us really successful is that we can have each other's backs and then demand from each other as well, day in, day out. So, yeah, I think that it's been a positive start and, as I said, we're going to keep growing. And a couple of the lads higher up the pitch, Hadji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Ossensei, I thought, put in really good shifts defensively for you today as well. Yeah, like the manager says, they're our first defender at the end of the day, so it's good to see that they're tracking back. Hadji, I remember in the first half, he sprinted 30 yards to make a tackle and then we're on the counter again. So it just shows the desire that we've got as a collective and, yeah, it's a really special group to be a part of. I was going to say, how are you finding the loan so far? Are you enjoying it? Yeah, I'm really enjoying it. I'm really enjoying getting back and playing again. Hopefully we can continue this unbeaten run and keep putting points on the board and keep challenging. I think that we've got to take it game by game and look at probably set our targets for the next international break and then take it again from that to the next international break and take it in little blocks. And before we know it, we'll be climbing even higher up in the league. Everybody that plays for the club, either permanently or on loan, mentions the supporters and how fabulous they are. Yeah, really good. We could hear them throughout the whole game. As everybody knows, they're our 12th man, so having their backing and having their support throughout the 90-plus minutes, I think that it helps the lads and a little bit more desire. Yeah, I'm really glad that we were able to have a positive result for them. And the kind of percentage of shots faced to goals this season was pretty high, wasn't it? You've been very unfortunate in a lot of the games to concede this season, haven't you? Yeah, I think you could say that. And then obviously when we look back on it and our analysis, we can see that there's little things that we can do to stop the shot or I could do a little bit better. It's all about a collective though. If we look back on it and see and then we can learn from it and hopefully it won't happen again. Big derby down, another big one at home now to come against Birmingham next week, Carl? Yeah, really looking forward to it. I think that having the backing from 30,000 as well inside the CBS, it's going to be a really good game to look forward to and hopefully we can carry on the streak. Well played today. Thank you.