Coventry City’s SHOCK Premier League charge! | Frank Lampard is silencing his critics

Are Coventry City destined for a return to the Premier League under Frank Lampard? That is what we are going to be talking about in today's video. I'm Conor Bromley and this is the Football Insider channel. Please like and subscribe to the channel if you enjoy this content and let me know what you think of Coventry City this season. But let's just dive straight into the video. Let's provide a little bit of context to Coventry City. They've been in the Championship a while and have been flirting with promotion, it's fair to say, over the last few years but haven't been able to get over the line. Of course, last season lost in the playoff semi-finals against Sunderland in what was a pretty captivating tie overall. Coventry dominating a lot of the ball but Sunderland finding a way to win. But now we see Coventry City this season saying, no, no, we're not going to be messing around with the playoffs this season. We want to go up automatically and the signs are looking very good right now that Coventry City under Frank Lampard could be returning to the Premier League for the first time in 24-25 years. So let's talk about Coventry's start to the season because it has been impressive and if you look historically, certainly over the last few years, Coventry's main problem has been slow starts to the season. The Mark Robin teams of years past have really struggled at the start, hot up as the season goes on and generally end the season in a pretty positive manner. But this season, it looks like under Frank Lampard, Coventry have found the perfect tonic to start a season on time, which has given them a great chance of achieving their targets. And let's have a look at their season so far in terms of results. They drew nil-nil on the opening day against Hull at home, which I think sent a few alarm bells to say maybe this Coventry team is just cursed in the month of August at the start of the season because they struggled on that one. But since then, it has been very good. They beat Derby away 5-3. They beat QPR at home 7-1. They drew 2-2 with Oxford, 1-1 with Norwich and nil-nil against Leicester before heading into this international break on the back of a 3-0 win against Birmingham, a 4-0 win against Millwall and a 5-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday. And all of that has put Coventry at the top of the championship heading into this international break. And I think as well the context around these results is the fact that Coventry probably should have more points on the board. They were probably the better team against Hull on the opening day and probably should have won that one. They were certainly the better team against Norwich City at home, where they should have scored probably five or six goals on that one somehow couldn't find a way but got a late equaliser. And even in their draw against Oxford, the game should have been theirs and they let it slip through their fingertips. But it looks like a team that is learning and that is taking their chances which is something that Coventry fans towards the end of the season were lamenting a little bit. The fact they were having a lot of territory but weren't able to execute when it mattered most. And if we look at the data and look I know some people don't like XG but Coventry's expected goals for and against data is pretty outrageous. Their expected goals for sits currently at 22.4 which is seven goals ahead of Southampton. You know in this early stage of a season running nine games and you don't expect to see such a big difference between the first and second place teams. Then in terms of expected goals against Coventry are second in the table conceding just 7.5. So we're looking at a team that is pretty outrageous going forward and is also defensively pretty solid as well. And that is a recipe for a team to get promoted. Normally the teams that are scoring the most goals and conceded the least end up winning the honours come the end of a season. And look the eye test is telling you when you watch Coventry this season that they look like the best team in the championship. And look it's only nine games in but we saw from Frank Lampard's team last season you know when he took over Coventry that they were one of the better teams in the league and it looks like he is taking that on another level and this team looks like it's getting better and better. But the thing with hot starts the question is always can they sustain it and sometimes we see a team come out with the blocks pick up wins and then it all comes undone. But I think the evidence with the stats with the underlying data and just how strong Coventry have looked and the fact that over the last few years they have been one of the better teams in the league I don't think this is just a hot start. In fact if anything I think Coventry are probably a few points short of where they should be because they have been pretty much the dominant team in every game they've played this season. And if you look at the individuals in there the quality that they have Victor Thorpe, Brandon Thomas Assante, Matt Grimes, Haji Wright, Milan Van Uyik, Jack Radony, Efren Mason-Clark they all look like some of the best players in their position in the league. And everything that we are seeing you know combined together with that quality with a manager that seems to have learned a lot from previous mistakes we are seeing this team thrive right now and it feels like the only way that they are going to come unstuck potentially this season is if they get you know a bad sort of run with injuries some bad suspensions somebody you know poaches the manager but it feels like those things probably wouldn't even derail this team because this team looks drilled. I feel like everyone's on the same page they want to seek through this campaign and get the end of the season to achieve their goals and get Coventry City back where they think they belong in the Premier League. And we've talked quite a bit about Frank Lampard but I think we have to give him a special shout out because I think as a coach what we are seeing from him is that he is learning lessons and if we talk about that playoff game last season against Sunderland, Coventry dominated the territory, Coventry had loads of possession and they generally just sat in Sunderland's half, parked themselves in there and you know tried their best to get through that stubborn Sunderland defence but they they lacked a punch I think it's fair to say and Sunderland were able to sit in soak up that pressure and they were able to hurt Coventry in transition and they were able to exploit the fact that Coventry couldn't utilise their possession. It feels like Frank Lampard this summer looked at those games and looked at the end of the season for Coventry because they did drop some silly results towards the end of last season and he went how can I make this team better how can I get this team playing in a way so that when we come up against low blocks like we did against Sunderland we find a way to win the game and I think it's clear to see that he has learnt those lessons and they've worked on that in pre-season Coventry are now dominating games but are making that domination count in terms of goals which is why we've seen them score seven already this season five a couple of times they've scored four on the road they've scored threes as well they are scoring loads of goals because they could turn that domination and get through low blocks and win games of football and score which is the most important thing. So for me Frank Lampard deserves so much credit because I think a lot of people look at him and question how good of a manager he is because of his spells in the Premier League beforehand but I think now we look at Frank Lampard and I certainly look at Frank Lampard and think you clearly know what you're doing you're clearly somebody who is a student of the game and you're learning from past mistakes and this Coventry team has evolved from last season and looks a million times better for it and let's talk a little bit about the other contenders because Coventry City obviously they are a team that is up there and will be up there in my opinion to the end of the season but there are other teams that are going to be good and look we've got Ipswich we've got Leicester we've got Southampton they're the parachute payment teams and Leicester have got off to a decent start they could have a potential points deduction Ipswich maybe they're starting to heat up a little bit they look good at home then you've got Southampton who've had a really poor start of the season and what all that means is there's probably a little bit of a window of opportunity there that hasn't been there in previous seasons these parachute payment teams maybe not as strong as years past and that opens the door for a team like Coventry step in there and get an automatic promotion spot there are other teams though worth worrying about Middlesbrough have had a really good start the season Stoke have done really well to start the season even Preston who in recent years have struggled they have had a pretty good start the season as well and QPR who Coventry did beat 7-1 but since that 7-1 defeat QPR have been on a pretty good run they look like a decent team but I think this Coventry side feels better positioned than all those and of all the non-parachute payment teams in the championship right now Coventry City feel like the best of that bunch and because the parachute payment teams are struggling I mean we haven't even talked about Sheffield United they're a parachute payment team and they're currently propping up the league because of all that it means that there is a chance for somebody to break in and get promoted when maybe we didn't expect it so my final verdict on this is look Coventry fell out the Premier League in 2001 and they finally look poised and ready for a return it has been a pretty horrible 24 years for them they have fell through the leagues they've lost their home but right now everything is clicking in the right direction Frank Lampard has this team playing attractive football they're scoring goals they look pretty defensively solid and the data suggests that they can sustain it and for that reason do not be surprised if we see Coventry City back in the Premier League where they think they belong and look for everything they've been through they definitely deserve a crack back with the big boys in the top flight let me know though what you think of Coventry City and their chances this season of getting promoted please also like the video and if you enjoyed it and we'll catch you again very soon for another one