WTF Is Happening At Coventry City? Frank Lampard Dilemma!

Should we should we predict where we think Cobb will finish? Hello guys welcome back to the Sportsman Untitled Extra brought to you by Betfred. Today I'm joined with Conor McGilligan and Gab Sutton and apparently today we have to talk about what is going wrong with Coventry City. League leaders were absolutely flying Gab. Last few games it's not gone well. 12 points from the last 10. It's a difficult time to be a Coventry fan I'll tell you that from personal perspective. What do you think's gone wrong? Well one thing I'm really curious about when it comes to Coventry Simon is you although if you look overall at the last 14-15 months under Frank Lampard since he took charge the return is fantastic. But a lot of it has come condensed into like 10 game set spells where you won 10 games in a row at one point last season and I think you've had a similar run this season as well. So it often feels like you've got the bulk of your points in streaks and I suppose the challenge is to try and extrapolate it out a bit more. Yeah it's really really annoying how we've been by far the best team in the calendar year of 2025. You mentioned that 10 game winning run came in January I think as we charged towards the playoffs and then 11 wins out of 12 it was October, November this year. We're absolutely flying again but unfortunately don't win anything in calendar years. Obviously we lost in the playoff semi-final last year and this year had an amazing start but things are slightly going wrong. Do you think that there's been some other off-field initiatives for the club that have taken some focus of Doug King and co? Do you think that's affected the business in the transfer market to some extent? In terms of buying the CBS is absolutely massive. I think it was reported in Mike Ashley's account that it was £50m that the stadium cost him so he made £30m on the CBS arena and we haven't had ownership of that stadium ever really. So getting the club and the stadium together so we're not going to move out of Coventry is ultimately the most important thing that could happen to us whether we're in the Premier League or the Championship and you do have to take that into account when it comes to maybe transfer window spend or money spend because Doug King's done a really good job in charge of the club in terms of we've seen sell-outs at the CBS and all of that so you do have to kind of take that into account. Would we have rather been homeless still in the Premier League or had the future of the club secured and be in the Championship possibly next season? You want to be in your Coventry home. Yeah exactly there you go. On the pitch Conor I'll bring you in. Defensively we're not sure of our best XI right now and you compare that with the other promotion contenders and last season and Leeds and Burnley you don't change your centre-backs they know their best defence. That is potentially a concern for Coventry moving forward. Yeah and it's not been like a watertight defence all season as it's silent let's be honest so when you get into that point of 31 games in in a 46-game season and you're chopping and changing your centre-backs at this point it's something that people don't focus on but it's huge. He has to know his best team by now and this is the worry and we're just speaking about not only defensively but going forward in terms of Haji Wright. Obviously I know there's a lot and you'll attest to this who maybe want him out of that starting nine position. We're all speaking about the transfer window. I know you've mentioned before Patrick Bamford who looks like he'd have been perfect especially after training with the club and Doug King not thinking it's a viable option. There's things that drastically need to improve on the pitch of course when it comes to Coff and it seems very simple but it is not and I can say this from experience. You've got to and do you have the personalities who can handle that pressure? That's another question. It's almost like, and I know you've said this before as well, the play at the start of the season was so exciting to watch. So many goals, so quick. Teams couldn't get out against us. We were pinning them in, scored three goals, conceded one at the other end, fine. Now it's a bit slow, a bit laborious at the back, centre-backs passing to each other. So I would look at that and from a footballing perspective I would look at that and think maybe they're second guessing certain things and maybe they're not in this flow state that they were in the beginning of the season where there was a lack of pressure and it was like we'll make that pass or we'll make that ball over the centre-back and the right-back and potentially lose the ball but we're going to regain it back and that sort of aspect. I think when the pressure starts to increase on the top of the table and teams at the bottom, those decisions become a little bit more, oh should I do that because I might lose the ball? You start second guessing things and I wonder if that's an aspect of it as well, especially the big problem is you've got Borat who've won five games on the bounce just behind you breathing down your neck. Yeah exactly and also I think in the way that our season's gone, I think continuity was a big thing at the start in terms of getting the jump on other teams. If you look at Ipswich had a bit of a slow start, even Borat had a decent start but were hit a bit of hit and miss. Coventry kept pretty much the same team from last season that went on that amazing run under Lampard to make the play-offs, added Kyle Rushworth who's been absolutely brilliant, probably player of the season for us so far. That continuity kept going into the season, winning a lot of games. It does feel like now the other teams have caught up a bit, not just from points perspective on the table but in terms of actual performances and when we need an injection of something else, we're potentially missing that. Yeah perhaps I wanted to talk to you about the centre-back partner for Bobby Thomas because you've spoken very highly of Thomas's performances for Coventry City this season and I suppose the fact that there are still those question marks offensively, I think part of it is a air-to-possession thing when the ball gets turned over, the more destructive midfielders are higher up the pitch and Grimes maybe struggles with that side of the game but also in terms of partner for Bobby Thomas, is that still being found? Yeah it's interesting obviously for the Oxford game, Thomas and Kitchin were both dropped for Joel Atabella and Luke Wolfenden and Wolfenden's obviously got a promotion on his CV. That's not ideal, I think Connor mentioned this off camera, rotating your centre-back at a crucial stage of the season, is that necessarily ideal whether it's in force? I mean you look at Borough who aren't doing that and Ipswich who definitely aren't doing that either so it is a slight concern. Thomas is the best centre-back in both boxes in terms of winning headers, winning draws, we do a lot of long throws, set-pieces when he's not in the team are very different. I think he should be the starting centre-back and it is just about finding the right partner for him. I would potentially look at Luke Wolfenden in terms of his experience and getting out of the league. I'm amazed that you'd rather start Latipo Diaro over Bobby Thomas, unless Bobby Thomas has... He's made a few mistakes in the defeats to Norwich and QPR and that's why he came out of the team but still you look at that and you think yeah it's not where a team pushing for promotion should be. I also think we mentioned Brandon Thomas Sante coming out of the team and having a massive injury and then the red card, he'd scored 10 goals by November, I don't think he's scored since November now. It does feel like up the final third of the pitch isn't quite as fluid as it was and obviously it's not going to be. He scored 51 goals in 17 games, three goals a game and since then it's just slowed down drastically. Yeah and I think we've mentioned it before haven't we but about Borough and their form and Ipswich getting to two points per game now which means mass pressure, that's mass pressure to keep up. That expectation is standard that Cov had. I do wonder now if teams have figured you out a little bit as well. That's something that when it comes to pragmatism managers have to evolve in the second half of the season because you might shock teams at the very beginning and it's like what is this when it comes to commentary my god but then second half of the season you'll see teams come into Cov and then they'll come to CBS and think all right you have the ball, fine. We're going to sit in a low block, we're going to frustrate you because we know how good you are now because we've learned from that in the first half of the season. We're not playing against you that way so we're now going to sit, you're going to have to break through us and that's where there has to be some invention, there has to be risk, that's the big thing as well. You're going to have to concede something to get something back as well. It can't all just be possession laden, there has to be someone taking that risk, taking that man on where he might lose the ball and concede a transition. There's got to be that aspect of it now. I think that's possibly the person in the squad we are missing. We're missing that spark, number 10. It's kind of Rodoni isn't it? It's like a Callum O'Hare or a Casey Palmer even off the bench to just take a risk with the ball and move it. Do you go to a three-man midfield? Well against Oxford it was Josh Eccles, Victor Thorpe, Matt Grimes and Eccles was playing as the number 10 and it doesn't seem like Lampard is changing the system right now. I could see Eccles in a tough away game as a destructive team, I'm not sure I'd have him as a number 10. I agree, I agree. I think that's very flat. It's a very flat midfield three that. Yeah, I think you have to get Rodoni into the team and see what happens, especially in the home games. I could see in an away game when we've been struggling, do something like that. I'll come back to you in terms of pressure, Conor. Would you see Coventry being able to turn this around? Potentially, they had that massive lead, 10 points, 13 points, whatever it was to third place. Gone now. Would it maybe suit them to have that change of mindset and be like the Hunters instead of the Hunted? Yeah, definitely. Give me some positive aid. No, no, no. Let's be honest, Coventry are in this position because Coventry have been outrageously good and so we can we can talk about, you know, we can talk about Burham, we can talk about it. It's just still below you, you know, and everybody, the narrative, the media narrative has been, Coventry have been 12 points and has been going down, but 12 points, 10 points, all this sort of stuff, lost this lead. But now it's a shootout, isn't it, between you and a few other teams. And now that pressure aspect, it's not gone. Of course it hasn't because you are still top of the table. But that whole narrative about the points and, you know, how you've got this advantage on the other clubs has now evaporated. It is now a straight shootout between you and the other teams in the round. I think the big thing is beating Borough. And I've said this on the other show that we've done, you need to face the teams in and around you now to put that mark down. You've done that already. You've beaten Millwall. I know, look, it's Leicester. It is Leicester, but still Leicester in terms of personnel on the pitch. Got beaten 5-0 on aggregate by Ipswich in December. Yeah, that is true. But, you know, those two back-to-back games, especially against Millwall, you know, that win was really important. You need to get Coventry to the CBS and beat Coventry. So you need to get Middlesbrough to the CBS and beat Middlesbrough. Lay that marker down. And then, ultimately, there should be confidence brewing again. And there should be, oh, no, we are good. Because I think that's what you're missing at this moment in times. Are we good enough? Because you've got Ipswich on two points per game. You've got Borough with five wins on the bounce, potentially a sixth this evening. I will say we are recording this before the Borough-Sheffield United game. So Borough may be top of the table. May be top. But if Coventry beat them, they're back top. Yeah. And that's how you've got to be looking at it. So there's still positives for Cov. It's just you don't have that leeway now, which you once had. I think the Middlesbrough game, I think we can sometimes build up individual games as must-wins and sometimes we dramatise it a bit. But I would go as far as saying that Middlesbrough game is in terms of Coventry's fortunes, because I think a defeat would have big implications for the rest of the season. And it would probably have you looking a little bit more at the playoffs. But I think if you win it, you've got a massive opportunity to really grab that top spot again. Especially because you're looking at, I think maybe a lot of us are favouring Ipswich getting in there because they feel like they're getting into once again that flow. Ipswich just feel, when I say safe, it's like Ipswich aren't going to not get it. I think Ipswich are also thriving on that, well we're not top, but we're going to get you. And that's the hunter in the hunting, isn't it? But they're doing it without Filledrine as well. Yeah, but then they've got Jack Clark. It's like, this is what we're talking about here. So they're kind of, they're obviously below you, they don't have the pressure. But then they kind of get into a point now where it's like, well, we can see you and we've got all of this artillery as well to throw at it. It's kind of like they're in such a good state. But what I would say as well is it's definitely not, this is where Lampard's tested. It's probably going to be the biggest challenge in his career, you'd say. And obviously when he was working with Chelsea with all the youngsters, but there wasn't that much pressure on Lampard to get results at that point because at that point he was working with kids. But this is a massive point where it's like this could be the biggest blow up we've ever seen at Championship level. That's the harsh reality of it. But there is still a massive opportunity for Coventry here to get promoted and win the division. That's what you've got to be looking at. The Borough game is the perfect game. Huge game. Absolutely perfect game. You either want a slap in the face to have to change something, whether that be system or personnel, or you go and beat them in your top of the league and the season starts. Imagine as well, if you are able to get in the next three games, it's still plausible that you beat Borough, you beat an out of form West Bromwich Albion side, and then imagine you then go and beat Sheffield United. Or get a point at Sheffield United. It all turns around all of a sudden again. But Lampard's got to figure out that defence. Has to figure out that defence. I think something's got to be done up top. So that's on Lampard and really geeing the lads up and getting more out of that midfield when it comes to creation and speeding the play up. He's a confidence manager. He gets the players confident and he gets them really fit. But now he needs to deal with the pressure himself as well, which will be very interesting. Should we predict where we think Cobb will finish? Fourth for me. This season. Are you joking? But behind you, Hull as well. No, I think it's... Oh, God. Right. Can any of us actually see Coventry winning the league from this position, given it's now a battle who gets the most points? Coventry, Middlesbrough, from now until the end of the season. I personally can't. So I think Ipswich Town are going to get two points per game between now and the end of the season, which means they're going to get another 32 points, which means they're going to get 86. And that means that for Coventry to finish above Ipswich, they would need... Is it 27 points between... So from 15 games. Which is nearly two points a game. Yeah. And from the last 15 games, it's been 22 points. That's 10 games. We've got 12 points. So definitely some solutions need to be found. At the moment on form and performances, because even when Coventry won back-to-back, it wasn't necessarily brilliant performances. Honestly, I feel like I'm now leaning towards Middlesbrough and Ipswich. Cheers, Gav. Conor? Sorry, Gav, just to jump in. The lowest you think Coventry will finish is third, though. You don't think it will be... Okay, go on, Conor. You worried me a bit with that midfield there. And, you know, when I mentioned to you about being pedestrian and slow and lacking ideas and creation, you've said that midfield to me now, and I'm just thinking that is so flat. But it could be Grimes, Onjeka, Rodoni. Well, could it? But would Lampard change to that? Or is he more conservative? Okay. Well, then at least you've got a little bit of combativeness quality there with Onjeka's when you have got Onjeka off the bench. The problem is he's not playing many minutes. You have to bear that in mind. He's not played a lot of minutes for Brentford this season. Rodoni has got the... You know, you have got that X Factor off the bench. He could be huge, huge with the remaining games. You need him to be fully fit and find that form against... There are options there for Cov. But it has to change now. This has to start turning round now. We can't be waiting another five, six games because you could be out of it by then. Final position prediction? Yeah, I'm going around the houses here, aren't I? Ipswich... Ipswich are going to win the league. I'm confident Ipswich will win the league. I've said that for a long time now. I think you said Southampton at the start of the season, didn't you? I did at the start of the season, yeah. Cheers, Will, still. We'll get on to Ed still in a bit. But yeah, second... I'm going to go Borough. I'm going to be positive and say we'll get second. I think something has to change. Do you actually believe that? No, I think... Something has to change. I think it is a case of this Borough game is massive. I think we win the Borough game. Yeah, let's do it. If we lose the Borough game, I think something has to change and maybe the pressure will be off. Yeah, it's a big, big pressure situation. I can't face the playoffs again, but cheers. Good old playoffs. Let us know where you think Coventry will finish this season in the comments down below. Please do like and subscribe and we'll be back for more Sportsman Untitled on Monday. See you then.