Coventry Blues

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Dr Bob
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Coventry Blues

Post by Dr Bob »

First game of the season for me, an upturn in form, playing a team we had already beaten this season. I was really looking forward to this...but oh what a shambles. Until Coventry scored from a deflection, this was two teams who clearly deserved to be at the bottom of the table.

Our obsession with playing out from the back, come-what-may, not only caused more than a few heart flutters, it was the slow foundation for a sluggish performance, with very little tempo or forward momentum (well, until we were behind, which seems to be a feature of life under KR...discuss). We dealt more or less comfortably with what Coventry threw at us, but up front offered nothing more than a mishit (insert the hyphen where you wish) from Henry.

I am not sure if Mackie was always in the wrong place, or if his teammates forgot he was there and failed to pass to him, but for much of the first half it looked like we were playing with 10 men. Two bad fouls on Browne kept him quiet for the rest of the game. No basis for a comparison, but is out wide Ricky's best position? At least Baptiste was a shining light amidst the gloom, and Ruffels did a decent job at left back. Norman seems a slowish, lumbering defender, but reasonably effective. I hope for his sake that Brannagan will be better playing further forward when we get others back, because some of his decision-making and inability to tackle without fouling led to free-kicks in dangerous places.

The one not-negative for me was, paradoxically, that this was the same starting 11 as played at Sunderland. How those players can put in what seem to be Jekyll and Hyde performances is a mystery to me, but at least we know that they are capable of playing better than that.
Kairdiff Exile
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Re: Coventry Blues

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

Posted this at the same time as you - with a remarkably similar thread title too! Thread deleted and my post reproduced below...

_____________________________

I don't know what's worse - the fact that we consistently save our worst performance of the season for when Sky are showing our game, or that I consistently go to the pub to watch the bloody thing.

How the hell does a side like ours, with such a strong midfield (on paper, at least) manage to create so little? Much of the answer lies with our non-existent front line. He took his free header well, but Obika is demonstrably not a goal machine; neither is Smith, and neither on yesterday's evidence was Mackie. Every Oxford fan was saying at the start of the summer that the problem which needed fixing the most was up front. Sign a striker with a proven record, and we'd be okay. We didn't, and here we are. The decisions to let Wes Thomas and Kane Hemmings leave the building look ever more ridiculous - both were limited, but both are also better than what we've got.

A word also for KR's usual dreadful post-match interview. Lots of pregnant pauses and angry silences. Pinter would be proud. And there was the usual "I'm not making excuses, but [excuses]" trope, even though yesterday was inexcusable. Fine, we let in a soft-as-shit own goal, and a penalty - but Coventry were allowed to put us under pressure to make that happen, and KR has to acknowledge as much. When we took the lead against Newport because of a soft-as-shit own goal, we deserved it for putting in the cross and pressurising the defence. The double standards in KR's worldview are staggering.

And finally, to Mitchell's performance. Every goalie has an off-day, and he doesn't deserve to be hung out to dry for his errors yesterday. But I will say that when Eastwood was injured, I was amongst those who said Stevens should be given a chance to show what he could do. If he struggled, at least we'd know he was an indifferent goalie, but we'd be able to assess the value of our asset. Instead, we brought in an honest-but-fallible reserve goalies from elsewhere. He may or may not keep his place (I expect he will), but I can't see him staying beyond the end of his loan. So we'll have had an indifferent goalie on loan, but will still be no further towards knowing Stevens' value.
Last edited by Kairdiff Exile on Mon Sep 10, 2018 9:25 am, edited 1 time in total.
Kairdiff Exile
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Re: Coventry Blues

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

Dr Bob wrote: Mon Sep 10, 2018 9:11 am At least Baptiste was a shining light amidst the gloom
Agreed - despite the best attempts of Coventry to foul him at every opportunity. Poor kid must've been bruised to buggery by full time! My worry with Baptiste is that he will sink to the level of disinterest / mediocrity of those around him rather than being able to pull of the performance of others.
Old Abingdonian
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Re: Coventry Blues

Post by Old Abingdonian »

I would very much agree with Dr Bob: very much as I saw it.

Almost all the players in the side are capable of performing at a good or better level for this league, and some who might not be shining lights (Ruffels, Baptiste) did well yesterday. But Browne, Henry and Mackie did not perform, as others have stated. Is this persistent fouling getting the better of them? It might, in case of Browne, be fatigue in a young player. And what was with Holmes? In the first half, he turned in the centre of the pitch and sent a glorious pass out to the right. By the end, he was dibbling into blind alleys, and could not complete a pass to anyone.

The defence played well - at least in defence. We hugely lacked any impetus or pace going forward in any section of the pitch. Dr Bob is right, I think, to link this with playing out from the back, but then Mackie / Obika / Smith rarely win or retain the ball if we use a more direct approach.
Isaac
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Re: Coventry Blues

Post by Isaac »

My first game of the season, albeit from the sofa. I have a few bad memories watching Oxford on the TV recently...
Would agree with Dr Bob in everything he said. It looked like a 0-0 until the lucky-ish deflected goal. I wasn't at all impressed by Mitchell, his kicking was dire and he seemed indecisive or slow, I'm not sure which, for the penalty. Marcus Browne appeared to sulk somewhat after being kicked, I don't know if this is a fair description as Holmes was similarly ineffective so perhaps it was a symptom of the overall performance (or the fact he was talked up by the TV pre-game so my expectations were higher). Is the management still claiming Mackie is effectively doing a pre-season? The lone striker has to either be able to physically put himself about, or be quick and Mackie is doing neither.

It wasn't a horror performance by any means compared to what we've seen in the past and I thought we shaded the first half, but it looked like two average teams and Coventry got better as the game went on. Baptiste was excellent though, the major positive.

I still have reservations about Robinson, he does an entertaining pre-match interview and I can see why he'd be popular with the press (as he's quotable) but his individual criticism of the players afterwards can cause problems. Pre-match there was a good clip in the tunnel of some jacket related "bantz" between Fazakerley, Appleton and Robinson where the body language was entertaining (imagine your girlfriend chatting to her ex in a pub and you're trying not to look bothered about it).
Kairdiff Exile
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Re: Coventry Blues

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

One other thought that I forgot to include above:

We're rigid tactically, predictable to play against, not great to watch for long periods, and will win enough games to keep the manager in a job despite never being anywhere near good enough to mount a serious promotion challenge.

"Karl Robinson is an Ian Atkins de nos jours". Discuss.
Isaac
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Re: Coventry Blues

Post by Isaac »

I don't think that's particularly fair on either of them. Unfair on Robinson as his football style isn't as one dimensional as Atkins (who never knowlingly selected a winger).

Unfair on Atkins as he was more successful with his style of football (at least temporarily).
Kernow Yellow
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Re: Coventry Blues

Post by Kernow Yellow »

Old Abingdonian wrote: Mon Sep 10, 2018 9:42 am And what was with Holmes?
I didn't see yesterday's game, even on the telly, but I was surprised Holmes started in the pointless trophy on Tuesday when he was coming back from injury. Indeed we've kept a pretty settled line-up for much of the start of the season, which you'd usually think was a good sign but might be causing problems when they were worked so hard (by all accounts) in pre-season.

And yes, Robinson needs to stop absolving himself of blame after every poor performance. If the players won't listen to him and follow his instructions, as he claims, that doesn't say much for his managerial capabilities.
Kernow Yellow
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Re: Coventry Blues

Post by Kernow Yellow »

Kairdiff Exile wrote: Mon Sep 10, 2018 10:32 am "Karl Robinson is an Ian Atkins de nos jours". Discuss.
They certainly both talk(ed) rubbish after matches.
recordmeister
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Re: Coventry Blues

Post by recordmeister »

My next-door neighbour is a Cov fan, and has SKY (unlike me) so headed over to his for the match. Earlier in the week we had found ourselves on the same train into London and I was telling him how good we looked at Sunderland last week; so my expectation level was high for this to be the time we kicked on in the league.

But the match was about as dull as you'd expect from a midday Sunday kick off. I'd only been out of bed and showered for about an hour before the match started with the 60 mins between getting dressed and the whistle going for the start, taken up with reading the Sunday papers in my garden with a cup of tea ("Classic Sunday" to quote Alan Partridge). I felt that both team must have had the same pre-match prep as me, as both sides looked like they couldn't be bothered for the first 45 mins.

The second half was a better game, much to the opposition pushing us on and - as I said to my neighbour - whoever scores first wins this game. And so it was.

I was really impressed with the XI last Sat at Sunderland, but as I said the Macam fans "teams will come here for a point, and it will feel like a win to them". I note yet another team getting a point at the SoL yesterday. We failed to take the momentum from Saturday (and midweek) into the game yesterday. Squarely I'm taking aim at the manager.

Let's chat about KR for a moment. 'Give him 10 games' everyone says. OK. 10 games. Even if we win the next three games we'll have 13 points from 10 games. That's an average of 1.3 point a game. Or 59 points across the season. Last year that would have placed us 13. But to achieve this, we'd be looking at a three game winning streak against Wycombe (local derby, you'd hope we'd win), Walsall (5th, unbeaten all season so far) and Wimbledon (who knows what we'll get from an away game at AFC). Let' say we walk away with 4 points (W,L,D in that order). That'll give us 8 points after 10 games. Or an average of 0.8 points a game which works out at 36/37 points for the season. Keep in mind here that Bury finished bottom last season with... 36 points. And the team relegated with the most points was Oldham with 50.

On that form, KR will have to go. The question is: if this form continues, which game will be his last? I'd wager we could well be going into the Man City game without a manager... maybe the best get-out clause ever for us if we get beaten well by the current cup holders.
OtmoorYellow
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Re: Coventry Blues

Post by OtmoorYellow »

I think there is too much generosity in some of the comments on here.

Coventry are a very poor side, and we lost to them. We beat them in the League Cup, and they clearly learnt more about us than we did about them.


I would say only Shandon Baptiste earned his money.


Mitchell had a poor game. Yes he's an OK shot stopper, not that he had much to stop, but his distribution was terrible, not for the first time, and his poorly timed challenge for the penalty was terrible, not for the first time.

Our lack of a proper striker sticks out like a knob in a brothel (not that I'd know about such things). None of Mackie, Obika or Smith are good enough to play as a lone striker, which takes pace, strength, stamina, not to mention the obvious finishing. I suspect Maynard is too old and lacking fitness to provide what is needed.

I wonder if Robinson is trying to shoe horn our players into a system they're not able to deal with. Maybe the 4-2-3-1 is the modern formation, but when you attack, you leave 2 in midfield, which then gets overrun on the counter, unless 2 of the 3 attacking midfielders tracks back for defensive duty. Are Holmes, Browne and Henry the sort of players that do that? I don't think they are. And Hall is very similar to them whenever he returns. That all puts pressure on the defence.

In a 4-2-3-1, the wide defenders need to play as wing backs to provide width in attack, but then they must be fit enough to be able to come back and recover their defensive position when we lose the ball. I'm not convinced any of our wing backs have the pace or stamina to do that.

John Messiuppy Mousinho seems to be reverting to type with attempts at dribbling around strikers from the front of our penalty area. No. Never do that. Not ever. Anything but that.

Curtis Nelson wasn't exempt from criticism either. You should never let an aerial ball bounce as a central defender.

CamBran is well off his game, and has been all season. I'm not at all convinced the defensive midfield is a role for him as he doesn't care to distribute more than 10 yards most of the time. His tackling is becoming embarrassing too and will surely amass far too many cards this season.

We have a potentially excellent support striking three going forwards, real promotion quality, and have found in Shandon Baptiste, a bright shiny diamond. But without the strikers to hold up the ball and finish the moves and make the runs into dangerous positions, we will never achieve anything.

I wonder if Tiger has kept the purse strings too tight when it came to signing players, as we signed no one of any consequence on permanent deals and now it is too late to obtain the striker we need, so maybe change the system to 4-4-2 to strengthen midfield and attack?

I hate Mondays after losing at the weekend, and playing the game at stupid o'clock on Sunday seems to have made me worse today!
Kairdiff Exile
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Re: Coventry Blues

Post by Kairdiff Exile »

Otmoor Yellow - much to agree with in your post, but I'll pick up on two points which invited a response.
OtmoorYellow wrote: Mon Sep 10, 2018 12:48 pm I wonder if Robinson is trying to shoe horn our players into a system they're not able to deal with. Maybe the 4-2-3-1 is the modern formation, but when you attack, you leave 2 in midfield, which then gets overrun on the counter, unless 2 of the 3 attacking midfielders tracks back for defensive duty. Are Holmes, Browne and Henry the sort of players that do that? I don't think they are. And Hall is very similar to them whenever he returns. That all puts pressure on the defence...

John Messiuppy Mousinho seems to be reverting to type with attempts at dribbling around strikers from the front of our penalty area. No. Never do that. Not ever. Anything but that.
The obvious question to me is why we're persevering with Mousinho at centre-back ahead of Dickie (who may be out of form, but is a far better player technically) and not playing Mousinho in front of the back four? Pre-season, most of us thought that would play to Mousinho's strengths and help address our lack of defensive-minded midfielders.
I wonder if Tiger has kept the purse strings too tight when it came to signing players, as we signed no one of any consequence on permanent deals and now it is too late to obtain the striker we need, so maybe change the system to 4-4-2 to strengthen midfield and attack?
Nope. Sorry, not having that. KR was given the resources to do the job. Carruthers, Mackie and Holmes won't have come here to play for peanuts. The problem is that KR spunked the cash on lots of very similar players (despite us having three attacking midfielders in Baptiste, Lopes and Napa coming through as well), and then found the pot was empty for a striker. I'm very clear as to who has to carry the can for that.

KR has been a bit unlucky with injuries to Eastwood, Hall and Carruthers. Every other problem is entirely of his own making. He may well be able to turn things round - I hope he does - but he needs to do what MApp did midway through his first season: hold his hands up, be honest that it's not working, change the system and style and grind out some results to buy himself some time.
Werthers Original
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Re: Coventry Blues

Post by Werthers Original »

Interesting that there are so many more comments than usual on this game.

It was a frustrating match and I hate the way we struggle to get the ball out from the goalie without a lot of indecision, delay, or Mousinho trying to dribble round people in his own box, but I'm not sure we were that terrible. If we'd scored when were on top early on I think we'd have won well: in this league it seems that the margins are quite fine and whichever of two evenly matched teams gains the initiative can end up looking comfortable. Note that Burton, who looked very poor against us by the end, have done pretty well since then.
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