Frank Lampard in two minds, Coventry City's endurance test and stadium 'desperate' for big man to shine

“We are top of the league...” sang the Sky Blue Army after Victor Torp lit the touchpaper of a hitherto frustrating opening 57 minutes at the CBS Arena.

And when Brandon Thomas-Asante popped up with an almost carbon copy strike less than three minutes later the Coventry City faithful were back in full voice and party mood after a somewhat subdued first half against a determined Blackburn Rovers side who set out their stall early with plenty of aggressive pressing and front foot football.

But the quick-fire double turned the game firmly in City’s favour, putting them on a comfortable course for another three points, fourth consecutive victory and fifth clean sheet to send Frank Lampard’s men back to top of the Championship. Here are some of the big talking points from Saturday’s 2-0 win.

City’s endurance test

The Sky Blues extended their outstanding unbeaten start to their league campaign to ten games but did so after overcoming a stern test against a Blackburn side whose only two wins so far this term have come on the road.

And so it came as no surprise that Valerien Ismael’s team made life difficult for the hosts, adopting positive tactics to the game while also defending in numbers at the other end with a changed five man back line.

Some opponents will look at City’s goals ‘for’ column (a whopping 29) and opt to park the bus while others, like Rovers, will take a more of an ‘attack is the best form of defence’ approach. Either way, teams are, as you’d expect, posing different challenges for Lampard and his players to overcome.

“I think it was good for the players to feel what it was like at half-time because sometimes the players can come in at the break and be like, ‘oh, what’s going on,’ and what’s the solution? Why does this not look like what has looked like recently?

“And I was pleased because I think when you get to the end of the game and you do win it, it shows you that if we want to be consistent and stay up in this endurance test of a season then these games will come. Teams will come and make it difficult for us. They’re not going to lay over, they’re going to find ways to try and stop us doing what we like doing.”

Lampard’s tactical nous

Lampard and his excellent coaching staff have already shown how they have transformed the Sky Blues in a relatively short space of time, both individually and collectively, into a top end promotion side, but the head coach has also shown his tactical nous by identifying areas for improvement during games and acting on them with clear instructions, as he did to half-time against Blackburn.

Asked what he’d said to the players at the interval following a frustrating and somewhat off-colour goalless opening 45 minutes, the City boss simply said he’d made a small tactical tweak and reminded them of what they are good at.

“We have to have variations in our game and we have to have a little bit of spirit,” he said. “You have to understand that you have just got to stick with the game, stick to doing the right things and trust the talent in the team. So yeah, I think it was a nice mental one for everybody, even the fans as well today. They’d have felt that game in the first half and then you come away with a clean sheet and two goals, so I’m pleased.”

Great numbers

All successful teams have goals scored from all over the pitch rather than just by the strikers, and that continued as midfielder Torp and Thomas-Asante – a striker by trade but currently deployed in the number ten role, having previously filled in out wide – both took their individual tallies to six from the opening ten league games.

They’re great numbers and all the more impressive when considering that the team’s second biggest goal threat behind Haji Wright – Jack Rudoni – is still out injured.

And it’s a reflection, once again, of the individual work and improvement seen by so many of the players. Both goals came as a result of clearances from crosses sent in by Ephron Mason-Clark that dropped just outside the 18-yard box to the alert goalscorers to connect with first time.

“It was great technique to hit balls like that out of the sky,” enthused Lampard. “Torpy and Brandon both work very, very hard on all elements of finishing, different finishes. They want to stay on the training pitch and do it.

“They’ve got good technique and they were great goals, and Ephron as well going on the outside and getting crosses in. We’ve done quite a bit of work with them individually on trying to really maximise what you can do in an attacking sense, what problem he can give defenders. And I was pleased with Ephron in not an easy game. “It was always man for man and there was always someone on him but in little moments he got away and we got our goals.”

Frank in two minds over Haji

Lampard admitted that he was in two minds whether or not to start Wright after his long-haul return from the United states on Thursday. Although he worked hard, he barely had a look in on goal for the hour or so he was on the pitch, although that was arguably more to do with Rovers’ keeping close tabs on him rather than any effects of jetlag or tiredness.

“Yeah a little bit in two minds,” admitted Lampard, “because he played in the early hours on Wednesday morning, travelled for 10 hours, landed on Thursday morning and did some recovery on Thursday afternoon. “And yesterday I was keeping close to him the whole time to see how he felt and I just took the idea in my head what it could have been, and as it turned out 60/30 between him and Ellis. It’s a trade off isn’t it, when a player is in good form and playing well and on a confident striker’s run as opposed to any tiredness in his legs. But I thought he was fine and I think it was a tough game for our boys up top today because of the man to man element of them and fact that we were not at our best. But I was just pleased and I was pleased with Ellis’s impact as well when he came on.”

Fans acknowledge Simms

Simms, like so many of his teammates, appears to be hitting new heights with virtually every week that goes by. We all know the centre-forward has all the physical tools to be a real force in the division but getting him to hit form hasn’t always been the easiest task.

Going on in the 62nd minute, he was strong and aggressive with his running on and off the ball, chasing seemingly lost causes and generally putting himself about in the final third to cause all manner of problems for the opposition, even earning recognition from the fans who sang his name aloud on a number of occasions to further encourage his output.

“I think the stadium is desperate for him to do well,” acknowledged Lampard. “He’s a really likeable lad. I said it in the press before, he’s very humble, comes in and does his job and never gives you a problem; really wants to do well. And he’s got his attributes which are really dangerous at any point in the game. And he can get better.

“We work closely with Ellis a lot because he needs that and I think it’s our job to do it. And yeah, coming on and giving teams another problem to what Haji is is maybe a good thing.”

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