Few could believe it when Coventry ended a decade of successful leadership from Mark Robins to replace him with Frank Lampard, but a recent winning run has elevated the Sky Blues into the play-off picture - Dominic Jerams (@SideSammy) takes us through their season.

How’s the season been for Coventry?

We entered it with huge expectations after thinking we had upgraded a squad that last year had been a hair’s breadth away from the FA Cup final. Instead, we started the campaign looking half-cooked and nowhere near as good as many presumed it would be. Whether that was down to the quality of the squad or the coaching is hard to truly tell. We were never as bad as it looked like when we were threatening to get involved in the relegation picture but we’re probably not as good as the recent four-game winning run would suggest. We are probably mid-table fodder, but to be three points off the top six in February would make it a ridiculous time to be writing off this campaign.

Coventry in the league so far…
Stoke 1-0 Coventry Baker 78
Coventry 3-2 Oxford Wright 15, 90, van Ewijk 31 – Brown 22, Harris 55
Bristol City 1-1 Coventry Tanner 45 – Palmer 76
Coventry 0-1 Norwich Sainz 47
Watford 1-1 Coventry Dele-Bashiru 67 – Simms 4
Coventry 1-2 Swansea Ronald og 34 – Cullen 8, Cooper 32
Leeds 3-0 Coventry Gnonto 16, Bogle 49, Piroe 79
Coventry 3-0 Blackburn Bidwell 11, Wright 48, Thomas-Asante 84
Coventry 1-2 Sheff Wed Rudoni 26 – Gassama 45, Charles 90
Preston 1-0 Coventry Riis 72
QPR 1-1 Coventry Morgan 63 – Wright 4
Coventry 3-2 Luton Simms 59, Torp 76, Wright 90 – Morris pen 15, Adebayo 37
Boro 0-3 Coventry Thomas 42, Wright 76, Eccles 81
Coventry 1-2 Derby Sakamoto 77 – Yates 11, Thomas og 73
Sunderland 2-2 Coventry Isidor 17, Cirkin 35 – Wright 62, Rudoni 84
Coventry 2-2 Sheff Utd Bassette 22, Thomas 80 – Campbell 13, Eak-Sakyi 34
Burnley 2-0 Coventry Sarmiento 47, Egan-Riley 80
Coventry 2-2 Cardiff Mason-Clark 7, Torp pen 88 – Meite 4, Robertson 48
Millwall 0-1 Coventry Mason-Clark 63
West Brom 2-0 Coventry Mowatt 11, Grant 74
Coventry 2-1 Hull Mason-Clark 52, Rudoni 72 – Pedro 43
Portsmouth 4-1 Coventry Lang 14, 43, 48, 55 – Bassette 3
Coventry 4-0 Plymouth Sakamoto 5, Eccles 20, 45, Mason-Clark 39
Coventry 0-0 Millwall
Cardiff 1-1 Coventry Robertson 6 – Sakamoto 46
Norwich 2-1 Coventry Forson 90, 90 – van Ewijk 24
Coventry 1-0 Bristol City Thomas-Asante 62
Blackburn 0-2 Coventry Simms 41, Thomas-Asante 48
Coventry 2-1 Watford Torp 32, 75 – Kitching og 82
Swansea 0-2 Coventry Simms 17, Thomas-Asante 44
Coventry 0-2 Leeds Piroe 17, Bogle 26

Sacking Mark Robins certainly provoked a lot of debate, what do you make of that whole episode now the dust has settled?

I’m still not sure just why the decision needed to be made in November rather than at the end of the campaign. Maybe things had started to get stale under Mark Robins, but he wasn’t helped by new signings taking time to bed in, a set of goalkeepers who weren’t making any saves and several key players who were underperforming. A lot of those things would probably have evened themselves out over the course of the season regardless of who the manager was. To get rid of a man who completely transformed the club over a period of seven years due to a relatively short period of slight underperformance still feels a little unnecessary. Mark Robins deserved a better send-off than a short statement the morning after a midweek defeat to Derby County.

Frank Lampard likewise a lot of chat, not much of it complimentary, but that’s seems to be going quite well - what did you think at the time of the appointment and how do you feel now?

Sacking Mark Robins felt especially pointless when his replacement was someone, in Frank Lampard, who it would be hard to argue was a definite improvement based on his track record. A tepid start to his time at Coventry City added to the sense that he wasn’t this great appointment who could instantly transform this set of players and football club that the owner clearly wanted him to be. The recent run of wins has killed the argument that the change in manager was pointless, for now, but it came during a set of fixtures that most would have expected this team would win anyway. Losing to Leeds United at home last week highlighted that there’s still a gulf between ourselves and the best in the division that Lampard hasn’t been able to bridge. The positives are that the team looks to be moving towards a more defined style of play based around keeping the ball – whether our fans are ready to be a possession-based side remains to be seen. The negatives are that we look to be pretty open at the back, with the form of Oliver Dovin in goal going a long way to a recent run of clean sheets.

How was your transfer window? What was done? What was left undone?

Going on a good run in January came at a good time to ease pressure on the recruitment team and changing the focus on trying to completely rebuild the squad and towards adding the one or two players that are probably the difference between mid-table and better. The key missing ingredient with this team is probably leadership. On paper, the signing of a 29-year-old captain from another Championship squad, in Matt Grimes, should address that need. The question with Grimes is whether he really is the type of gritty winner that is the image of what this team is missing or just another nice guy amid a whole squad of nice guys. He’s a very good signing but the worry still feels to be about this team’s resilience and propensity to leak soft goals.

Summer Ins >>> Jack Rudoni, 23, CM, Huddersfield, £5m >>> Brandon Thomas-Asante, 25, CF, West Brom, £3m >>> Norman Bassette, 19, CF, Caen, £2.5m >>> Luis Binks, 22, CB, Bologna, £2m >>> Oliver Dovin, 22, GK, Hammarby, £2m >>> Raphael Borges Rodrigues, 20, LW, Macarthur (Oz), Undisclosed

Winter Outs >>> Fabio Tavares, 24, CF, Burton, Loan

Where is the team weak?

Despite a recent run of clean sheets, I still worry about our defence. Frank Lampard has wanted to play a high line and we don’t have a set of centre-backs that are blessed with pace or the nous to defend space. Teams are able to get in behind us pretty easily. That defensive concern has been eased of late by the form of Oliver Dovin in goal – once of Marti Cifuentes’ Hammarby – who has come back into the team after an underwhelming stint earlier in the season and looked a more confident presence capable of bailing the team out when they make mistakes.

Player of the year candidates?

Just about every one of our player of the year candidates has had a long spell out of the team either through injury or being unfavoured so it may end up being a difficult end of season vote. Haji Wright has probably been our most reliable performer, the kind of player who can look incredibly ungainly and constantly offside but commits opponents and has a relentlessness to keep trying until things come off for him. Him likely being injured for this game is a boost for Queens Park Rangers. Oliver Dovin is increasingly looking like a player of the year candidate but there’s a part of me that doesn’t want to speak too soon because it’s been a long old time since Coventry City have had a good goalkeeper. Ephron Mason-Clark had a great spell over December as someone who could ghost into scoring positions off the left wing but had been pretty frustrating before and has since been injured. Milan van Ewijk has been the one ever-present of quality but has rarely been decisive in the ways the other players mentioned have been.

How do you see your season finishing?

This is obviously a huge fixture in shaping that end of season impression. A win really sets us among the play-off contenders and with the prospect of Haji Wright, Ephron Mason-Clark, Ben Sheaf and Matt Grimes coming into the team, Coventry City will suddenly be in a very strong position. However, my overriding feeling is that this looks to be a mid-table season ahead of rebuild over the summer to allow Lampard to re-shape the squad and funded by selling the likes of Haji Wright and Milan van Ewijk to the bigger clubs sniffing around them.

Links >>> Coventry City — Official Website >>> Coventry Telegraph — Local Press >>> Sky Blues Talk — Forum >>> Sky Blues Blog — Blog >>> Sideways Sammy — Blog >>> The Lonely Season — Blog >>> Sky Blues TV - Classic Match Highlights >>> Access All Areas — Podcast

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Pictures - Reuters Connect

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