Coventry City produced an exceptional comeback to ease the pressure on Mark Robins after coming from two goals behind heading into the hour mark to beat Luton Town 3-2 in the Saturday lunchtime kick-off and they are The Deck’s Championship Team of the Week.
It was just Coventry City’s third league win from the opening 12 matches. They take the accolade from Norwich City, who dismantled Hull two weeks ago and highlighted their immense ability in forward areas.
Coventry City to Re-Launch Championship Campaign?
Robins has led the club to promotion from both League One and Two in addition to bringing the Sky Blues to within touching distance of the Premier League in 2023. However, despite a heavy outlay in the summer transfer window, they started the season off in poor form and would be in the bottom three had they not beaten Luton Town.
Coventry City have one of the best squads in the second tier and should be targeting a place in the Premier League but they are underperforming with the fourth-worst attacking xG differential in the division. Only Luton have a worst differential on the defensive side of this metric in the Championship.
The issue is not creating chances, rather it is the forwards not taking their chances when presented to them. Ellis Simms and Haji Wright are arguably the most talented and effective strike partnership in the Championship but they have a combined xG differential of almost minus three in league outings.
Simms has scored just two goals and Wright is under much of the pressure to create and convert chances. Jack Rudoni was a big-money arrival from Huddersfield Town and he is the creative force in this side, averaging 2.3 key passes per game but it means little if the chances aren’t being taken.
Bobby Thomas in defence and new signing Oliver Dovin in goal have struggled at times but it does appear as if the manager has the tools at his disposal to have this talented side much higher up the table than 18th place. There has been regular changes in formation and some players being played out of position and it appears the manager has struggled to find his best eleven.
Robins has done fantastic work in this club but football is a results business and with just three home victories to show from the first 12 matches, it is beginning to look like a change in manager might be the best option.
However, the 54-year-old is confident of turning it around but he surely must bring this Coventry City to within the play-off conversation at the very least before Christmas if he is to remain in the job. According to the Coventry Telegraph before the Luton fixture, he said:
“Things will turn around, there is no doubt that things will turn around and the players will look back and hopefully have this as a learning experience for the future. We have all been in football a long time and you get periods like this where you start to feel things might go against you, or have gone against you; not performing to a level we expect or want but, again, there are things mitigating those results that are generally out of our control.
“In our control, we have got to do better on the defensive side of things because we have conceded too many goals so far and we have got to try to stop that whilst continuing to create chances and growing into that and taking the chances at the other end, and maintain the belief that they have got and build on that because it’s a fine line between success and relative failure.
Upcoming Fixtures and Future Prospects
In what could prove to be make or break for Robins, Coventry City face three matches in seven days before the November international break. They start with a trip to Middlesbrough and it may be the right time to play them as they have picked up just one win in four, conceding seven goals.
They had conceded just five in the opening eight Championship outings but are currently out-of-form and have failed to beat Coventry City in the last six meetings. The Sky Blues host Derby County before travelling to league leaders Sunderland and it may be a case that the manager will need at least four points and promising performances to remain in charge heading into December.