SKIPPER’S SET FOR BATTLE DOYLE
STAR IS FOCUSED ON SKY BLUES RECALL AS HE FIGHTS FOR CHANCE TO REGAIN PLACE IN ROBINS’ TEAM
COVENTRY City captain Michael Doyle insists he’s fit and focused for when manager Mark Robins calls on him again.
The Sky Blues skipper has not started for six games, having been injured for two, but says he has no complaints and will fight for his place like every other player in the squad.
It’s unfamiliar territory for the 37-year-old who has been the mainstay of every team he’s been at over the last eight or nine years.
“It happens in football,” he said philosophically.
The midfielder was first dropped to the bench at Walsall but after back-toback defeats Robins admitted the team had missed him and was ready to put him back in against Shrewsbury, only for Doyle to pick up an injury in training.
Asked if it has been a difficult period for him personally, he said: “I think it’s more difficult when you’re injured because there’s nothing you can do apart from hoping that your body heals quickly.
“The football side of it, you just have to get your head down, support the lads, be ready and push them in training.
“The most important thing is the team and getting results and they are doing that at the moment so I can’t have any reason to complain.”
As for the injury, he said: “I had a medial knee ligament injury just before the Shrewsbury game and it was disappointing because it looked like I was coming back in.
“I just slid in trying to nick a ball in training and my body weight put strain on my knee, similar to last season.
“It was disappointing, especially doing it in training because I’ve never been injured in training before, but that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”
Confident he’s back to full fitness, Doyle insists he’s showing no signs of slowing down.
“You judge yourself against other people, especially when we do the running after games and you are getting up around the front,” said the supremely fit veteran, who is desperate to get going again.
“So yeah, I champing to play. The one thing I am really conscious of is just being ready if an opportunity comes.
“You make sure you look after yourself and there’s no excuses if you get a chance if someone breaks down or whatever, you make sure you go in and grab the chance because it’s not through a lack of fitness or focus that you let it go.
He added: “I’m the same as everyone else, you just have to fight for your place.”
Setting the right example as skipper is clearly essential, says Doyle.
“Listen, obviously I want to play but it’s important the way you conduct and hold yourself,” said the captain, who sat through almost three hours of signing autographs and having his picture taken with the rest of the squad at this week’s Junior Sky Blues Christmas party at the Ricoh Arena, conscious of how important it is to give over time to young supporters.
“It’s all about being professional and you can’t show your disappointment to the lads.
“You have to push them and encourage them. They have got a lot of momentum so you just keep backing it.”
He added: “Things change in football but the most important thing at the minute is that the subs are important and the squad is important.
“Every game is probably not going to go the way the last two have. You might need substitutions to change the game as we saw the other day at Wycombe with Jonno going on and having an impact.
“And that’s what you need to do, have an impact when you go on, whether it is going on when you are losing a game and trying to impact it or going on and trying to win us the game.”
One of the players keeping him out at the minute is Liam Kelly.
And Doyle believes there’s no reason why the 28-year-old won’t keep his place in the side at Scunthorpe United this weekend despite his midweek injury scare.
Kelly suffered a suspected cracked elbow at Wycombe but wasn’t in a cast or sling at the signing session.
“It’s just one of those things but he’ll be fine and he’ll just get on with it because he’s a tough lad,” said Doyle.