IT’S MAKE OR BREAK TIME!
MARCH SET TO BE A CRUCIAL MONTH FOR SKY BLUES’ SURVIVAL HOPES
COVENTRY City slipped to their fifth Championship defeat at St Andrew’s on a night when the team’s ability in both boxes came under scrutiny once again.
As well as conceding two dreadful goals to Middlesbrough, the Sky Blues failed to register a single shot or attempt on target in the entire 90 minutes despite some enterprising approach play.
It’s fair to say that they’re missing talismanic striker Matty Godden whose return can’t come quick enough with just 12 games of the season left for Mark Robins’ men to secure their safety in the second tier.
Here are some of the big talking points from the Sky Blues’ 2-1 defeat at the hands of Neil Warnock’s Boro team.
Taking liberties
City might have got a bit of fortune with what was the third own goal in their favour so far this season, but it certainly looked like Max Biamou would have scored had the ball not come off the unfortunate Anfernee Dijksteel first.
It was no more than the Sky Blues deserved after a bright and positive start to a game spoiled by more rank bad defending.
Mark Robins gave credit to Boro’s set-piece quality from the ‘on-themoney’ delivery of Paddy Mcnair to the powerful header from centre-half Grant Hall, with both his marker Sam Mccallum and goalkeeper Ben Wilson arguably at fault for not doing more to deal with the situation. It was another case of a big centre-back taking liberties in the box, following on from Swansea’s Ben Cabango, with both balls going into the goalkeeper’s domain – the six-yard area.
Keeper debate rages on
While not solely culpable for the setpiece goals against the Swans and Middlesbrough, Wilson has come under the spotlight again as fans continue to debate who is the better of
City’s two keepers. When both were back fit and available, the general consensus appeared to be that Wilson had done well while Marko Marosi had been out injured and deserved to continue his run in the side until nature intervened when he tested positive for Covid-19, opening the door for his friendly rival.
Others had felt that Marosi is No.1 for a reason and should play anyway. But the 26-year-old was dropped after the 3-1 defeat at Cardiff and Wilson restored on his return from a period of self isolation.
Going into Saturday’s game against Derby County, only Mark Robins will know if it’s time for Marosi to return.
Back to the drawing board
Set-pieces are a clear and obvious goal threat in any game.
Most managers make use of their bigger centre-forwards when defending free-kicks and corners because of their obvious aerial ability.
Interestingly, however, against Boro, City’s big striker Biamou was positioned on the halfway line as an outlet for a possible counter attack.
But surely a less effective presence in the box like Callum O’hare would have been better suited to that role and Biamou better deployed as a makeshift defender.
Rose returns
As expected, Michael Rose returned to the starting line-up to replace the suspended Leo Ostigard in City’s back three. The 25-year-old was making only his 12th Championship appearance of the season after horrendous luck with injuries, while more latterly being kept out of the team by his Norwegian loan rival who was sent off at Blackburn Rovers at the weekend – his two yellow cards resulting in a one-match ban.
Overall Rose played very well, with an air of determination about him to bounce back to form after the disappointment of getting the hook at half-time against Norwich City last month and finding himself out of the team for three games. He was strong and decisive in the tackle, and made a crucial block to deny Kebano in the first half. Sadly, however, the Scot couldn’t keep up his impressive defending for the full 90 minutes, allowing Jonny Howson to give him the slip in the lead up to the winning goal three minutes from time.
Make or break time
It goes without saying that a win would have provided a huge three points that would have significantly eased the pressure on the Sky Blues going into a run of perceived ‘easier’ or more winnable fixtures against those teams around and below them. Even a point wouldn’t have been a bad return in the circumstances, but to come away with nothing to show for their efforts puts Mark Robins’ men in a difficult position going into the weekend’s return fixture against Midland rivals Derby County which will have an almost ‘must win’ feel about it. It’s not a must-win game, of course, certainly not at this stage of proceedings because if City lose their fate won’t be decided on that result, with 11 more matches to make themselves safe after the weekend.
But it’s certainly not a nice place to be in psychologically, with the manager admitting Saturday’s clash with Wayne Rooney’s Rams is “huge.”
With Rotherham, Luton, Wycombe and QPR to follow shortly afterwards, March could well prove to be a make or break month.