Coventry City news from CoventryLive as head coach Frank Lampard discusses a response to Saturday’s 4-1 thumping by Portsmouth as the Sky Blues prepare to entertain Plymouth Argyle on Boxing Day
Frank Lampard admits he’s “pondering” making changes to his Coventry City side for Boxing Day’s clash with Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth Argyle.
The festive fixture can’t come quickly enough for some who will be keen to banish all thoughts of Saturday’s dismal 4-1 defeat at Portsmouth and see the Sky Blues get back to a decent performance and winning result.
Lampard was particularly disappointed with his players’ second half display at Fratton Park when, at 2-1 down, they conceded twice in the space of the opening ten minutes to kill the game beyond doubt.
City were particularly poor at the back, with none of the back four or goalkeeper coming out with much credit on the day. Asked if he’s pondering a few selection decisions ahead of Thursday’s match at the CBS Arena, the head coach said: “Yeah, but defending is always a team issue, so you ponder decisions with that in mind. We’ve been in for a short time, so had limited training time. We’ve been trying to see the players in training and it’s been difficult sometimes and we’ve seeing things in games, for good and for bad.
“So I’ll ponder, especially in this busy period when we’ll be looking to use the squad, as most teams will, and the players that come in have to stake their claim.”
Left-back Jay Dasilva and goalkeeper Brad Collins were particularly culpable against Pompey, while Bobby Thomas was replaced by Joel Latibeaudiere in the second half. In terms of central defensive options, Latibeaudiere could find himself restored to the starting line-up while Lampard might be tempted to hand Liam Kitching his first chance since the head coach has taken charge. Elsewhere, Jake Bidwell will be favourite to come in for Dasilva.
Whatever the team that he selects, Lampard will want a reaction from the players.
“I think every performance brings a different response,” he said. “We beat Hull and played really well, and that’s great. Everyone’s happy, but the response then is to go again, so this response is the same and the game will look different against Plymouth.
“We will approach it in the right way, prepare in the right way. We talk about responses but we should have a certain approach in every game that is us, and when games turn on you and become difficult because of conditions or the opposition, you also have to deal with that. So that’s just not a response for Plymouth. That’ll be the way we want to be going forward.”
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