Source: FOOTYMAD
Clingan looks to Leicester clash
Skipper praises youth players As Coventry City prepare for their 12:30 kick off in their opening game of the new season against near neighbours and rivals Leicester City, club captain Sammy Clingan has spoken about his side's preparation and of the forthcoming game. Speaking about the 3-0 home defeat to Premier League new boys Norwich City in the last pre-season friendly match last weekend, Clingan insisted, “It was a good work-out against a team who have added some good quality players to what was already a very good side." “We needed that. It was a big ask against a squad with that strength in depth but our younger players stepped up well and now they need to take positives from the game.” During the pre-season campaign, manager Andy Thorn played some of his Academy youngsters and some of them were very impressive. One of them, the teenager Gael Bigirimana was given his debut and played the entire game alongside his captain and he duly impressed. Clingan said of Bigirimana, “He’s young and still learning but he’s technically very good, and he’s got a lot of confidence. He’s happy to get hold of the ball with defenders around him." “That’s the style we want, to get the ball down and play it like we did at the end of last season, and if we do that I’m sure we will continue to develop as a team.” Looking ahead to the first game of the new season against the promotion tipped Leicester City, Clingan said, “When the fixture list came out we looked at it straightaway and saw there were a couple of tasty ones to start with." “I think Leicester will be pushing for promotion this season but we always have tight games against them.I think we’ve drawn the last few so we want to go one better this season.”
