Source: FOOTYMAD
Coventry will play to their strengths
Coleman out to frustrate the Baggies With Coventry City an outside bet to reach the play off, City boss Chris Coleman knows his team will have to earn at least another 18 points from their last eight games to be in with a chance of a top six finish. With games against West Bromwich Albion, Middlesbrough and current in form team of the Championship Reading among them, it will not be easy to reach the 18 point target. So Coleman will ask his team to play to their strengths in tonights game against West Brom. Mr Coleman has hinted he may opt to play a 4-5-1 to frustrate the free scoring Baggies. A similar tactic earned Coventry a 0-0 draw at Swansea earlier in the season, it also earned Coleman accusations of negativity, but he was ready to defend his ideas when he said, “We will play to our strengths, what is best for us on the night. I’m not interested in whether people like that style or not." “There has been a lot said about Liverpool and Blackburn and what Rafa Benitez said about Sam Allardyce, which I thought was very disrespectful. What is wrong with playing a formation or to tactics that’s going to get your team a result? Why would you go out and play into the hands of the opposition, playing nice, pretty football? Because the opposition who do it every week and have a stronger squad of players are going to win, end of story." “Football is a sport and about going up against an opposition and asking them questions and making them feel uncomfortable, especially against a better team and West Brom are one of the better teams in our league. So we are not going to go there and let them have it all their own way. Well that’s the plan anyway. I had a plan on Sunday and half of it came true. With this philosophy in mind, Coleman takes his side to The Hawthorns tonight in the knowledge that West Brom have scored in their all of last 22 games and he is intent on his side being the first to keep a clean sheet, which is why he might be tempted into using the 4-5-1 formation. Coleman defended the use of the tactic adding, “I wouldn’t say we want to kill the game. At Swansea they had a lot of possession and we were excellent without the ball. We know West Brom will have a lot of the ball but we can still pass it and ask questions offensively, and I want to see us getting forward and creating chances otherwise we are not going to win the game, but it doesn’t mean when we haven’t got the ball we have to be open, and that’s the difference.” Coleman will demand his team start playing from the first minute of the first half and not like they started the game against Leicester last Sunday when they didn't get int the game until just before half time. Coleman continued, “I have told them they were different class in the second half at Leicester but for them to remember that feeling at half time and how poor we were in the first half, and how hard we had to work to get it back,” “So let’s get in at half time at West Brom feeling like we have given ourselves a better chance to go and get a result, because you can’t always climb mountains. Sometimes you can get away with it but not always and we don’t want to be in that position again.” Cardiff have recovered from their dip in form and have opened up a 7 point gap after Coventry had closed it to just three points prior to the meeting of the two sides earlier this month Talking about the points gap between Coventry and the sixth placed Cardiff, Coleman said, “It is dependent on how they finish the season and it’s still a possibility because there are enough games to make that back up, albeit will be very difficult., but you never know and what we don’t want is for us to fall away at this stage and then in four or five games not be in a position to go and step into someone’s shoes. You never know because I think there will be twists and turns yet. “So we have to make sure that if something happens above us we are ready to take the reins up because if we take our foot off the gas we could end up being very disappointed. Even if we can’t get in the top six, we have got to finish as high as we can because it stands us in good stead for next season.”
