Source: FOOTYMAD
Keogh learning from mistakes
Attacking full back up for the challenge When Richard Keogh joined Coventry City in the summer of 2010 from Carlisle, Boothroyd's fourth signing, few would envisage him being the only player to play in every game of the season, with the exception of the Carling Cup game at Morcambe. When Aidy Boothroyd was appointed as Chis Coleman's successor as City manager, he said he was in favour of attacking from the back, so it came as little surprise that he bought an attacking full back. Keogh initially impressed many of the City support, but then came the mistakes and the the criticism began. He was criticised for going missing and leaving a big hole in defence when he went on an attacking run. He was criticised for allowing wingers with pace to get past him too easily, but instead of letting the criticism get him down, he learnt from his mistakes and is trying to improve himself as a player. Keogh was asked to asses his season so far at Coventry. He said, “To be honest I was pleased with how I played on Saturday. I had a hand in pretty much both goals and I felt like I was involved. You are obviously playing against top players so you have got to be on your toes." “I was a little bit disappointed last week with Taarabt’s goal when I could have done a bit better when he chopped inside me and put it in the top corner but you only get better by playing against top players and you have to learn from it. It is only a mistake if you don’t learn from it and that’s what I want to do." “I am working hard on the training ground with the manager and Steve Harrison to try to improve myself. I am enjoying my football and trying to keep my head down and work hard.” The entire squad was a little depressed after losing to Birmingham after being 2-0 up after half an hour and now they have to prepare for another tough battle with rivals Nottingham Forest tonight. Reflecting on their collapse at St Andrews, Keogh said, “We are really disappointed with the result, especially after the way we played in the first half when I thought we were the much better team.” “We pressed them and our decisions on the ball were good and we looked a real threat as a team. We defended well as a team and the goals we scored were good ones. We knew being a Premier League team that they would come out at us in the second half and maybe we could have dealt with it a bit better, slowed the game down a bit and obviously done a bit better for the goals." “So it is a shame we didn’t get at least a draw after being in a comfortable position. We have to take positives out of it. We played some good football in the first half when we looked strong and got in their faces but we just needed a bit of know-how to slow the game down at crucial times.” Being critical and analysing the defeat at Birmingham, Keogh said, “Bentley is a fantastic player and you don’t go for £15 million if you haven’t got anything about you. He just drifted inside and hit a great strike. Maybe if we had got in his face a bit quicker and closed him down a bit he wouldn’t have done it." "The timing wasn’t great because if we had got to half time at 2-0 it could have been a different game but the goal gave them a bit of momentum.” He continued, “Alexander Hleb got in at the edge of the box and there was a ricochet and he pulled it back and the full-back, Stuart Parnaby, put it in in the end so that was a bit scrappy, and then if you give a player like Kevin Phillips, who is a natural goal scorer, time in the box he’ll punish you." “Obviously every goal is avoidable and we’ll be looking at that to put it right on the training ground and get ready for Forest, but hopefully we can get a positive result against them and that can be the start of our run. "We have got a couple of tough games, what with Leeds away on Saturday, but they are perfect games for us to get back into the league. We hope to get our home form going again against Forest who we have played well against already this season, so there’s nothing to be scared of." “I think the frustrating thing is that we know we are that close to being a really strong team, and that’s why the manager is so frustrated because he knows how good we are. He has been there and done it in this league and he knows how much ability we have got in the dressing room and how much winning mentality we have got to go on and do something good." “It is just a case of cutting out the silly things to make ourselves hard to beat.”
