Coventry City vs Swindon Town Official Matchday Thread

[kerry red]

I said that was Nouble's best performance for Town, meaning giving away the penalty. In fairness he did have a reasonable amount of running in him so I can see your point.

Its odd, we look dodgy at the back at times, yet we've got the joint third best goals conceded column in the league.

Maybe we'd get punished more against higher quality opposition. I think that is a bit unfair on the defenders though.

That`s down to the majority of opposition teams being to scared to have a proper go.

[blah blah]

One thing that struck me last night was how high our defenders played - not just the wing-backs who were virtually playing as wingers but even Turnbull & Stephens. When we've played 3 at the back in years gone by, I certainly dont remember Taylor/Calderwood etc regularly playing the ball from the half way line and running beyond into the opposition half (Hoddle/Culverhouse may have, but not the "real" centre backs). Yet despite this, Cov never really managed to get in behind us, and I can only recall them getting caught offside once.
Its not a criticism, our current back 3 must be among the most comfortable on the ball of any defenders I can remember, and it shows that even if the opposition cut out the short passes to the midfield, they have the ability to take on the responsibility to get forward and create things. Turnbull has really developed this season, early on he was probably the weak link, last night he was excellent.

[horlock07]

The main concern is the right back area. Fleetwood exploited it well and even Nouble was getting some joy down there. Other than that its looking excellent. The wobbles at the back are a small price to pay for the brand of football we are playing. Sometimes we'll come unstuck but we've always had a self destruct button at the back.

Interestingly the only games I have seen in full this season are Fleetwood (live) and Coventry (on the telly) and the one thing that struck me was that they both followed identical course with regards to the right hand side.

1st half - Byrne is all over them bossing the game and our best attacking outlet.

2nd half - Byrne goes very quiet and all dangerous opposition attacks come down the right (their left).

I would say that they are sussing Byrne at half time but you would have thought teams would get this via scouting? In the second half last night Nouble seems to really get on top of Byrne in the second half.

[Bob's Orange]

I'm amazed N. Thompson doesn't get punished more for his (now trademark) slaloming runs forward!

[Peter Venkman]

The way Nathan runs with the ball it reminds me a lot of Shaun Taylor (but with extra pace) its quite unexpected of a centre back to be able to run with the ball, admittedly with ST he used to put his head down and run but it always got the crowd going.

I do wish Nathan could attack corners like Taylor did though!

[Bob's Orange]

The way Nathan runs with the ball it reminds me a lot of Shaun Taylor (but with extra pace) its quite unexpected of a centre back to be able to run with the ball, admittedly with ST he used to put his head down and run but it always got the crowd going.

I do wish Nathan could attack corners like Taylor did though!

Taylor was some weapon from corners. Brave as a lion that man.

[Bewster]

Interestingly the only games I have seen in full this season are Fleetwood (live) and Coventry (on the telly) and the one thing that struck me was that they both followed identical course with regards to the right hand side.

1st half - Byrne is all over them bossing the game and our best attacking outlet.

2nd half - Byrne goes very quiet and all dangerous opposition attacks come down the right (their left).

I would say that they are sussing Byrne at half time but you would have thought teams would get this via scouting? In the second half last night Nouble seems to really get on top of Byrne in the second half.

I thought this was due to him sitting deeper to counteract Nouble

[LincolnRedExile]

Great showing last night.....even some of the City fans on their Forum are being complimentary! 

[Flashheart]

This thread will do..... Andy Williams wins league one PFA player of the month.

[Peter Venkman]

This thread will do..... Andy Williams wins league one PFA player of the month.

Pleased for him after a difficult few seasons to finally come good.

[Utter Kant]

Very happy that we won this game so comfortably. There are an assortment of Oxford/City/Gillingham fans at uni that would have been ready to dish me up some humble pie had we come unstuck in this one!

[Gnasher]

Well done Williams. Didn't he win it last month too?

[Exiled Bob]

One thing that struck me last night was how high our defenders played - not just the wing-backs who were virtually playing as wingers but even Turnbull & Stephens. When we've played 3 at the back in years gone by, I certainly dont remember Taylor/Calderwood etc regularly playing the ball from the half way line and running beyond into the opposition half (Hoddle/Culverhouse may have, but not the "real" centre backs). Yet despite this, Cov never really managed to get in behind us, and I can only recall them getting caught offside once.
Its not a criticism, our current back 3 must be among the most comfortable on the ball of any defenders I can remember, and it shows that even if the opposition cut out the short passes to the midfield, they have the ability to take on the responsibility to get forward and create things. Turnbull has really developed this season, early on he was probably the weak link, last night he was excellent.

Calderwood certainly did. Scored a few goals too. Going back further - when we played 4 at the back Kenny Stroud used to go forward a lot too, and wasn't a bad dribbler either. And what a shot he had.....

[dalumpimunki]

The way we play, it's inevitable that we're going to be a bit vunerable at the back...but I'd rather live with that, than adopt the sort of safety first formula, that blights too much of the English game.

But we're not vulnerable at the back. We may LOOK that way but the goals conceded and clean sheet stats tell a very different story.

One interesting thing to note is how important Nathan T is to our defensive performance:
- We've had to play 5 games without him this season and have won 1 drawn 3 and lost 1 - a win percentage of 20%
- With him we've played 20, won 14, drawn 3 and lost 3 - a win percentage of 70%

Without him we've shipped an average of 1.6 goals a game and kept clean sheets in 20% of games
With him only 0.8 goals a game and clean sheets in 40% of games

So we concede half as many goals, keep clean sheets twice as often, and are three and a half times more likely to win when the captain is in the side.

Let's hope he can stay fit and suspension free for the last part of the season.

[FormerlyPlymRed]

But we're not vulnerable at the back. We may LOOK that way but the goals conceded and clean sheet stats tell a very different story.

One interesting thing to note is how important Nathan T is to our defensive performance:
- We've had to play 5 games without him this season and have won 1 drawn 3 and lost 1 - a win percentage of 20%
- With him we've played 20, won 14, drawn 3 and lost 3 - a win percentage of 70%

Without him we've shipped an average of 1.6 goals a game and kept clean sheets in 20% of games
With him only 0.8 goals a game and clean sheets in 40% of games

So we concede half as many goals, keep clean sheets twice as often, and are three and a half times more likely to win when the captain is in the side.

Let's hope he can stay fit and suspension free for the last part of the season.

Against what teams has he been unavailable for? We do look much better defensively with him in the side