What Mark Robins said that was most worrying of all about Coventry City’s second rate performance against Swansea

Coventry City left fans scratching their heads after they fell so far short of the standards they’d set in their previous two thrilling encounters.

The Sky Blues gave their supporters huge encouragement after creating a stack of chances in a game they should have won convincingly at Watford before going within minutes of a major upset against Premier League Tottenham in the Carabao Cup.

But back to the bread and butter of the league and Mark Robins’ men fell way short of the required levels as they conceded two poor goals in the opening 32 minutes and were second best all over the pitch in a dreadful first half against Swansea at the CBS Arena. A Jack Rudoni inspired reply, that went in off Ronald to go down as an own goal, got City back in the game before rain stopped play and halted the momentum of a second half fight-back. Here’s a look at some of the big talking points as storm clouds gather over the Sky Blues.

 

Bogey run rumbles on

There’s no rhyme nor reason why historic results should have any bearing whatsoever on the outcome of a latest encounter but, rather annoyingly, Swansea continue to join Preston and Norwich as one of City’s perennial bogey sides.

The Sky Blues haven’t beaten the Swans since 1981, some 43 years ago. Hopes were high that the Sky Blues could follow up hugely encouraging displays against Watford in the league and Tottenham in the Cup and finally secure a win over the South Wales side at the 19th attempt in that time span.

It helps if you turn up, of course, but, sadly, City were left wanting in what has to go down as the worst first half performance of the season so far, and a really worrying drop off in form, certainly from the shoots of recovery shown in the previous two games.

Midfield crisis on horizon

Jamie Allen is set to be scanned after limping off injured after 20-odd minutes, and Mark Robins will be keeping everything crossed that it’s not a worst case scenario of ruptured knee ligaments – a prognosis that would rule the energetic midfielder out for the season.

The midfield alarm bells have already been ringing in recent weeks due to Ben Sheaf’s absence but Allen’s injury, whether it be for a couple of weeks or several months, clearly leaves the squad short in a department that is already looking thin.

Sheaf is back on the bench but still not fully fit. It’s going to take time for the captain to get back up to full match fitness and sharpness, assuming he doesn’t have any more setbacks like he did after his midweek cameo against Spurs.

With just Josh Eccles and Victor Torp as the only two senior midfielders available, defender Joel Latibeaudiere – who knows the position well due to playing it for his country – will be on standby. Jack Rudoni is another who can play deeper than his current number ten role, but that would leave the manager with another problem to solve in terms of who to operate as playmaker.

Either way, the latest injury serves to further highlight just how lacking in strength in depth the squad is in central midfield – a position City tried but failed to add to in the summer.

Most worrying of all

Mark Robins was honest enough to hold his hands up and take the blame for getting his selection wrong. He insisted that his starting line-up’s lacklustre first half wasn’t down to fatigue, tiredness or a lack of energy after Wednesday night’s exertions against Spurs, but there were a few raised eyebrows when the teamsheet came out at two o’clock.

He revealed that he had “procrastinated” long and hard over whether to do what he normally does and make changes to freshen things up here and there or go with the same outfield 11 in the hope that they could replicate the sort of energy and intensity that had caused Premier League Spurs so many problems in midweek.

To be fair to the manager, this season is the first time in his seven year tenure that he’s had virtually two teams within one squad capable of competing at similarly high levels. He made seven changes in the week from last weekend’s excellent display at Watford, and it felt almost like a case of ‘go on then, here’s your chance, go and show what you can do for a second game running,’ for some players who have been desperate to get starts in the league.

Unfortunately, it back-fired spectacularly as far too many lacked energy, conviction and, perhaps most worrying of all, were accused by Robins of playing “without any real thought.”

Haji gets the hook

A really worrying development is the revelation that Robins claims there was a lack of commitment from one or two individuals in his team.

Although reluctant to name names and “embarrass” players at his stage, the fact that he gave Haji Wright the hook at half-time suggests something was not quite right with the USA international.

It’s a situation that needs to be nipped in the bud pretty quickly, particularly if it concerns one of last season’s star players and major goal scorers.

Worrying form but something to hang onto

City’s Championship form continues to be pretty miserable, and a bit of a hangover from last season. Looking at the last six league games from 2023/24 and the first half a dozen of 2024/25, the Sky Blues have won just one game in the division – last month’s stoppage time victory over Oxford United – while losing nine and drawing two. Last season’s tail off to the campaign was put down to the team’s FA Cup exploits.

This season’s poor start, however, is slightly concerning, particularly losing back-to-back home games against Norwich and Swansea. The good news, however, and what we must all hang onto, is the fact that while the team’s performance fell off a cliff against the Swans, they were really impressive against Watford and Spurs, putting in displays that had most fans coming away convinced that they are going to give someone a really good hiding soon. Even against Swansea, City created 20 attempts on goal, seven of which were on target, 11 off (including Norman Bassette’s header onto the crossbar) and two were blocked. While that may sound like scant consolation, at least it’s something to hang onto.

The lads in the PA booth showed that they have a sense of humour when they played ‘Why Does It Always Rain On Me’ by Travis in the second half interlude due to torrential rain and lightning above the stadium.

The footballing gods couldn’t have picked a worse time to interrupt proceedings, given that the Sky Blues had launched their fightback with a sustained spell of pressure in Swansea’s final third, only for the pause in play when the players were hauled off for ‘safety’ reasons to kill City’s momentum. It also gave opposition manager Luke Williams time to talk tactics and regroup his players for the remaining 20-odd minutes when the two sides returned to the pitch to resume hostilities.

Mark Robins also showed his sharp wit when he quipped: “I was hoping for an abandonment, to be fair, the way we played. It did interrupt the flow and allowed them to speak and gave us the chance to gather ourselves and our thoughts, and get a bit of calmness in because we were never calm. The ball was never under control, it was always a fight ball.”