Coventry City’s expected lineup vs Huddersfield: Weaknesses in defense and a confusing midfield
Check out CoventryLive’s prediction for Coventry City’s lineup vs Huddersfield as we examine Mark Robins’ available alternatives.
Coventry City will be seeking their first victory in six arduous Championship games on Monday night when they return to their home ground. The eleven summer additions to the Sky Blues’ roster are still getting used to the league while the team as a whole adjusts to life without midfielder Gustavo Hamer.
To date, Mark Robins’ team has only succeeded once in seven attempts, defeating bottom-of-the-table Middlesbrough 3-0 at CBS Arena. The following team is Huddersfield Town, who will be led by new manager Darren Moore after parting ways with veteran manager Neil Warnock this week.
The Terriers sit a point and place above Coventry in 16th spot and head to the West Midlands unbeaten in their last three, having beaten West Brom away, taken three points off Rotherham at home and, most recently, earned a point in a 2-2 draw with Stoke on Wednesday night. City’s main early season deficiencies lie at the back and in midfield, with the team having shipped far too many poor goals and not being able to penetrate opponents as freely as they did with the dynamic Hamer in the side – a situation made worse by the absence of Ben Sheaf for the next six weeks due to injury.
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So what’s the solution? Well, starting at the back, Robins needs to find the right combination. The back three appeared settled at the start of the season when Bobby Thomas and Joel Latibeaudiere were deployed either side of Kyle McFadzean. However, an off day against Watford resulted in Thomas taking a rest and Luis Binks being handed his chance to impress, which he promptly took against Hull.
But more goals going in at Cardiff saw deadline day signing Liam Kitching thrown into the mix for his debut as Robins looked for leadership from the former Barnsley skipper. It’s anyone’s guess who will get the nod against Huddersfield as Robins now has five centre-halves vying for three available
places.
McFadzean has been the constant among them, the elder statesman of the side seen as the hard as nails glue that hold things together, albeit lucky to have stayed on the pitch on Tuesday night following an almost ‘last man’ foul that earned him a yellow card rather than a red thanks to Kitching covering in behind at the last second. So, assuming Fadz continues as the first name on the teamsheet, it’s then a toss up between Thomas and Latibeaudiere for the right-sided berth and Binks and Kitching for the left-hand slot.
Milan van Ewijk has quickly established himself as first choice in the right wing-back position but limped off in the 53rd minute at Cardiff last time out with a thigh injury, which has now been confirmed as a torn quad muscle which rules him out for the foreseeable future. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto replaced him on Tuesday night and proved tricky and effective going forward but the Japanese international clearly needs to work on the defensive side of the position, as shown by the Bluebirds’ second goal.
Jay Dasilva is currently first pick on the left as Jake Bidwell continues to provide back-up, but now that Van Ewijk is ruled out there may be a case for switching Dasilva to the right and handing Bidwell his first league start of the campaign.
Another problem area is the middle of the park where Liam Kelly has been filling in for the injured Sheaf alongside Josh Eccles. Robins’ options, however, are limited. Jamie Allen made a welcome return to the side as a second half substitute on Tuesday night but is clearly not yet ready to play 90 minutes following his summer heart scare. Latibeaudiere plays as a holding midfielder for Jamaica but the manager has previously ruled out using him in that role for his club, although he might have a change of heart given the current circumstances.
