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“Super Frankie Lampard.” One only had to listen to the chant by Coventry’s away supporters saluting their new-ish manager on Saturday after the Sky Blues’ fourth-straight league victory – an utterly dominant 2-0 away win at Swansea – to see the transformational effect the Englishman has had in his 14 games in charge of the Championship club.
Coventry were just above the relegation zone when Mark Robins was sacked in November. Despite City’s poor start to the season, there were doubts among supporters (and even the odd journalist) at the appointment of Lampard and the sacking of Robins, who had previously been approaching legendary status (and later given an honorary doctorate by Coventry University for his impact on the club and the city).
The club statement announcing Robins’s sacking even acknowledged he was “one of the Coventry’s greatest ever managers” after a seven-year reign in which he had “overseen the resurrection from the depths of League Two, to champions of League One and to a hair’s breadth away from both the Premier League and a second FA Cup final, while competing in the Championship for a fifth consecutive season”.
Perhaps replacing Robins at Coventry is not the seismic task that David Moyes faced in replacing Sir Alex Ferguson, or Unai Emery did in replacing Arsène Wenger, but Lampard accepting a job at a relegation-threatened club against the backdrop of supporter fury and bemusement is not the ideal set of circumstances. Especially for a manager who – perhaps unfairly – was seen to be approaching the last-chance saloon after 18 months out of the game.
Yet after a surge up the table under Lampard, Coventry are now three points from the playoff places. It is fair to say those who doubted the decision to appoint the former England midfielder are eating humble pie.
How has Lampard had such a dramatic impact? “The biggest difference is we are not conceding as many goals as we did,” says Steve Ogrizovic, the former Coventry goalkeeper who now is a regular at the CBS Arena for BBC Sport Coventry & Warwickshire. “It’s not rocket science. I was very surprised when the decision was made but Frank is a role model, someone that the players can aspire to. He certainly has the respect of everybody and has got them playing really well at the moment.”
Central to the resurgence under Lampard has been the form of the summer signing Jack Rudoni, who has featured in all 30 of Coventry’s league games this season. After two excellent seasons for Huddersfield, the London-born midfielder with an American grandfather was contacted by the USA last year before the Olympics only for passport issues to scupper any involvement at Paris 2024. If that proved to be a disappointment for Rudoni then the 23-year-old’s £4m summer move to Coventry has since seen him become one of the best creators in the Championship – only Tom Fellows at West Brom and Finn Azaz at Middlesbrough have more assists.
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Scott Parker admitted confidence could be an issue for Burnley’s attacking players after they needed an own goal from Michal Helik to edge out Oxford 1-0 and move into the top two of the Championship.
After failing to register a shot on target in last week’s goalless draw at home to Leeds, the last of three consecutive 0-0 draws at Turf Moor and one that was followed by another stalemate at Portsmouth at the weekend, Burnley looked much more threatening with 15 efforts on goal, seven on target.
“Maybe it’s a psychological element a little bit because of the general noise around it, human nature is sometimes maybe that noise gravitates a bit and snowballs, that maybe could be the case,” Parker said.
“We missed some good chances, that’s clear. I’m more pleased we had those big chances, in the right positions, that conviction about us, not hiding, putting yourself on offer to miss that chance is key for me as a coach. We did that, and we didn’t execute.”
Meanwhile, Marti Cifuentes has urged Queen’s Park Rangers to keep pushing for the play-offs after they arrested their recent slide with a 2-1 win over Blackburn.
“I’m very pleased, not only about the win but because it was important to come back after two defeats in a row,” said the head coach. “It was important for us emotionally to come back and get a good win at home against a good team. The players need to keep pushing because nothing is decided.”
“Rudoni has been good all season, but strikers Ellis Simms and Brandon Thomas-Asante have also started to score goals,” says Ogrizovic.
“Oliver Dovin in goal has been playing a lot better. But it’s been a team performance. You have to bear in mind that all this has happened without [the sidelined] Ben Sheaf and Haji Wright, two of their best players. And you can add Ephron Mason-Clark to that, he was bang in form when he got injured.”
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Coventry have been boosted by the astute January purchase of Matt Grimes from Swansea for around £4m. Even with the form of Rudoni and Victor Torp – the latter scoring a match-winning double last month against Watford – the Sky Blues had looked particularly light in midfield, particularly with the injury to the captain Sheaf, who has not featured since the turn of the year.
However, Lampard now must decide how to fit the trio (Rudoni, Torp and Grimes) into his starting XI for the visit of Championship leaders Leeds on Wednesday. With Lampard at the helm, it is not a surprise that Coventry’s midfield is now one of the most productive and confident in the division.
“We’ve made an inspired signing in Matt Grimes but there’s still a long way to go,” says Ogrizovic. “Everyone knows what the Championship is like. But Coventry are in an incredibly good position now to make a charge for the playoffs.”
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