- 7 hours ago
It's been a crazy few years for Coventry, but Frank Lampard has them top of the Championship and flying. Adam Clery looks at what they're doing to see if they're destined for a return to the Premier League.
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00:00Right, hello everybody, welcome to the Adam Gleary Football Channel, and today we have a members video for you about
00:06none other than Coventry City.
00:09And that means this was an idea that has come from and been voted for our channel members, but I'll
00:14tell you more about that in a little bit.
00:16Right, just take a look at this.
00:19If I said to you, the team in pink here are the league leaders, probably the division's most comfortable team
00:24in possession, full of technical, intelligent players.
00:27And this is the start of a move that leads to a goal.
00:32How many passes, how many touches do you think there are between here and ending up in the back of
00:39the net?
00:3910 maybe, if they're good, 20 if they're Fanny on somewhere.
00:43It's actually only 2, right? The fullback gets so aggressively on his bike, they find him over the top.
00:49He knocks it clean across the face of goal for a tap-in.
00:53Coventry City are not f***ing about.
00:59So yes, hello, welcome to another members video.
01:02We asked every single one of you what videos you would like to see.
01:06We picked out the four that looked like the most fun.
01:08Then we put it to our members to decide which one we actually made.
01:12And to my genuine shock, Man United, Nick Vultemada and long throws lost out to Frank Lampard's Coventry City.
01:20So you know something's actually happening here.
01:23So today we are going to look at this team, who they are, what they do and how they are
01:27currently dominating the championship in a way we haven't actually seen for quite a while.
01:32They are genuinely breaking long-standing points and goals records.
01:36So it's a lot more than them just being the best team in the division.
01:40So yes, this by and large has been Coventry City this season.
01:45Frank Lampard has favoured a 4-2-3-1, although he has briefly flirted this season and last with a
01:51back three.
01:52But pretty much, this is the side you expect to see.
01:55And we're going to show you the system and the players in detail in a second.
01:59But first, I just want you to understand the scale of how good they've been.
02:03We're recording this right before they play Stoke, so it may change a bit.
02:06But regardless, they are currently top for goals by a mile, top for shots by a mile.
02:12Their conversion rate is the best in the division.
02:14Their average shot distance is the lowest in the division.
02:18And they have both the best and most over-performed XG by some distance.
02:23Now those last three stats?
02:26Yeah, three are the most important.
02:28Because the shot distance being low and the XG being high says that yes, they are creating a lot of
02:33chances.
02:34But those chances specifically have a better chance of being a goal than the ones other teams are creating.
02:40And I know I probably don't have to explain those two stats.
02:43But XG, if you're asked about XG, measures the supposed statistical quality of the chances you're making.
02:49Which can say that you're making good ones.
02:52But the average shot distance is just common sense.
02:54Like if I gave you 100 chances to score a goal from like 19 yards, or 100 chances to score
03:00a goal from like 16 yards,
03:02where do you think you would score the most goals from?
03:04So obviously doing well with both of those numbers tends to be a good underlying indicator that you're actually bloody
03:12terrifying.
03:13Defensively as well, they've been really good.
03:15Like even after what happened at Wrexham, which may or may not be the reason.
03:19This video is slightly late because might have gone and recorded something in which I used the word undefeated several
03:28times.
03:29Oh well, they've still been really good.
03:31They're giving other teams the lowest quality chances in the league.
03:34They've let in five in the last three, which is a big drop off from their early season numbers.
03:38So yes, teams do make chances against them.
03:41But these chances, if you use those same metrics, have a worse chance of being scored than pretty much everybody
03:47else.
03:48So it looks more like a statistical blip rather than a worrying trend.
03:52Now, normally in these videos, this is where we would go to the Subutio table,
03:56and I would show you some easily definable tactical masterstroke that nobody's ever thought of before,
04:03and nobody in the division can currently live with.
04:06Like when I've done teams in the championship before, we had things like Southampton having these massive gaps between players
04:12so they can pass up the pitch in as few moves as possible.
04:14Or Kieran McKenna's Ipswich using like a reverse inverted fullback,
04:18where the six actually goes and stands out wide to ping passes without getting pressured.
04:22But having been through Frank Lampard's Coventry City this season and last, that is not who they are.
04:30They do not have some really definable tactical identity that's going to impress a load of people.
04:36They are instead really adaptable and pragmatic.
04:40And the reason I opened the video with this goal is because it's basically the most direct football you can
04:46imagine.
04:47Long ball from the back, over the top, in behind, crossed in, scored very easily.
04:52Sean Dyche will have that Nottingham Forest team training on Christmas Day,
04:57trying to get them to do things like this.
04:59But Coventry also have it in them to play through you really methodically.
05:04A lot of which is down to Matt Grimes.
05:07And I think he is maybe the most important player.
05:10Like he sets the tempo of the entire team.
05:12He shows for the ball everywhere on the pitch.
05:15And if you look at his passing numbers this season, they are insanely consistent.
05:19Like the number of them, the accuracy of them,
05:22and what you really want, the progressive and forward passes,
05:25as well as those into the final third.
05:28Like these are the numbers of a beating heart of a football team.
05:31He's averaging 89 touches of the ball every single game.
05:36He's got a really decent defensive contribution in him as well.
05:40And most importantly, he's an excellent ball carrier.
05:44He is, to quote absolutely anybody on TikTok,
05:47a cheat code at this level.
05:49He's a really technical, patient, physical midfield playmaker.
05:53But he also posts running numbers comparable with most wingers in the same division.
05:58Think of it this way, right?
05:59If you want to have an everything system, you need to have an everything player.
06:05And I'm going to show you what a nightmare that is to play against.
06:08Here he is on the ball, and you can see the opposition are set up
06:11to close the passing lanes in front of him,
06:14to stop him playing that ball forward,
06:16which should, by extension, force him sideways or backwards.
06:20But what he does in those situations is he looks at it and he goes,
06:24oh, all right then, it's fine,
06:26and just runs into the space they have left by trying to stop the pass.
06:30Having a player who does this in central midfield
06:32basically tells you we go forward all the time.
06:36It does not matter how we go forward as a team,
06:39we just go forward.
06:41And you can see that in this optograph over team styles.
06:44Like, Coventry are miles ahead
06:46in terms of how quickly they move the ball upfield,
06:49but also right in the average for the total number of passes.
06:54Now, just to give you an important bit of context here,
06:56what it usually means when these graphs say a team moves the ball forward that quickly
07:01is that they are, in actual fact, a long ball team.
07:05They're able to move it forward that quickly
07:07because it's spending most of its time
07:09travelling unmolested through the air.
07:12But again, Coventry are a total mix of styles.
07:15On the deck, in the air, it does not matter.
07:17The mindset is purely to get it up the field.
07:20Like, simultaneously, they have the highest percentage
07:23of long goal kicks in the league,
07:25which means they've got no interest in messing about with it at the back,
07:28but also the second highest number of carries into the penalty area.
07:33And that might not sound mad on the face of it,
07:36but normally, if you want to lump it forward from the back,
07:39you also want to lump it into the box every chance you get.
07:43But when Coventry have it in the final third,
07:44they're actually looking for a killer pass that'll open you up
07:47or for one of the wide players to beat a man individually.
07:51And I really, honestly, cannot stress this enough.
07:53Like, Coventry City do not have one of these
07:56out-of-the-box tactical identities.
07:58Frank Lampard just wants them to get the ball up the pitch
08:01in whichever way they see fit.
08:04And what he deserves a lot of credit for
08:06is creating a mentality at a club
08:08where players aren't afraid to just try stuff.
08:12Maddest example I could find,
08:13and please forgive the championship camera angles, right?
08:16Loose ball coming through here,
08:17and Thomas is going to clean it up.
08:20Now, he can, and arguably should, take a touch here.
08:23Common sense would say, get this ball under control,
08:25maybe go back to the goalkeeper,
08:27see if he can invite the opposition on,
08:29and then try and go through them.
08:30But actually, and they're just out of shot,
08:32so you can't see them,
08:33but there's two players right in front of him here
08:35who, if he and they are quick,
08:38can get turned and get a pretty decent little counterattack going.
08:41But what does he actually do?
08:45Well, great question.
08:46Glad you asked.
08:46He just smashes it upfield
08:48because Hadji Wright has the defender isolated.
08:51He gets in, he rounds the keeper,
08:53and it's only the angle that keeps this ball out.
08:56And again, you would think, looking at a clip like that,
08:59oh, well, they're obviously just a long ball team,
09:01which is hitting Hope up the other end of the pitch.
09:03But no, actually.
09:05They are the 15th and 16th lowest team in the championship
09:09for long balls both attempted and completed.
09:13They are the everything team,
09:15and everything will sometimes mean
09:17going long over the top to a marauding fullback,
09:20or going long blind into a forward
09:23who can potentially make something happen for you.
09:25Sometimes it means nice, fluid passes.
09:27Sometimes it means killer balls into the box.
09:30Sometimes it means beating a man one-on-one.
09:32It does not matter.
09:33They just want it to go forward.
09:36And this sort of, like, level of pragmatism,
09:39which is ultimately, like, what it is,
09:40applies to their off-the-ball work as well.
09:43There may be the most surgically specific high presses
09:46I've seen in a fair old while.
09:48Like, passes per defensive action
09:50is usually how you measure how aggressive a team is
09:54when they haven't got possession.
09:55How much will they let you do
09:57before they go and, like, into you?
10:01And you'll note, Coventry are nothing special here.
10:05They're right around the league average,
10:06while Millwall, for example, are top.
10:09They're charging all over.
10:10But if you just reorganize that graph, right,
10:13and instead of sorting it by just
10:14how generally aggressive a team are,
10:16you go and look at, like, specifically
10:18how many times have they actually won the ball back
10:20in the final third,
10:22and Coventry jump right from the middle of the pack
10:25all the way into the top three.
10:27And that is because, like absolutely everything else,
10:30a high press is not their identity.
10:33It is just something they are capable of doing
10:35when the situation calls for it.
10:37Two examples here from the Sheffield Wednesday game
10:40where, despite their respective positions in the league,
10:42Coventry do not dominate the ball.
10:45Possession in this is literally 50-50.
10:47They were struggling to play through the congested centre
10:49that Wednesday had made with their back five,
10:52so they go,
10:52all right, okay, we can't play through you.
10:54We'll press you high instead.
10:56The second goal arrives from them,
10:58pinching the ball here,
10:59and then flooding the box with attacking numbers.
11:02And minutes later,
11:03there is another chance where they pinch it back
11:05and somehow managed to get a 5v5 in the box
11:09despite being 4v8 in the final third
11:13at the start of the move.
11:14Like, honestly, just look at this as a still image
11:18and then look at this.
11:19You would never, ever think they came
11:21from the same move in the game.
11:23You'd think they were miles apart.
11:25Now, obviously, the championship is a very, very, very long season,
11:27so there is some distance still to go,
11:29but already, like, 14 games in,
11:32they're five points clear in the automatic places.
11:35There's, like, nine points away
11:36from having to worry about the playoffs
11:39and the way they are playing,
11:40how adaptable they are,
11:42how they're not defined by one thing
11:43but can find solutions to every single problem.
11:47You'd have to be a braver man than I
11:51to bet against them going up,
11:52which I'm not trying to jinx it, Coventry fans.
11:55That's just how it looks.
11:56But if you will allow me to get carried away
11:59for a second,
12:00when you look at that adaptability,
12:02that pragmatism,
12:03that not being wedded to a single idea
12:05and doing what it takes,
12:08well, you look at the three teams
12:09that have been promoted this season
12:10and that has been their exact approach
12:13to staying in the division
12:14and all three of them
12:15are making a really, really good fist of it.
12:18So, who knows?
12:20Now, just before we finish today, right,
12:22there is one more thing about Coventry City,
12:24which is not tactical at all,
12:26but it is impossible to explain the journey
12:29they have been on without going into.
12:32Frank Lampard has obviously done an exceptional job here,
12:35but I don't think any of this happens
12:37without the work Mark Robbins put in.
12:40The Coventry have obviously had, like,
12:42a really tumultuous, difficult couple of years,
12:44which would take me an entire video in of itself
12:46just to explain.
12:48But Robbins came in,
12:49arguably when they were at their lowest ebb.
12:52He got them out of League 2.
12:53He got them out of League 1.
12:55He stabilised them in the Championship.
12:57He flirted with promotion back to the Premier League.
13:00And were it not,
13:01for what I believe is the single greatest argument
13:04for the abolition of VAR,
13:06because even when it's right,
13:08it is still somehow wrong,
13:10they would be FA Cup finalists as well.
13:13Like, all of this is incredible.
13:15This team, its league position,
13:17how it is playing, what it is doing,
13:18what it can potentially do this season and next.
13:20All of it, absolutely brilliant.
13:22Credit to Frank Lampard.
13:23But I don't think any of it happens
13:26without Mark Robbins.
13:28So yes, there you go.
13:29As suggested by ACFC viewers
13:31and voted for by ACFC channel members,
13:34which you should absolutely become.
13:35You can join at the link below.
13:36That is what is going on with Coventry City.
13:40They are really good.
13:43Couldn't think what to say there.
13:44And just to have my own go
13:46at the old Lampardian transition,
13:47thank you so much for watching, guys.
13:49I hope you've had a great time.
13:50But in all seriousness,
13:51no, you probably should become a channel member.
13:54You get to decide what sorts of videos we do.
13:56And we also do some exclusive ones as well
13:58with a live chat where you can join in there as well.
14:01Ha ha!
14:02You can get me across all the social medias
14:04at Adam Cleary, C-L-E-R-Y.
14:05And if you're still watching,
14:06you've made it this far into the video,
14:08I shall tell you quite openly
14:10that I do not believe
14:11the mysterious nebulous YouTube algorithm
14:14will give this video
14:15the love this team genuinely deserves.
14:19So if you are a Coventry City fan
14:20and you have enjoyed it,
14:21this is the kind of thing
14:22where shares are massively appreciated.
14:25That will sort of help it out.
14:26And hopefully,
14:27if you're a Coventry City fan
14:28and you're like,
14:29oh, nobody ever talks about my team,
14:30you might get to see it.
14:32That's who it's for.
14:33But yes, whatever.
14:34I'll stop begging it now.
14:35Thank you very much for watching.
14:37I've been Adam Cleary,
14:38ACFC Coventry City.
14:40Goodbye.
14:40Goodbye, goodbye.
14:41Bye.
14:42Bye.
14:42Bye.
14:43Bye.
14:45Bye.
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