00:01Coventry City have endured a difficult opening to life in the Premier League, with three defeats
00:08leaving them still searching for their first points of the campaign. Frank Lampard's side
00:16were beaten 3-0 by Arsenal before suffering a narrow 1-0 home defeat against Hull City.
00:23Things did not get any easier at the Etihad Stadium, where Coventry were beaten 1-0 again,
00:30this time by Manchester City. It was Erling Haaland that scored the goal, but Coventry showed
00:37plenty of resilience and created enough opportunities to win the game or at least draw it.
00:44Despite the defeat, they were encouraged by signs of their play. The Sky Blues remained
00:51competitive against one of the league's strongest outfits. Here's what manager Frank Lampard
00:57had to say after the game.
01:03Good performance. A good performance from us. Disappointed to lose the game. Felt we deserved
01:08something from it. Probably a draw, I think, as a fair result. And to come to City with the talent
01:14that they have, we all know the ability and their squad, but I thought our defensive organisation
01:18was great. I thought we limited them as much as you can do here to big, big chances. And
01:24we created three big ones of our own and some moments of pressure. The spirit of the team,
01:30as I say, the organisation, when you work through the week to try and stop spaces, you're not
01:35working against Cherokee and Haaland and Semenyo and Foden, so you never know. But the players
01:41took on the challenge really, really well and they're disappointed in there and so am I
01:45that we didn't get something. The fact that you haven't come away with a point, is that
01:50just the ruthlessness of the Premier League that, you know, the options that City have
01:55got and the chances that they take is just a different level?
01:58Yeah, yeah, I think it is. And as I say, we had our big chances. I never criticised players
02:05because I missed a lot of chances in my career and I understand pressure and what it can do
02:09for you. I think Donnarumma makes two really big saves as well, which again, is the level
02:13that you're going against. And the goal, we can probably, can we stop the ball down the
02:17side of us? Yes. But then Semenyo's ability to find Haaland, who we know he can do that, is
02:22the brutal reality of it. But we shouldn't, we're not playing Manchester City every week.
02:28The Premier League is high, high level and we'll play different versions of quality against
02:32us. What's more important to the players today is that they take confidence out of the performance
02:37and we're disappointed to lose. But in reflection, there'll be a lot of good taken out of it if
02:41we can, if we can use it in our mentality because going to Arsenal two weeks ago felt very different.
02:48It felt like our first game for 25 years in the Premier League. Today felt like a competitive
02:52Premier League team coming with a clear idea and a threat. So we must take that forward.
