Frank Lampard and Ben Sheaf react to Coventry City's defeat at Portsmouth 🎙️

Goals are a tough one, particularly defensively? Yes. Everywhere, really, because defensively it's a team effort. So, first half, in general play, OK, difficult game here. They make it difficult, so we credit them for their performance all in. The first half was even, two mistakes gives them two goals. The second half, no, not good enough. You know, easy to see. And the first one that I've had here, really, where I feel like that because our performances generally have been pretty good, very good last week. And even at West Brom, you know, we're looking for positives in the game. But the second half was a real clear show of what football's about, especially in this championship. If you find a hard moment and you don't compete and you go, then the result will look after itself. And it did. So, big, big learnings on that front. Did their sort of pressing and direct style sort of throw you off your stride a bit? You know what you're getting when you come here. And they've given teams tough games this season here. And you have to respect every team in the championship. So, that's certainly not an excuse. But if they're going to press or be aggressive, then you have to match it and be aggressive. You know, that's in the second half. We didn't do that. Are you surprised? Because, I mean, you picked an unchanged team from the whole game. Are you surprised by the performance you got today? I don't know. Surprise isn't a word because you never know. Every game is different in this league. We all know that very well. So, it's not an idea of surprise. No, not surprise. It's happened. You know, it's more about how we deal with it. The man of the goals you conceded as well has been disappointing. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. I think they speak for themselves. And I'm not going to harp on individual errors because they happen. But they were clear and they will lose you games. And confidence-wise, it seemed the second half, their heads were dropping a bit. Was that fair? Yeah, but that's not... Yeah, it is. But that's not... It's not important because now they have to realise that that can't bid away. Your confidence can't drop. We can lose a game of football. But you can't lose the confidence. You can't lose the desire to do something about it as a group and individually. So, absolutely, it didn't help. And confidence only builds through hard work and through resilience. That's the only way I know. So, that's one we just have to all take personally. Has this given you a sense of the job it faces you here? I was very aware of it. If there's a positive out of a feeling like this and a defeat, it just gives you a clear picture. I'm here. We are where we are for various reasons. We have to put them right. And whether you talk about confidence or mentality or whether you talk about football, today for me wasn't a football answer. They were too aggressive for us in the second half. We weren't aggressive enough with them. And if you get that bit wrong in a championship, then you'll lose games like this. So, that's a clear understanding for me today. Are you going to get a full house on Boxing Day? You'll want a reaction from your players. For sure. This is the beauty of football. If it puts a pressure on us, it's a good pressure on us because we have to react and stand up. And it's one game, so I'm certainly not here, as I say. For me, it's out of the batch of games I have had, it's the one you learn the most. And the players have to learn it and we have to give that message. So, yeah, bring on Boxing Day and we have to show something. Ben, obviously a tough one today, especially after such a good start. Yeah, started really well, first 20 minutes or so. Obviously went 1-0 up, probably should have put ourselves 2-0 up. And then, yeah, two disappointing goals. Mistakes happen in football. But, yeah, find ourselves 2-1 down at half-time, thinking that we should probably be in front. And then the second half, it was just nowhere near good enough. Yeah, it's a hard one to get your head around, really. But, you know, we've got to put it right on Thursday. Didn't seem to recover from the blow of conceding straight after half-time. Yeah, you know, that was really disappointing. Didn't get out of a half for about 25 minutes, half an hour. So, yeah, we just didn't really do the basics, didn't fight well enough. And if you don't do those things in a game of football, then you give yourself no chance. So, yeah, it was a really disappointing second half. Was the start of Portsmouth's play, would you find that difficult to deal with? Yeah, you know, the conditions were tough, but we knew that coming in, that they were going to play that way. And, you know, first off, we dealt with it pretty well. And then second half, just never really got going. Didn't really get... Didn't really deal with the directness very well. And, you know, like I say, couldn't really get out of our own half and put them under a little bit of pressure. And, yeah, we just need to show a bit more character. And, you know, it was just like mistake after mistake, and it just gave them more and more momentum. So, yeah, we definitely got to look ourselves in the mirror and learn from it. And, you know, like I said, put it right on Thursday. Some of the goals came from individual errors. I mean, do you talk to each other about that? Yeah, like, you know, mistakes happen in football, and, you know, it's part and parcel of the game. But, you know, you make a mistake and don't let it happen again. But that's down to, you know, other teammates to get around them and say, you know, we'll make it right for you. But we didn't do that today. So, yeah. So how do you pick yourselves up from this? You're playing in front of a full house on Boxing Day. Yeah, no, obviously we're looking forward to that game. You know, we're obviously looking to put in a good performance, much better than today's. And, yeah, luckily it's a quick turnaround for us. So, but, you know, since the gaffer's come in, you know, the performances have been pretty positive. You know, we've seen some improvements in our game. And, you know, this is just a one-off and it can't happen again. How's he reacted to that today? Oh, yeah, obviously no one's happy. Staff are unhappy, gaffers are unhappy, players are unhappy. But, you know, like I just said, can't let it happen again. You know, you've got to do the basics in this game. And if you don't do that, you give yourself no chance. So, before you can start playing nice, you know, passages of play, you've got to do the dirty stuff. And we didn't do that in the second half. It's about stringing it together, isn't it? Against a sort of win and a defeat. Say that again, sorry? It's about stringing it together. Again, you've sort of gone win, defeat, win, defeat, haven't you? Yeah, I know. You know, we've not managed that at all this season. You know, we get one or two wins and then, you know, yeah, it's two up and down. And we've got to find that consistency somehow. You know, I think we've got the players and the squad to do that. But yeah, we've got to, you know, find it some way or another.