FULL PRESS CONFERENCE | Frank Lampard and Milan van Ewijk preview Coventry's trip to Portsmouth 🎙️

How's the week been in training? Yeah, it's been good. It's been good. It's been nice to work with the players. Effectively you can do work more physical with them as well as tactical which is nice to blend those two things together. See the players more in bigger areas and in training pitches sizes and yeah, off the back of a good performance and a good win, a bit of rest for the lads and we've had a good week's work. What's a win do for the mood? Well yeah, they always help. Mood and confidence. The important thing is it doesn't breed any early over confidence. It's a good step in terms of the overall performance as much as the result. I thought we were really good and you review it. I think we were even better than what I thought on the day in big parts and it's good for the players to see that and understand some of the things we're trying to talk about and to do. So that's been useful to use that in meetings this week and also understand that we've got a lot to do. Week's training was important. Consistency has been a key problem this season. If you look at the last three performances, Middlemore, West Bromwell, is it fair to say it's not been a bad little run of performances? Yeah, it has and each in their own way. I'm not overly excited because I feel like there's a lot more in the group but Millwall is a tough game for anybody and I thought we dealt with the tough elements of it really well. The defensive nature of our game, defending the box was good which is so important in this league. West Bromwell I think there was some good and some not so good from us which was important to see as well. Normal in the early stages against a strong team in the league. And then Hull I think was the game where you could see it going where we wanted it to go. But it's only one performance and there were still parts of that game. But yeah, the consistency has been pretty good. We have to keep that going. We have to double down on the work and our approach and take that forward because it's probably a problem for most championship teams. Find the consistency over the course of the season, the better teams do it, they get in the better positions obviously. You're creating chances, which is a big positive. Yeah, that's a great positive. It says something about the way we play. The next step is to be more clinical I suppose about taking them. That's not easy because it's an easy thing to say. We can practice through the week. Some of those things are in-game and when you have some developing players as we do, you have to understand that you might not take all your chances. At times players are developing and they need to find confidence and they need repetitive work and feeling to be confident at the end of the pitch when you're talking about in their box. But it's a nice sign for the team that we are creating and again we need to continue with that. One of your forwards, Ellis Sims, when he came off the bench against Hull, he hit the post with his head. He had a good little cameo, didn't he? Will that encourage him? Does he need encouragement at the moment? Yeah, I think he does. He's a striker and the confidence part of their game is probably as crucial as anyone on the pitch, except the goalkeeper. I think it certainly would have helped Ellis. He's a quiet lad but behind the quiet lad there's a lad with a personality and he's human. I was pleased with his effect on the game. I think the technique of the header as well. When you look at a player's strengths, Ellis is clear to see. He's big, he's powerful and he's scored goals in a championship. If he's involved we need to be able to get the ball in the box to him in the right way and he can do what he nearly did against Hull. I'm happy with the fact that we've got options at the front end of the pitch. It's important that all the players understand that whether they start or come on, it's all about the impact that they can bring. I was pleased for Ellis with his cameo, as you put it. What's the latest on Hedge? Yeah, Hedge is still working away so he's not on the pitch with us yet. It's a busy period of games unfortunately so we'll miss him for a few games more because they come thick and fast. We're looking into the early part of the new year where he'll be out on the pitch with us and we want him back quickly. Ben Wilson? Ben's been training the last day or two with us, fully training, which is good news. He's a great character around the place. He's a high-level keeper for us, brings good competition to our goalkeeping department and I'm really pleased to have him on the pitch. I'll say first that he's a very good goalkeeper but also he's a big personality in the group and we need personality. Is he available? Not for this weekend. Yesterday was probably his first full day of dealing with us at a finishing session so he's working hard but it's the first step back really but it won't be far. Have you seen the outfield players? I think it's Jamie Allen and Liam Kitchen you haven't seen on the pitch so far. Presumably from a selection point of view you wouldn't want to just select them just for the sake of seeing them but on the other hand would you like to get opportunities to see them play? It's important that we have all the squad ready to play at all times. With Kitch, one of the problems was between Cardiff and Millwall who was ill and missed a few days in the middle of the week which kind of set him back for Millwall. We haven't been able to train on full pitches and all the things we want to do so my selection there has been what it's been. For either of those or anybody in the squad there's absolutely no firm judgements at this point. We want everyone to have their place. I understand players get frustrated when they're not playing but I have to pick 11 out of 21 or so outfield players. What I would say is every player here since we've been in has been fantastic for attitude through the week and training and supporting teammates. I put Kitch and Jamie very high on that list so their time will come to help us and to come in and stake their claim and sustain the team. I always work on the merit of how you train, how you play, how you behave around it. We'll get you in the team no matter your name, age, blah, blah, blah. I think the players hopefully will understand as we go forward and they've been very good personally. Portsmouth is another bottom three team you're playing, does it feel like an opportunity? Well, you have to look at their recent games and everyone's eyes will be on Derby but then you look at the little run before that and they've got some results. Particularly at home in the last little period, they've beaten Bristol City, they've drawn with Norwich, two good teams in the league so we cannot disrespect them anyway. Every game is an opportunity in this league absolutely but there are no games that you should take anything for granted, far from it. We'll fully respect them but go there feeling some good confidence ourselves after the backer last week and the week we've had. We need to impose ourselves on the game. Flattened Park is an interesting, very traditional venue. We're trying to work out whether you will play there because they were in the Premier League for a while, weren't they? Oh yeah, I played there a few times. You always felt the atmosphere of the stadium, as you say, the old-fashioned stadium. It's nice to have a few of those still around and the atmosphere of their fans. That's the part of the game when you go to these stadiums is understanding the players, understanding that if you give their fans what they want they will really be active in the game and can affect it. I felt that as a player and we'll feel that on Saturday again. That's on us to try and take that away from them because they can affect the game. It's a great football stadium to go, one of the old ones that has that character about it. Mood pretty good, I imagine, after the win against Hull? Mood in the squad? Yeah, it's a good mood. We had a great weekend as well. Everybody is just delighted to be here, just to play the game tomorrow. Everybody is feeling good. Has it felt like a fresh start with a new head coach? Yeah, we got some good results. Everybody is feeling confident as well. I think the new energy that they brought in feels good. You're playing with a back four, how does that affect you? Obviously you're not playing as a winger, you're playing as a right back. Yeah, I prefer to play as a right back with Sakamoto in front of me because I think the chemistry that we have together can bring a lot to the game. So I'm happy that we've come back to a back four. You're working well with Tats Sakamoto, you're doing that right, aren't you? Yeah, I think you could have seen it last season as well. But I think the way he explains us to play now is even better because I'll be playing on the inside and give him space on the outside. We just work it out together and like I said, the chemistry is almost perfect between us. One thing you've done in the last few games is create a lot of chances. Yeah, 100%. We also practice on the training how we give each other the right amount of space and make the best out of each other's games. So I'm happy that it's going well. At the other end of the pitch, obviously the lack of clean sheets this season has been a frustration. Is that something you talk about a lot? Yeah, 100%. It's a thing that we're working on as well because a lack of clean sheets is also a thing that can destroy a bit of confidence. It's not that we've been outplayed completely that we've got a goal against. It's mostly like a stupid goal or a lucky goal. For example, the goal against West Brom, like a deflection. So if we just get those things out then I think we can work out our clean sheets. But against Hull, when you're dominating the game and then they go and score, it must be part of you thinking, oh, he'll win the game, wouldn't he? Yeah, I think those goals are too simple. Also from my point of view, I was in the back then. It's a bit of communication as well to clear those balls and see what's going on. But like I said, the small mistakes, if you can get those out then I'm not afraid of telling you that we will get more clean sheets. How have you felt about your season as a whole? You've played just about every game, haven't you? It's true. It's a bit up and down. I've struggled with a bit of confidence, to be honest. But I'm getting back there to my old me. So yeah, it's just been quite a rollercoaster for me. That confidence, was that just because of the results? Ish. But also things not working out for me, as in conceding goals from my side and being outplayed. That's just on me because I'm confident in the abilities that I have defensive-wise, like 1v1s. But then at certain points in the game then I just get outplayed. The confidence will drop and drop and you'll end up somewhere. Then the boys obviously try to lift you up and it works, the gaffers are also. Like I said, I'm getting back to my old self. You have to learn from those things. Yeah, 100%. It's not always sunshine and rainbows. Those games are part of your career, part of the journey that you have. So you've just got to deal with it. And when you win games you get to do your celebration in front of the fans. The gaffers seemed to copy that at Millwall, didn't they? Yeah, yeah. I didn't know that he would do it before. It's a nice thing to know that he loves to do it as well. Just needs to work on it a bit. Now Portsmouth away, 12.30 start as well. Does that affect things at all? Not that I think of. We won the last game at 12.30 so maybe we can do it again, I hope so. Well, back-to-back wins has been the thing that you haven't really done it. You've done it once this season. So it would be nice now to get back-to-back wins. Yeah, yeah, 100%. And like I said, we're feeling good. We're feeling confident as well. So yeah, just can't wait for the game tomorrow. And do you sort of look at the league table and think, can we start climbing the table and then looking at the top six? You could. I think if you look at the names that we have on the paper, we should be up there. It just hasn't been our season yet, but I think the way everybody's feeling confident and ready to go, I think we can start the process of climbing up the table.