Frank Lampard reflects on Coventry's first-leg play-off loss to Sunderland - full press conference

Yeah, they defended the box brilliantly. Defended low, that was their approach. It made it hard for us to find spaces and get clear opportunities. What was the message at half-time? I wasn't too frustrated. It's a play-off game. I didn't expect them to open the doors for you. It's not going to happen that way. Just some small tweaks to try and be moveable well. They kept closing the space where we wanted to move it to be a bit more aggressive on the side that we could be. It's not easy. We played against a low block many a time. It's not easy. So you have to keep going and keep going. If the game had ended 0-0, we would have gone again on Tuesday. Obviously, circumstances changed in the second half. Just keep going and make sure we don't try and give any counter-attacks because that's what they played for. It was a great response. It's great how fantastic the atmosphere again has been. But that really gave the players a lift to get the back of it so quickly and a brilliant goal for moving it. Yeah, this is my point. We had quite a few crosses where you don't quite get on the end of it today. Great from Milan. Beats his man, crosses it and Rudy comes in and heads it. That's what you have to keep trying to do. The crowd were pushing us on. They were amazing as they've been all season. I don't need to go through and explain it. It's not really because it's a different time. I manage a different team. They're a different team, a different circumstance. That was a thing in the past. I've played many, many two-legged games in Champions League football or any type of football. I understand them. This is never going to be over and it's not over. That's for sure. Some of them will know it's not over. We know it's not over. I won't be drawing on too much from the past. We just have to absolutely look at what this game may look like. We don't know because they may take that approach at home, what they brought here. I think they brought that here because of probably how they felt when they played against us in the league and maybe if they view how we've been playing here at the CBS. I understand that. We just have to sometimes say credit to them. I just think about the football side of it, how it might look and what can we do a bit better and where the spaces might be if they come out more. There's pressure on us both now in different ways I guess. Presumably because of that speed and on the stretch it was really impactful on Saturday? Yeah, it brought him in. He played really well for 30 minutes the other day and deserved his chance. Greg Dalbert from back in the squad and available. How is his fitness? That's what we don't know so much. Today was probably 20-25 minutes was the max. He'll be better for it. He's trained some days. He's a big player for us obviously which we haven't had for quite a lot since we've been here really. A little patch in the beginning which was great and then he came back. He was still carrying the injury in that period. I'm pleased we've got 20-25 minutes. We'll have to see for Tuesday. What's the message to the lads in the dressing room and to the fans out there? It's half-time. Go again and things up. Football's not easy. They're meant to be easy. Anyone who watched the game will get a sense of the game. I think the Sunderland players will feel what that game was and they'll understand it'll be a tough game. We're one behind. Their favourites, fine. No problem. Good challenge. What do you say to Minhan after that? Is there anything you can say? Yeah, I'll speak to him. This is football. He's been brilliant for us this season. He's been absolutely amazing. He plays every game and has had a fantastic season for us. Mistakes happen in football. Frank, you touched on it there. They played in a certain way today. Even though the league might be quite tricky to play that way at home with a lot of crowd behind you. Is that something that might turn the game in your favour? I don't know if it's in our favour. It'll be different. We won't know. I understand your point. Will they want to play so low at home? Will the fans want to drag them forward? They know they're holding the lead. That's completely their strategy. We'll have to be adaptable on the day to try and find a way, whatever they do. If they come out more, there'll be a different type of threat with players between lines. Normally two number eights it looks a bit different today. They didn't. They sat back and waited to counter-attack. They sucked it up and now they've got something to hold on to. I've got no idea how they will broach the next game. We'll just digest a bit tonight and then we'll consider what we're going to do. Is there any chance for you, Frank, that you might try and sit in a bit and invite them on? I don't know. I'm obviously not going to declare it. We'll see as we go. Generally, how we've played here tonight, what we've seen and what we've seen in our last games at the CBS has been how our games have looked. I think that's credit to us that we've created a little bit of an idea and identity about how we want to play and control and hit the sides across and arrive and all those things. But we'll see with this game coming up. You said there were a couple of things you might want the team to work better on. Can you articulate that? No, no. We'll analyse it. I think it's fresh. It's always good to look back. Things I saw a little bit, but again, not the time to disclose them out loud.