How Has Frank Lampard Turned Coventry Into Contenders?

Adam had mixed feelings about the Preston result. He says, obviously wanted to win to go seven and eight, but we're aware that Coventry beating Swansea and Preston in the same season is one of the signs of a coming apocalypse. And welcome back to where Sky Blues walk. This week, we're asking the question, just how is Lampard pulling this off and what players in particular has he improved since Robins departure? And the Hoodoos ending, does it mean Coventry are now off to Wembley and these guys can book their hotels? We've got Tom Upton, Ben Waddow, Jay Singh and Scott Forrest back with us as our regular panellists. And thank you very much for joining us back on what is episode 30. 30 weeks, Tom, of talking about Coventry. I've done every single one, haven't I? You have, you are the original. Does it feel like 30 weeks? No, honestly, it feels like any less. Yesterday I started doing it. That's just how the season's gone. And we've had so many lows, but now so many highs. So it's been a brilliant season. I mean, I wouldn't say brilliant, but I'd say it's been a roller coaster. Yeah, well, Lampard's attracting the headlines, Ben, isn't he? I mean, what a job he's doing. How's it going to end, though? It's the Lampard effect, as we know. I think you could see as soon as he came in, you could see the good habits on the pitch and the camaraderie's back now. And that looked dead and buried in November. It looked like we was finished. There was people on X saying, our players are a bad bunch and they're a bad group. But now they just seem so close-knit and tight-knit, should I say. And it's, I don't know, we're just in a very, very good place. The man management of Lampard and his team, because it is his team as well, some great backroom staff. And I think they're doing a great job. So long may it continue. And Jay, you posted something similar to this yourself this week. Why do clubs keep hiring Fred Lampard? And there you are in seventh, just one point behind West Brom. Jake says, curse over, should have been 2-0, as their goal was clearly offside. And Barnsley says, first Swansea, now Preston. This just might be the season. Jay, we've been here before, but does it feel different to last season? You were close at the same point last season. Does this feel different? Well, massively. First of all, not in the FA Cup, which I think was obviously a fantastic journey, but also a massive hindrance for us as well. I was listening to another commentary podcast the other day, and one of the guys, a Renault commentary player, said that even they admitted after that, they were sort of physically and mentally sort of spent after that game. So our season really fizzled out after that. But now we've just seen so much energy and so much sort of drive. We're grinding out with loads. Again, the last two games at Sheffield and QPR, we obviously won those last many games, especially Sheffield game. We shouldn't have won that. We shouldn't have got a draw, to be honest with you. Somehow we've managed to get three out of that. But at the beginning of the season, we would have lost that very quickly. So we seem to have this fantastic momentum behind us and this massive positivity behind us. And as Ben said, there seems to be a massive camaraderie between the players and everything's just going well, going very, very well at the moment. And the Franklin Pound effect is absolutely brilliant. It's working like a treat. Cheers for that. Jay, Tom Gregg says Saturday was arguably the best of the season. Yes, it was edgy in the last 10 minutes, but that can happen on another day. It might have been 3, 4, or 5. And some big players to come. Tom, is he right? Was it the best of the season? And even with your not even full 11? Yeah, I definitely think it's up there for one of the best of the season. That first half was unbelievable. And especially against Preston, we all know the record. Obviously, there's still big players to come. I think she came on 90th minute, if I'm not mistaken, which was really nice to see him come in. Also, you've got Patterson now as well. I think right back for Oxford, which is massive, because that's the player we've been crying out for, for literally ever this season since, I think, Sunderland away. But it was a bit edgy, I will say. I thought we were dominant. We were brilliant. Everything was going really smoothly. They scored 82nd minute. And then that's when it was squeaky bum time, as they call it. It was very nerve wracking for that last bit of the game. I was sat there watching it. I was like, we're going to concede again. I was like, it's Preston. And then we didn't. So it was brilliant. But it was very edgy towards the end. But I will say, it was definitely one of the best performances of the season. The next three games are massive as well, because they're all against relegation teams. So got to win all them three as well. We put in the same performances. I don't see why not. OK, we'll come on to Mart in a second. Let's talk about some players, though, that he's improving, Ben. Rodoni is definitely one of those. And talkwith72 says, since Lampard's arrived at Coventry, Rodoni now has six assists, which is now 10 for the season, two goals, four for the season, and an average rating of 7.33, which is one of the highest for midfielders in the whole division. So is that noticeable when you're watching Rodoni compared to what he was like when he first grabbed him from Huddersfield? Yeah, people forget that Rodoni, what is he, 22? He's a baby. He's ceiling so high in what he can achieve in the game, and we're lucky to have him, I think. But for most of Lampard's reign, he's actually been played out of position as well. And I think we got to saw that the midfield yesterday, we've been, sorry, on Saturday, it dominated. And that's the first time I've seen our midfield absolutely dominate from start to finish, really. I mean, their goal was offside and we made it hard for ourselves, but that was the strikers not putting the ball in the net, really. Sim should have had a couple of goals, potentially. But yeah, Rodoni, he's been fantastic, and we got to see him in the number 10, 8 role, and he was fantastic. He affects the game so much. Yeah. Jay, who else has he improved from you? Well, Oliver Durban has been absolutely fantastic. I don't know if that's all down to Lampard, but he's been absolutely phenomenal over the last, well, since he's come back to goal. And then we've just had an uptake on players. Bob Thomas has been really, really good. Hitchens has been really, really good since he's come back on the team. You've got Ephraim Mason-Clark, before he was injured, he's come back now. Rodoni, for me, has been the one that sort of stands out, really. But there's been a massive uplift in a lot of players, and that's on an individual basis, but also as a team. They sort of continue playing a lot better as a collective. Yeah, on Saturday, I thought Rodoni was the standout player, but there could have been several players that could have been manning the match. Matt Grimes was phenomenal, big time in the play. Then you've got Bobby Thomas at the back. Simms was amazing up front. Sakamoto was brilliant down the right. It was just a really good team performance, where everyone was sort of eight, eight and a half, and Rodoni just slightly ahead of them, I would say. But there's been a lot that have really developed and sort of started to look really, really good under Lampard. And that is one, he's sort of bringing the best of the player, but also little tactical tweaks he's doing, which you can see in-game, during-game, setting up slightly differently per operation and stuff as well. So it's one, he's really uplifting the players as individuals, but also as a team with his tactical analysis, really making them peak to their abilities, really. Honest question, has anyone been on to booking.com just to check out hotel prices for May the 24th at all? I've already booked mine. I've booked mine. I have. I haven't actually. Booked in on the 24th. I live half the highway, so it's... All right. Easy journey for you. If I book that, we'll be online for the rest of the season. Yeah, exactly. I don't want to jinx it now when we're doing this well. Okay. Right, Scott, let's have a look at March, shall we? If you're back with us, can you hear us all right? Yeah, I can hear you. All right. Real stuff. Right, then. So, yeah, the famous rowing club you're going to visit on Saturday. We'll probably see it now, won't we? You will. I'll owe you that one. Yeah, so Oxford first. Then it is, yes, the reuniton... Reunition? Reuniting with Mark Robbins in a week's time, which, of course, we'll talk more about next week. Then Derby, Coventry... Sorry, Coventry against Sunderland. And then, obviously, a grudge match. Sheffield United fans are waiting for this one for Bissett to show his face at Bramall Lane. How do you see... He won't even play. Well, yeah. He probably won't even get a game, will he? Yeah. He'd be well advised not to play that game, trust me. True. Recently, I haven't seen him. Five games, 15 points, Scott. What are you expecting? I only got to talk to Sheffield United on about 10 or 11 points. I think... I'm liking the way we're playing. If we do get better and we keep winning games, I think we'll beat Oxford, Stoke and Derby. But there's nine. Sheffield United... I think we'll probably get beat at Sheffield United, being honest. I'm hoping that we can draw at home against Burnley and who knows against Sunderland. We've done quite well against them at home the last few seasons. We took a point at their place. So, 11 points-ish, give or take. I think we're going in the right direction. And I think just talking about Frank there from one bit I'm reading... I know it's not on this bit, but it sounds like he's having not quite one-to-ones with players, but he's talking to Jack and Jack's learning off him and Frank's giving him a bit more of an idea about his timing, getting into the box and he's scoring goals from that. So I think that extra tuition or that one-to-one in someone's ear is certainly helping with the Frank Lampard effect as well. But yeah, I reckon about 11 points out of 15, Mark. Any advance on 11 from anybody else? I think we've beat Sunderland. It's the perfect time to play them. We always do well against them and I think they're just in sort of a lull now. They've accepted they're going to get play-offs, but they need to be careful because if they do in Middlesbrough when they played us that season in the play-offs, they sort of like just drifted into the play-offs happily. You get hit like that by a team in form. I hope they continue to do so when we get fit and play them. Just checking, we are playing Oxford this Saturday, aren't we? Everyone's talking about Mark Robbins and Stoke next week and forgetting that we've got a game against Oxford this Saturday. It's weird. Everyone's jumping to Stoke but we've got a massive game away at Oxford this Saturday. It's baffling this Robbins thing. He's not our manager. Just back Lampard at this point. Just to point out as well, you probably realise this but you need to finish 5th to have a better chance of going to Wembley rather than 6th because of course 6th will play whoever Burnley and Sheffield United or Leeds doesn't go up. So yeah, 5th is where you need to head to. Right, we're also asking for the final one this week. Who would you like to get rid of from the division? Which fan base irritates you the most from the ones that could potentially go down? We've got it down to 9 teams here Tom. We think everyone from Preston onwards is probably now safe. Swansea and Oxford are probably safe as well in fairness. Who do you think for your own personal dislike of a fan base or whatever you'd like to say goodbye to? Swansea. I don't want to play them again. I'm sick of them. And also they're still crying about Matt Bryant even though he's a class player. So for me, Swansea. Ben? Out of these ones I'd say Stoke for the dodgy owners that have sold the ground and invested money in wormholes here and there just to buy players and then just be still crap. So, yeah, it's got to be. Hold on, are we hearing that right? A Coventry City fan is wishing Mark Robbins relegation? Don't start this again. No, that'll do. I'm not. Make the rounds on Twitter. It's us against the world I'm afraid. That's the mentality I have. All right. Gosh, you're harsh you lot. Jay? I don't have any beef with any of these fans but I'm going to give you three names. Luton just because I like a lot of Luton fans but just because they beat them in the playoff finals it'll be a little bit funny for them to go down. Swansea because again as Tom mentioned they're salty about Matt Bryant phenomenal player apparently just passes backwards and sideways but unfortunately that's not the case for those Swansea fans and I know they're watching because they're filming next That's the only reason I'm saying that because I'm going to go soon and the other one the final one Derby but there's two particular fans that really do my head in that have a particular podcast that don't really appreciate our manager and I hope they go down just because of them too really. Well said. Let us know in the comments whether you disagree with any of that. Right. Thank you very much that we've had lots of technical issues on this one this week. Thanks for just putting up and fighting with us. We'll see you on the other side of the Oxford result and then next week we are talking about the return of Robins. See you then for that one. Can't wait.