Frank Lampard & Victor Torp Reaction | Coventry City vs Aston Villa | Carabao Cup

Frank, what did you make of the performance? They started bright, but brighter than us. We gave away a disappointing goal. I thought a reaction to that was really good. We started to look like we want to look. The connection of the team, the pressing, the play, good energy around Bowers, which lifted the stadium. We got our well-deserved goal. And the big disappointment is that we give them two set pieces that we shouldn't give away. It dictates the game and changes the scoreline and the feeling of the game. So that's the big disappointing factor for us. You gave a couple of debuts today, Boho, Fooney. How did you feel they got on? You've obviously seen them in training, but you got to see them in a matchday experience. Good, good, happy. It was a game for us that we have to give these players minutes to get them acclimatised, particularly the boys that come from different leagues. Sidi as well, up front, has only come on for us a couple of times now. So his first start, I thought Steph did really well. I thought it was fantastic. I left back and we all saw his quality and his composure. And in the end, he was on the yellow card. The ref was on his case. He shouldn't have been, I don't think. But he had to come off and with a view to a role getting injured. And Steph's going to be really important for us. But I thought it was a really impressive debut. Yes, it was quite a close game, certainly through the first half. It could have gone either way, I suppose. But you were positive, creating chances again. Yes, listen, there's details always to improve and there's some things that we can. But you're right, in that period of the game, it felt like what we want to be, especially here at the CBS. And we rattled them with our pressure and we were winning a lot of balls back, attacking quickly, things we want to do. And that's why it's disappointing. Sometimes your post-match with the players is this detail and that detail. When you go through it, we'll always do that. But it's very simple in a way. If you give away set-pieces, nobody's given us those set-pieces and Corners are allowing that. And we have to take responsibility for that on the pitch. Is that a concern, given two came from their Corners today? It is today. It's something you just can't do at this level. It was so, so simple. It's not somebody climbing out of nowhere and heading it in, which sometimes is unstoppable. They were very stoppable from our point of view. We've got to do better. But it's obviously great if you're getting the set-pieces going and Victor Torte with his free-kick. Fantastic. The free-kick was great. He's got that talent for a torpedo from that sort of position. He can be deadly, which is great. And I thought he played really well. So that was a positive. What do you take heart from this evening and into the Premier League campaign? Well, I've seen a lot. I've been able to see players that haven't played many minutes and players that had transfers that were protracted over the summer a little bit. And we're not training, not playing games, so they've got minutes in them. So there's some nice, bright things for us to look at there and another opportunity for us to work. We want to stay in this cup competition. Of course we do, and now we're not. But we also have a lot coming up. And so getting those players adapted as quickly as possible and connected to the team and all the things you have to do, is a big thing for us because this competition, this level we're playing at, it's tough and it's challenging. So getting the minutes is good. I was happy with parts of it, but we lose a game. So we want to be able to work towards better, towards winning matches, towards getting that feeling. Yes, lose a game, lose a player as well. Amanda coming off quite early on with, was it a calf injury? A calf injury, which we don't know the extent of yet, so we'll see. Forest next, and obviously it's a game before this strange extended international break. So I'm guessing chomping at the bit to get a point on the board? Yes, of course, it's what we want to do. And no game is easy. We have to recover really well, take the positives from tonight, but understand we want and we need to do more. And I go again on Saturday, then we have the break, which for us gives us maybe a little bit of valuable time for some more training and a little bit of rest for the players, but to work and be ready for when we start again. Do you think having such an extended break actually plays into your hands a bit? I'll tell you that when we're on the other side of it. Victor then, your thoughts on the defeat? Yes, I think we conceded some poor goals and then it's hard to win a football game when you concede two set-pieces and concede three at home. But yes, I'm just very disappointed with the result right now. I think the performance overall was OK, but for me, when we concede two set-pieces like that and a third goal as well, it's hard to win a football game. Yes, the goals, as you say, the first one came quite early in the game, so they were obviously on the front foot. But the two second and third goals coming from corner kicks, just not picking up the men. Yes, I think nowadays set-pieces are getting a bigger and bigger part of football. Yes, that's something we have to work on and do better, because conceding two corner kicks today is not good enough. As I said, then it's hard to win a football game. Yes, you certainly know how to take a set-piece with your goal today. You seem to like the free kicks, don't you? Yes, I like to do a free kick. It's something that I work on a lot and I think it's something that I know I can do. It's always nice to score a goal at home and a free kick as well was very nice. How confident are you when you step up to take these? Because you scored one in the last game of the Championship at the CBS, didn't you? Against Wrexham and you get one tonight against the Villa. Yes, I'm quite confident when I step up to a free kick. I think it's something I work on a lot and work on during the week, so I kind of know what I have to do. Then it's about trying to get the cleanest strike as possible and then sometimes you score and sometimes you don't. As I said, I know I'm capable of scoring and I was happy to do that today. What do you make of the season so far? Because obviously it's been disappointing in terms of results in the top flight. Yes, of course it's disappointing. We want to win football games and we haven't won that many yet. I think that's something we work on every day in the training pits and try to improve to put on a better performance that will eventually give us the wins. How have you found it taking to the top flight of English football? It's the biggest and best league in the world, so we know it was a hard challenge. Personally, I try to adapt every day and do my best and show what I can do whenever I'm given the chance. That's what I try to do every day, improve and show what I can do when I get the chance. You've got a couple of goals this season in the Carabao Cup. Is it a case of also what you do in training? Are you one of those that knocks on the manager's door, so to speak? No, I don't really do that. I try to do my best every day. Yes, as I said, when I'm given the chance to play, I try to do my best. If I don't get that many minutes, I try to do my best on the training pitch to show the money that I want to play. Yes, that's what I'm trying to do, to do my best coming in every day, work hard and do my best. Yes, that's all I can do for me. The Forest game is coming up before an extended international break. How important is it to pick up the first points of the Premier League campaign, indeed the first goal of the top flight campaign? I think every game is important and we're still quite early in the season, but of course there will be a nice momentum going into, as you said, quite a long international break. Now we recover as best as possible and then we're going to do our best and put in a good performance against Forest. Then I think we'll get our first points there. Given it's a tight turnaround, what sort of thing does the manager normally put you through if you're playing on a Wednesday and then back out on the pitch on the Saturday? Yes, we try to recover as best as possible. Individually, you do whatever you have to do to be ready for a game Saturday again. Yes, recover as best as possible and be ready for Saturday.