Having won six of their last seven games, Coventry City are one of the Championship‘s in-form teams. Can Frank Lampard really lead them back into the top flight?
Frank Lampard liked a lot of what he saw when he joined Coventry City in November.
That was understandable, given the fine work by his predecessor, Mark Robins. He took the club from League Two to the verge of the Premier League and within the finest of VAR offside calls and a penalty shootout of one of the greatest comebacks in the history of the FA Cup.
But late last year, it was clear Robins’ Coventry had run out of puff after the highs of the last couple of seasons. Beaten in the 2022-23 play-off final on penalties by Luton, they then fell to another heartbreaking Wembley defeat in last season’s remarkable FA Cup semi-final against Manchester United, having also fallen away terribly in the promotion hunt. Going again this season, Robins’ ninth campaign in charge, proved a step too far.
After so long together, it was always going to be a painful breakup. But with Coventry only outside the Championship relegation zone on goal difference in early November, there was at least some degree of acceptance that it was time for Robins to go. With momentum behind them from two promotions in three seasons between 2017 and 2020 – the club’s first since 1966-67 – Coventry’s powers that be decided they needed to make a change to keep the club on its upward trajectory.
They took their time over finding his replacement, waiting three weeks before appointing Lampard. Those three weeks straddled the November international break and took in three games, all of which Coventry failed to win. Given how the team’s form has picked up of late, those three weeks could be looked back upon as wasted time. Particularly given the fact that Coventry’s league position did not change in that period.
Lampard did not panic, though. There weren’t wholesale changes to be made. He could see this wasn’t a poor side that Robins had built, even with key man Callum O’Hare having departed in the summer, a year after they had lost their best players in Victor Gyökeres and Gus Hamer following the play-off final defeat. Despite these challenges, the team weren’t playing terribly, and Coventry’s underlying numbers proved results weren’t reflecting performances.
When Lampard came in, Coventry sat 17th in the table, but Opta’s expected points model suggested they should have been much higher up. This model uses expected goals data to measure the quality of teams’ attacking performances (based on the quality and quantity of chances created) to ascertain how each match deserved to end.
Those numbers suggested Coventry deserved to be up in sixth place. That is, if every team in the league had finished the chances at something like an average rate, Coventry would have picked up around 10 points more than they actually had. Nobody in the league had underperformed more than them.
There are flaws to the model, not least in that a team who underperforms in front of goal won’t necessarily come good and start scoring at the rate the data suggests they should. Their problems in attack might not be repairable.
But even with key players leaving consistently, the bones of a good team – one better than 17th position in the Championship – were there for Lampard to see. It appeared that for Coventry, their issue was with confidence rather than quality.
Lampard started off by trying to shore things up at the back using a 4-2-3-1, but while there was an improvement defensively, with more clean sheets (3) in his first six games than Coventry had kept in their 18 games before his arrival (2), the team’s attacking fluidity was compromised. Chances came to them less easily, and the goals dried up.
The football was dull and, frankly, uninspiring. A 4-0 win over Wayne Rooney’s out-of-sorts Plymouth was the exception rather than the rule, as Lampard won only three of his first nine Championship games in charge.
He had steadied the ship, taking the team six points clear of the Championship drop zone, but doubts were creeping in among some of the fans. Lampard’s mixed record as a manager at Derby County, Chelsea and Everton means he isn’t universally thought of as a brilliant coach, likely in part because sceptics think – arguably reasonably – that he has landed these jobs on account of his reputation. That narrative makes it easy for doubts to niggle away in the minds of anyone who witnesses his team struggle and his tactics fail to convince.
Lampard needed to make a tweak. There needed to be a statement, and one that got those doubters on side.
It came in early January when he started using three at the back. That switch alongside the return to fitness of some key players, has led to a remarkable upturn in form. Coventry have won six of their eight games since making that switch, the exceptions being the first game in that run – when they led 1-0 at Norwich until the 91st minute before conceding two injury-time goals and lost 2-1 – and a 2-0 defeat to runaway Championship leaders Leeds, who are roundly considered in something of a league of their own.
Across the top four tiers of English football, only Leyton Orient (22), Leeds (21), Sheffield United (21), Birmingham (20), Stockport (20) and Bradford (20) have picked up more points in 2025 than Coventry (19).
Results are better reflecting performances now. That is largely down to the fact they are creating better rather than more chances. They average 12.4 shots per game under Lampard compared to 13.5 per game before he came in, but their xG has risen from 1.4 per game to 1.7. The average xG of their shots is up from 0.10 xG to 0.14, a 34.3% increase in the quality of each shot they are taking.
They are picking and choosing their moments to shoot more effectively. At their best under Robins, they were a hugely effective counter-attacking side, but too often this season the players were rushing into shots. They scored just once from 13 attempts from fast breaks this season before Lampard came in, but have scored two goals from six such attempts under him. Lampard doesn’t want them to force chances when they get into decent positions.
But there has been an even bigger improvement in defence. Coventry are averaging 1.0 goals conceded per Championship game under Lampard, compared to 1.5 per game before he came in.
The new formation, with three centre-backs and three central midfielders ahead of them, has made them much more solid. In Milan van Ewijk, Jake Bidwell and Jay Dasilva, they have players suited to the wing-back roles, while Matt Grimes‘ arrival from Swansea in January has given Lampard genuine depth in central midfield. Creator-in-chief Jack Rudoni has hit career-best form, with only West Brom’s Tom Fellows having registered more than his 10 assists across all Championship teams this season. Ellis Simms is scoring goals again, too.
Arguably the biggest difference, however, is in the feeling around the club. Once again, there is momentum helping to carry the team, something Lampard insists they must make the most of.
“You must feed off it [momentum] because it is a thing, and there will be moments where you’re not in that period,” he said last week before a trip to Sheffield Wednesday.
“But it’s also good to keep a check on that and realise we are going to a team who are above us in the league for a reason, so we have to go clean slate again, remember the good things we are doing, but also the things we can improve on.”
Coventry went on to win that match 2-1.
After this run of form, Coventry are up to seventh, just one point off the play-off positions. In their last seven games, they have six wins; each of the four teams above them have won just three of their last seven.
Beneath them, Coventry have eight teams within five points of them, but heading into the season’s final straight, outside of the top two, Lampard’s men are the Championship’s form team.
The expected points table implies things could yet be even better: Coventry are currently in second place based on their expected goals data. According to the quality of the chances in their games, they might be in the automatic promotion spots.
Realistically, though, they are way too far off Sheffield United in second to start dreaming of a top-two finish, but they also shouldn’t be fearful of another daunting Wembley trip.
So often the team with the most momentum goes on to win the play-offs, and right now, Coventry certainly have plenty of that.
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