Coventry City boss Frank Lampard in his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Man City
Coventry City boss Frank Lampard in his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Man City
Coventry City travel to Man City this weekend where they will, again, be seen as one of the Premier League whipping boys, up against all the might of Erling Haaland and his world class team-mates in virtually every department on the pitch.
But Frank Lampard is OK with his Sky Blues being the underdogs in this fixture and most of the league matches they’ll play after stepping up to the top flight.
Asked how his side can strike a balance between playing with freedom and bravery while also recognising and containing the threat that Enzo Maresca’s team pose, the head coach said: “Well, it’s just a pure reality of football. You have to play with reality and freedom but concentration because the games at this level, moments will dictate games and individual moments of brilliance can dictate games for either team and we know they have a lot of a lot of capacity for that in their team.
“So it’s no problem to be an underdog. We’ll be an underdog many times this year because of what it is and that’s not a problem. But you must take it on with a bravery. You cannot take it on with a fear because I think the underdog mentality becomes you.
“We want to attack the game in our own way. And we must have less fear. Arsenal was a good experience for us and that’s been and gone. So we take on this challenge and yeah, it’s a good challenge and feel it as that and see it as that.”
He added: “We knew we had a tough start going to Arsenal, going to Manchester City – probably the two toughest games to be going to play in the season. So it was disappointing because it felt like that but this is the Premier League. No game is easy.
“It’s just like, okay, let’s move on to the next one. Let’s get better every day and have a belief in the squad because there’s a long, long way to go. We’ve had a good time together as a squad and as staff and now there are new players in and we want to continue that good time."
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Coventry City writer Andy Turner
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