Coventry City match reaction from CoventryLive as we bring you Frank Lampard's verdict on the game and performance from the Sky Blues
Frank Lampard applauds the Coventry City fans after the Premier League victory over Newcastle United
Frank Lampard applauds the Coventry City fans after the Premier League victory over Newcastle United
Frank Lampard was delighted that his Coventry City players finally rediscovered their home form to make the CBS Arena a difficult place for opposition teams once more.
The Sky Blues were used to winning in their own stadium last season but suffered defeats in their opening two games on home soil, only to put that straight with what was an emphatic 4-1 victory in the end against Newcastle United.
Goals early in each half from a Jack Rudoni penalty and Sidiki Cherif finish from a long throw put City on course for the points and despite the Magpies reducing the deficit through Sven Botman with 20 minutes to go, substitutes Ellis Simms and Stephen Mfuni secured the huge three points in the 81st and 86th minutes – the win lifting the team out of the relegation zone and up to 14th in the table.
“It was an outstanding performance in a difficult match,” said Lampard, assessing the sensational 4-1 victory in front of the Monday Night Football Sky cameras.
“They all are but Newcastle are good opposition and we focussed a lot on ourselves. We focussed on trying to have a strong start to the game, which we delivered and scored while also understanding in periods of games against that sort of level of player you have to suffer a bit, be compact at different times and do all the defensive work because you know, specifically their left side is England’s left-back and Harvey Barnes and people running through lines a lot.
“So all those things but we were really good at basics. We were really good at second balls. We were really good at duels and physical moments in the game and sharp and nicked things – Ellis’s goal is a great example because Tats chases it down and gets away. We lose it again, Rudy chased it down and Brandon’s first to it and then we score.
“And it has been trying to be really clear to the players that those actions, those moments in this modern Premier League are critical to what we want to do. It’s not so much pretty patterns at time, just proper work ethic and the players took that on board tonight.”
Three weeks had passed since the Forest win and asked whether he sensed the players were desperate to get out and back up that result, the head coach said: “Yeah and we were focussed because we have to be. Sometimes that’s hard to sense because focus sometimes cannot show itself as that sort of desperate to go here.
“But there’s a good focus about what we’re doing. They’re taking on the information about the game and we try to keep it clear and simple and keep hitting the messages of training well going into the game. The players that have been away and come back trying to get momentum again and it’s not always easy, but we’ve had a long weekend to get ready for this.
“But you never know until you go out there at this level. We’re going to be probably a relative underdog in pretty much every game so we have to maximise everything and I thought today we were on the limit in loads of ways. So it’s a good feeling for the players.
“They need to keep their feet on the ground because the next one’s tough and the one after that will be tough. But we look like a team that it’ll be hard for teams to come here and that’s the feeling that we haven’t quite had in our first CBS games this season.”
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