Frank Lampard namechecked two of Newcastle United’s most dangerous players after his Coventry City side claimed a 4-1 home win on Monday night.
It made it back-to-back Premier League wins for the Sky Blues either side of the international break as they moved out of the relegation zone and up to 14th in the table.
Meanwhile, Newcastle remained 11th, suffering a successive 4-1 away defeat. The Magpies dominated possession and shots but allowed the game to run away from them in the end, with two late strikes from the hosts putting the game to bed.
Harvey Barnes in action at Coventry City.placeholder image
Harvey Barnes in action at Coventry City. | Getty Images
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Reflecting on the match, Lampard said: “Outstanding performance, difficult match as they all are, but we've also got a good opposition. We focus a lot on ourselves, we focus on trying to have a strong start to the game and we delivered and scored.”
Lampard went on to highlight what he felt was Newcastle’s biggest threat on Monday evening - their left-hand side of Lewis Hall and Harvey Barnes.
“Also understanding there are periods of the game against that sort of level of player, you have to suffer a bit, be compact at different times, do all the defensive work, particularly their left side,” he added. “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.”
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Coventry led 1-0 at half-time thanks to Jack Rudoni’s early penalty but Newcastle were largely on top after that without having anything to show for it. But a couple of half-time changes from the home side saw them double their advantage within minutes of the restart through Sidiki Cherif.
“At half-time we had to sort a few tactical details,” Lampard explained. “We had to sort out their left-hand side. Lewis Hall and Harvey Barnes, we had to get that bit right and explain to the players that we are always going to be a threat in transition, so we had to get that first pass right and sometimes we were a bit overkeen.”
While Sven Botman’s strike from distance made it 2-1 and set up a potentially nervous end to the match for Coventry, Lampard’s changes saw them secure their first home win of the Premier League season with late goals from substitutes Ellis Simms and Stephen Mfuni.