Why Frank Lampard and Coventry City need the sharp edge of FA Cup heroes

The appointment of Frank Lampard put the spotlight on Coventry City in the aftermath of the sacking of Mark Robins.

Sky Blues owner Doug King brought the former Chelsea and Everton manager in to replace Robins in November and Lampard is now three matches into life at the CBS Arena.

Wednesday’s Championship defeat at West Bromwich Albion was Lampard’s first in charge of Coventry, where his record is now a draw, a win and a loss.

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Lampard hailed the squad depth he inherited on joining the club and has had to make use of it already as he works towards the tactical approach he hopes will make his team more consistent and drag the Sky Blues up the Championship table.

Coventry had the better volume and quality of chances at the Hawthorns and Lampard remained positive about his available options despite losing 2-0 thanks to a nasty deflection on an Alex Mowatt shot and Karlan Grant’s neat but poorly defended insurance goal late in the game.

Lampard has had to contend with the absence of American international striker Haji Wright, who scored 19 goals last season including three in Coventry’s exhilarating FA Cup run. His nerveless stoppage-time penalty at Wembley completed their heroic recovery from 3-0 down to take Manchester United to extra time in the semi-final.

Wright picked up an ankle ligament injury in Coventry’s draw with Sunderland in November. His physicality and eye for goal have been missed and Lampard told FourFourTwo that while he still believes he inherited a balanced squad, Wright’s absence has been to the Sky Blues’ detriment.

“We’re missing Haji Wright,” he said after Wednesday’s game. “He’s a big player for us and will be a big plus when he comes back, which we hope will be soon.

“I’m happy with the balance of the team and always, when you come in, the first thing is just to improve. What small steps can we take forward each day, each training session, each game? That’s the important thing at the moment.”

Ellis Simms was vital for Coventry last season and in their FA Cup run in particular, but he’s yet to get going under Lampard after shaking off a knock earlier this season. He came off the bench at the Hawthorns as he did in the three matches prior to Lampard’s first win at Millwall last weekend.

With his target man options either out of commission or on the fringes of favour, Lampard has spent his first couple of weeks in charge and his first three games looking at different ways to deploy an attacking unit of four players.

In two out of three matches that’s comprised Jack Rudoni in the hole flanked by Ephron Mason-Clark and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, behind 20-year-old Norman Bassette at centre forward.

The four have combined well in periods of those games and Lampard has liked what he’s seen. But he knows there must be more to come.

“It does take time to understand the attributes of the players,” Lampard told FourFourTwo at the Hawthorns.

“We’ve got two and a half days between games as well, so we’ll have to see what that looks like. But it’s important that we get to that point very quickly of understanding them.

“I’ve understood a lot in two weeks but I’ll understand more over this next period because of the amount of games we’ve got coming.”