Midweek football at the Turf against Coventry
11/25/2024 05:37 PM
Having come through last Saturday's test at Bristol City with all three points, we are back at the Turf tomorrow night under the lights for the visit of Coventry.
We go into the game, as we did Saturday's, in fourth place in the table. We did come back from Bristol in third place but Leeds moved back above us yesterday when they scored a late winner at Swansea.
With both Sunderland and Sheffield United drawing, it's allowed Leeds to go top on goal difference and left us three points behind all of them. I suppose we could point to the ridiculous decision that robbed us at West Brom but maybe the three teams above us could all point to something similar.
Everyone is pointing at our defensive record and for good reason. Just six goals conceded. That's three less than Sheffield United and five or more less than any other team in the Championship. We've kept ten clean sheets and that's helped us pick up so many of our points with four 0-0 draws and four 1-0 wins.
It's at the other end where we've had the concerns. Only nineteen goals scored. Nine teams have scored more including tomorrow's opponents. That nineteen looks worse when you consider that nine of them were scored in the first two games before the big turnover of players; since we've scored ten in fourteen games.
If we can continue as we are defensively, and step up the attacking threat, then we are going to be a team to be reckoned with, but we do have to improve our goal output, of that there is no doubt.
He'll be some way away from being match fit and it seems the others returning from injury might be some way behind him. With no updates since Bristol City, we must hope that we haven't picked up any more injuries; the one concern is Josh Brownhill who came off before the end.
The team at Bristol City was: James Trafford, Connor Roberts, CJ Egan-Riley, Maxime Estève, Lucas Pires, Josh Cullen, Josh Brownhill, Jaidon Anthony, Hannibal, Luca Koleosho, Jay Rodriguez. Subs: Václav Hladký, John Egan, Bashir Humphreys, Owen Dodgson, Han-Noah Massengo, Josh Laurent, Jeremy Sarmiento, Nathan Redmond, Andréas Hountondji.
Not too long ago we'd have been expecting Mark Robins to bring his Coventry team to the Turf but over two weeks ago he was sacked after bringing them up from League Two and reaching the play-offs in the 2022/23 season.
There hasn't been an appointment as yet although Frank Lampard remains favourite, and that leaves caretaker Rhys Carr in charge. He's been so for two games so far and drawn both, but they couldn't have been much tougher games against the teams now in second and third place. They came from two behind to draw 2-2 at Sunderland before the recent international break and last Saturday returned with another 2-2 draw, this time twice coming from behind twice against Sheffield United.
Haji Wright and Jack Rudoni scored their goals at Sunderland; on Saturday they came from Norman Bassette and former Claret Bobby Thomas (pictured below) who netted his second goal of the season having opened the scoring in their 3-0 win at Middlesbrough.
Besides that win at Middlesbrough and the draw at Sunderland, they've also drawn away games against Bristol City, Watford and QPR but have been beaten at Stoke, Leeds and Preston.
They've found goalscoring a little easier than we have, although not too many. They've scored 22 with Wright having got seven of them but no other player with more than two. Woth 17 points from their 16 games, they currently sit 17th in the table, ahead of Oxford and Plymouth on goal difference.
They will be without leading scorer Wright again for this game, as they were on Saturday, as he recovers from an ankle injury. They will though have both Jake Bidwell and Jamie Allen available. Both returned from injury via the bench on Saturday, Bidell after seven weeks out.
The Coventry team for that draw against Sheffield United was: Bradley Collins, Joel Latibeaudiere, Bobby Thomas, Luis Binks, Milan van Ewijk, Josh Eccles, Ben Sheaf, Jack Rudoni, Jay Dasilva, Victor Torp, Norman Bassette. Subs: Oliver Dovin, Jamie Allen, Kai Andrews, Jake Bidwell, Liam Kitching, Ephron Mason-Clark, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, Ellis Simms, Brandon Thomas-Asante.
LAST TIME THEY WERE HERE
January 2023, six wins on the bounce since losing at Sheffield United and Coventry were the first visitors to Turf Moor in the new year with us having won away at Swansea and Bournemouth, the second of them in the FA Cup.
Coventry were probably the better of the two sides in the first half but we were able to get in for half time with the score still 0-0 although thankful for Jamie Allen missing two really good chances.
In fairness to Beyer, it was probably the only mistake he made in the entire game and he went on to become the hero eight minutes from time when he headed home the only goal of the game from a corner on the right, his first, and for now his only, goal in professional football.
With this, a seventh successive win, we were now five points clear of Sheffield United in second place but significantly sixteen points ahead of third place Watford.
The teams were;
Burnley: Arijanet Muric, Connor Roberts, Jordan Beyer, Charlie Taylor, Ian Maatsen, Josh Cullen, Jack Cork (Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson ht), Manuel Benson (Nathan Tella 60), Josh Brownhill, Anass Zaroury (Samuel Bastien 89), Jay Rodriguez (Ashley Barnes 61). Subs not used: Bailey Peacock-Farrell, CJ Egan-Riley, Scott Twine.
Coventry: Ben Wilson, Michael Rose, Callum Doyle, Jake Bidwell, Fankaty Dabo, Gustavo Hamer, Ben Sheaf, Jamie Allen, Brooke Norton-Cuffy (Jack Burroughs 90), Kasey Palmer, Viktor Gyökeres. Subs not used: Simon Moore, Cian Tyler, Liam Kelly, Josh Reid, Ryan Howley, Harrison Nee.
LAST TWENTY SEASONS
2004/05
Home: D 2-2, Blake(pen), Branch
Away: W 2-0, Oster, Moore
2005/06
Home: W 4-0, G O’Connor, Thomas, Akinbiyi(2)
Away: L 0-1
2006/07
Away: L 0-1
Home: L 1-2, McVeigh
2007/08
Away: W 2-1, Akinbiyi, Blake
Home: W 2-0, McCann, Caldwell
2008/09
Away: L W 3-1, Duff, Blake, Eagles
Home: D 1-1, Eagles
2010/11
Away: L 0-1
Home: D 2-2, Rodriguez(2)
2011/12
Away: W 2-1, Wallace, Austin
Home: D 1-1, Austin
2022/23
Away: W 1-0, Tella
Home: W 1-0, Beyer
