Are Coventry bottling it? The concerning Championship table since start of December
Coventry are still top of the Championship and boast an eight-point lead over Ipswich Town in third, but there’s no denying that Frank Lampard’s side have hit a rough patch of late.
Having only won two of their last six matches, some Coventry fans are starting to become concerned, especially with the form that Middlesbrough have been in of late.
Their latest loss came on Monday night at Norwich City, a result which now means that Coventry are winless in their last six away matches.
“We gifted them their goals,” Lampard said after the game.
“If you do that in the Championship you lose games. If you defend sloppily and make mistakes, teams score against you.
“We created enough chances to score more goals, but didn’t. Defensive errors are a problem, something we’ve been good at this season.”
The first major stumble that Coventry had this season came at the start of December, when they lost 3-0 to fellow promotion challengers Ipswich Town.
Since that game, Lampard’s side have dropped points in six of their last 10 matches and have only kept two clean sheets.
There’s no denying that Coventry were by far the best team in the Championship during the first half of the season and that was largely thanks to their goalscoring prowess.
Prior to their game against Ipswich, Coventry had scored 50 goals in their first 18 games, averaging a staggering 2.77 goals per game.
However, since the start of December, Coventry have only averaged 1.09 goals per game, which illustrates the drop-off.
Indeed, had the Championship started in December, Coventry would only be 12th in the table right now and would be eight points adrift of the top of the table.
The signs that Lampard was feeling the pressure were evident in the 1-1 draw at Southampton before Christmas, where the Coventry boss goaded the home support and started a post-match brawl.
During that same period where Coventry have dropped off, Middlesbrough, Ipswich and Hull City have all made ground on Lampard’s side.
As things stand, Middlesbrough are Coventry’s closest competitor, having closed the gap to just three points after winning their last four matches.
Coventry and Hull City are both eight points adrift as of writing, although both sides have a game in hand on the league leaders.
The Sky Blues can take some confidence from the fact that four of Ipswich’s next five league matches are away from home. Like Coventry, the Tractor Boys have also struggled to consistently win matches on the road of late.
However, Middlesbrough are arguably playing the best football of their season so far under Kim Hellberg and Hull City are riding the crest of a wave under Sergej Jakirovic right now.
Millwall in fifth could still have something to say about the automatic promotion race too, although they are nine points adrift of Coventry as of writing.
To illustrate Coventry’s struggles of late, here is the Championship form table since the start of December.
Note: all teams have played 11 games unless otherwise stated.
1. Ipswich Town – 23 points, +10GD
2. Middlesbrough – 22 points, +12GD
3. Hull City – 22 points +7GD (10 games)
4. Norwich City – 20 points, 6+GD
5. Watford – 19 points, +4GD
6. Swansea – 19 points, +4GD
7. Millwall – 18 points, +4GD
8. Wrexham – 18 points, +3GD
9. Sheffield United – 16 points, +6GD (10 games)
10. Derby – 16 points, +2GD
11. QPR – 15 points, +4GD
12. Coventry – 15 points, -3GD
13. Bristol City – 14 points, +3GD
14. Leicester City – 14 points, -2GD
15. Birmingham – 14 points, -5GD (12 games)
16. Southampton – 13 points, -3GD
17. Preston – 13 points, -3GD
18. Portsmouth – 13 points, -3GD (9 games)
19. Stoke City – 12 points, -4GD
20. Oxford United – 9 points, -4GD (10 games)
21. Blackburn – 9 points, -6GD
22. Charlton Athletic – 9 points, -6GD (10 games)
23. West Brom – 7 points, -10GD
24. Sheffield Wednesday – 3 points, -16GD (10 games)
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