Despite Coventry’s start to the season – after defeats to Arsenal, Hull, Manchester City and Brighton – the optimism on the training ground has not wavered.
The positive mood at the club’s Ryton base remains the same after Saturday’s win over Sunderland, followed by Brighton’s 5-0 home defeat.
After Taiwo Awoniyi was sent off, Coventry played with 10 men for around 45 minutes and it was accepted that it could have happened in the Premier League – and there was no suspension.
Performances against Hull, Manchester City and Arsenal were believed to be enough evidence that the Sky Blues could challenge in the top flight.
Then, after a 3-1 Carabao Cup defeat by Aston Villa, Lampard tweaked the system to match Nottingham Forest’s back three in a 1-0 win at the City Ground.
“You can’t really control the outcome sometimes, but you can control your mindset to put your mind into the game, it maximizes our strengths and looks at the opponent’s side,” said Lampard, who uses the gym every morning before training at 7.30am.
“There could be different reasons why we did it. We went to Nottingham Forest and adapted their formation because I didn’t want to go there when we were faced with the back four and the problems they can give you with full-backs and 10s.
“Winning games or losing games is not just about me or our formation choice. We know we have a big fight, so if we feel every little percent like that in our preparation, we will do it – but we have to feel it will be right.”
Lampard has always been tactically agile and three wins in five games have seen Coventry climb out of the relegation zone.
The stats also make for interesting reading, especially compared to Hull’s 1-0 defeat in the first home game of the season, which could have been very damaging.
Coventry then had 68.5% possession, but that dropped to 42.6% in the 3-1 win over Sunderland. The Sky Blues also made over 200 passes and over 50 forward passes against the Black Cats.
Their turnovers more than halved in the final third from 128 to just 60 as patience and even pragmatism paid off as the Sky Blues began to understand the demands of the division.
The benching of skipper Matt Grimes, who played a key role in last season’s promotion, was also a big call for Lampard, but was met with understanding from within.
Coventry still have the Premier League’s lowest xG (expected goals) of 8.34, but while the club acknowledge a difficult start with three of their first four away games at Manchester City, Arsenal and Tottenham, lessons have been learned from the disappointing opening weeks.
After Everton, Coventry felt sources would be vital to their survival hopes, with a visit to Leeds to end their run either side of Crystal Palace and Ipswich.
“When you’re in the zone, the joy of winning is very short-lived – you focus on the next game. Complacency and complacency are the biggest dangers in this game,” Lampard said.
“If we can keep our guts even when hard results come, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”