The Case For The Defence....

Well, February's collecting of ten points from twelve on offer barely saw Coventry City move up the table, and, while no points from the last nine available to us might not have seen us drop down to far either, the gap between Coventry City and the relegation zone is now far to close for comfort (A mere six points), with the gap between us and the top six as good as unassailable....

Every season we seem to suffer from varying degrees of collapse anytime between January and March (Usually lasting 'til the end of the season), but supporters had hoped that under Ray Ranson's chairman-ship, and Chris Coleman's management, we might just avoid it this time around. Sadly, it looks as if those hopes are in vain.

The last four games have seen mistake after mistake cost us any chance of a Wembley appearance in the F.A. Cup, and/or a visit their for the play-offs too. The confidence that was gained from being unbeaten in February is probably as good as lost now, and Doncaster at home on Saturday isn't exactly the easiest of fixtures to begin the re-building process.

After a shaky start to the season, where, after beating Derby on the opening day of the season, they managed only one win in their next fifteen games (Guess who that was against?!), and were also knocked out of the League Cup by Notts County. They have, more recently, won ten and drawn one of their last fifteen games, and are now above us in the table.

The defence needs to go back to getting the basics right, as just about every one of the eight goals Coventry City have conceded in the last four matches has been avoidable, and the errors have to stop.

v Sheffield United: Goal 1: The first 'goal' conceded of the current dismal run, against Sheffield United, though there probably wasn't another person in the Ricoh that believed the ball had crossed the line .... except for the man that makes the decisions (Who is above criticism, however idiotic his decision making is). Goal 2: The unmarked Chris Morgan heads home to make the scorline 2-0. Only yards out, quite where his marker was, only his marker knows.

v Chelsea: Goal 3: A very poor header from Turner, followed by the weakest of challenges by Dann, allowed Drogba a fairly simple goal. As if playing the team second in the Premiership isn't difficult enough, gifting them goals can only lead to defeat! Goal 4: Beuzelin lost possession to easily just outside the Chelsea penalty area, and within seconds The Blues had scored again, this time through Alex. The fact that nobody seemed able to keep up with Chelsea's players is a big concern, showing that the side badly lacks pace.

v Bristol City: Goal 5: McAllister's cracking shot from 20+ yards out opened the scoring for Bristol City. Goal 6: Beuzelin lost possession to easily from a free-kick, and within seconds BC had scored as Coventry were caught out on the break again, this time through Johnson. The fact that nobody seemed able to keep up with Bristol City's players is a big concern, showing that the side badly lacks pace.

v Preston: Goal 7: A Wallace free-kick was headed into his own goal rather than out for a corner by Ben Turner. Turner quite clearly claimed to have been shoved, though the referee obviously didn't agree. Goal 8: A poor free kick from Westwood landed at the feet of Parkin, who, despite his massive frame, somehow managed to out-pace the Coventry defence and score. The fact that nobody seemed able to keep up .... etc.

In Dann, Turner, McPake, and Ward, the club has a decent list of central defenders, but they just don't seem to be a decent defence (Often looking shaky even in our good runs of form). If they don't improve over the last ten fixtures, a couple of those players could find themselves surplus to requirements in the summer, to be replaced by faster models....

Teams for the last three league defeats (Where each match report, had I written one, would have said: 'played OK, conceded soft goals, lost'):

v Sheffield United: Westwood, Wright, Fox (Osbourne 46), Dann, Turner, Henderson, Doyle (Beuzelin 63), Gunnarsson, Bell, Eastwood, Simpson (Morrison 63). SNU: Marshall, Ward.

v Bristol City: Westwood, Wright, Hall, McPake, Turner, Henderson (Simpson 78), Beuzelin, Doyle, Eastwood (Bell 60), Morrison, Best. SNU: Marshall, Osbourne, Ward.

v Preston: Westwood, Wright, Hall, Turner, Dann, Henderson, Beuzelin, Doyle (Gunnarsson 82), Bell, Eastwood (Simpson 79), Morrison. SNU: Marshall, Osbourne, Ward.