Coventry City: Frank Lampard talks up Ruben Selles, Hull City challenge | OneFootball

Frank Lampard has admitted the tactical difficulty of facing a Hull City side who have played just one league game under new boss Ruben Selles.

Coventry City boss Frank Lampard has spoken about the difficulty of facing an unpredictable Hull City side, with the Tigers only playing their second league game under Ruben Selles at the CBS Arena.

The Sky Blues host Hull in the West Midlands on Saturday afternoon, with Lampard looking for an immediate response following their 2-0 away defeat at West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday evening.

The former Chelsea midfielder’s side could have counted themselves unlucky to not pick up any points at The Hawthorns, after recording an expected goals (xG) of 2.24, compared to Albion’s 0.47.

With wasteful finishing on show, Coventry will be looking to make up for it with a clinical display against the second tier basement boys, but Lampard has played up the unpredictable nature of the Championship, and the challenge of facing a Hull City side with fresh ideas and a new playing style.

Frank Lampard’s take on Hull City challenge

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, Lampard insisted the unpredictable nature of the second tier means Coventry have to take one game at a time, despite hectic fixture congestion approaching.

As reported by Sky Sports, Lampard said: “We do deserve to be where we are, that’s the table and in this league, I think more than any other, in my opinion, means the table means nothing, you only have to look at the results every matchday, and you see ones that completely surprise you, teams at the bottom beating teams at the top, it really is irregular in that sense.

“It means you just have to focus on each game through this busy period.”

On Coventry’s opponents, Hull, the 46-year-old conceded the difficulty of readying his team for what the Tigers will bring to the CBS Arena on Saturday.

Lampard added: “In the Championship you’ve had a team like Hull fighting for play-offs last season, not making it and now they sit bottom but I think you have to, from the outside, disregard that position, understand they still have good players, understand they have a new manager with a new idea and just take the game on its face value.

“The difficulty with this is preparing only seeing one game with the new manager, so there’s things we might expect or think that’s going to happen that might not, so in those cases it’s generally better to focus on ourselves which is what we’re doing.”

Hull City clash will test Coventry City’s resolve under Frank Lampard

It’s the first time in his Coventry tenure that Lampard will have to bounce back from a defeat, and it will provide a difficult test with Ruben Selles searching for his first win as Hull boss.

With not much of an idea of how the visitors will set up and the style of play they will adopt, Coventry will have to figure their gameplan out during the match, which will be a difficult challenge for Lampard to instruct his players from the touchline.

If the Sky Blues want to push for a promotion charge into the top six then they must respond this weekend with all three points, otherwise Sky Blues supporters may begin to think that nothing has changed in the wake of Mark Robins’ departure.