"Little bit concerning" - Sky Sports pundit issues Coventry City claim | OneFootball

Don Goodman exclusively provided his verdict to FLW on Coventry City's start to the 2024/25 Championship campaign

Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman has backed Coventry City to improve upon their slow start to the 2024/25 Championship campaign.

After missing out on play-off contention in the previous season, the Sky Blues had entered the current one with a widespread expectation to compete for promotion following years of steady progress under Mark Robins.

Despite losing creative midfielder Callum O'Hare on a free transfer, Coventry fundamentally bolstered their squad by bringing in Brandon Thomas-Asante, Oliver Dovin and Jack Rudoni.

However, Coventry did not elect to acquire further fresh faces during the final stages of the summer window barring 19-year-old Belgian forward Norman Bassette, who likely represents a long-term investment.

Robins' side fell to a slender 1-0 defeat away to Stoke City on the opening day of the season before edging out newly-promoted Oxford United in a thrilling 3-2 encounter at the CBS Arena. But they claimed just one point from their final two outings prior to September's international break, drawing 1-1 at Bristol City and then losing 1-0 for the second time this term against Norwich City on home soil.

At the time of writing, Coventry find themselves in 17th-place, which is very much at odds with the expectation that had surrounded the club heading into this season.

Don Goodman offers encouraging Coventry City verdict

Despite enduring a difficult opening period, Goodman has cited slow starts in recent years as a reason to suggest that the Sky Blues will pick up form before long.

"Historically, Coventry City have been poor starters recently," Goodman exclusively explained to Football League World.

"Previously, they had to play lots of games away from home to begin the season due to pitch issues and then last year there were lots of new players gelling, which is similar to this season.

"It is a little bit concerning when you look at their talent on paper. I'm surprised.

"They'll be disappointed with the results, but at the same time, their two defeats have been 1-0 and they're not being blown away. By the same token, however, if you want promotion, and Coventry do, they'd need to build some winning momentum soon.

"The result against Norwich will hurt the most, as they'll want the CBS to be a fortress and Norwich hadn't won a game before that this season.

"But it's early days and there won't be any panic. They had five shots on target, created more big chances and had a better xG than Norwich, so they need to be more clinical.

"I'm not worried for Coventry but if they lose their next couple of games we could be having a different conversation. However, history tells us that we should expect them to start winning games and climbing up the table very soon.”

Coventry City have the quality to pick up poor early-season form

As Goodman alludes to, Coventry's underwhelming early-season form is not remotely indicative of any limitations within the playing squad, which is perhaps up there among the most impressive on the eye at Championship level.

Coventry have three prolific forwards in Ellis Simms, Haji Wright and Thomas-Asante, and while Robins will undoubtedly be facing continual selection headaches on how to balance the trio, there is little contesting that he has goals galore at his disposal.

Tatsuhiro Sakamoto is a fine operator on the right-hand side, and Coventry's attack can be expected to be given license from a top-quality midfield engine room. Few second-tier double-pivots can usurp their duo of Victor Torp and Josh Eccles, with Jack Rudoni poised to eventually fill Callum O'Hare's void in advanced midfield following his summer switch from Huddersfield Town - where he made a significant impression last time out.

Coventry should be sound enough defensively, although Robins cannot afford to keep shaking up his options at the back following huge upheaval in that area of the pitch over the last year or so.

Robins himself is an excellent manager who has continually shown his ability to overturn a slow start and maximise the output of his options, so there is every chance that Coventry will remind everyone why they had been tipped to compete for promotion before long.

That said, urgent improvement is required as the standards have now been raised tenfold and Watford, Swansea City and Leeds United await in their next three Championship fixtures.