Coventry City: Haji Wright will feel no shame in Mark Robins sacking | OneFootball

The American has been the Sky Blues' strongest attacking outfit thus far

The first three months of the 2024/25 campaign have been incredibly underwhelming from a Coventry City perspective.

In the previous two seasons, the Sky Blues had more-than proven why they were earmarked as a side that would challenge for the play-offs as a minimum requirement.

Despite losing the services of Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer in the summer of 2023, the club swiftly reinvested a large proportion of the upfront £35m sum for the creative and clinical duo, which included the acquisition of USMNT international, Haji Wright.

And, after enduring a slow start when adjusting to the rigours of the Championship after moving to the CBS Arena for a club-record £7.7m fee, Wright would eventually reach a respectable tally of 16 goals and seven assists in 44 second tier outings.

It would also be fair to say that the 26-year-old is likely to feel way less regret in terms of individual performances throughout the current campaign too, despite Doug King dismissing long-serving boss Mark Robins last week.

The expectation levels surrounding Coventry have reached profound heights in recent seasons, with many once again tipping the West Midlands outfit to follow up their recent play-off final and run to the FA Cup semi-final with yet another successful campaign.

And, although a slow start to the season hadn't exactly become an uncommon theme with the Sky Blues under the guidance of the modern-day legend, there has been a completely different vibe surrounding the club as a result of the aforementioned theme occurring for a third successive campaign.

But, from an individual perspective, Wright has been one of the main beacons of light in a 15-game period plagued with inconsistent results and team performances.

The American is by far and away the club's most potent attacking outlet so far this campaign with seven goals in total - six of which came prior to Robins' sacking on November 7th - with Ellis Simms and Jack Rudoni sat behind him with an underwhelming tally of two apiece.

This also sees him rank as the third-highest scorer in the Championship prior to the November international break behind the impressive duo of West Brom's Josh Maja (9) and Norwich City's electric playmaker, Borja Sainz (11).

Furthermore, Wright also leads the way in numerous statistics ahead of his Sky Blues teammates, creating the highest number of big chances (6), xG per 90 (0.56), Shots on Target per 90 (1.2) and Shots per 90 (3.4).

On top of this, City's number 11 has also been responsible for 14 of the club's 65 shots on target, as well as overperforming his current xG and npXG by a figure of 0.63.

Coventry City need Ellis Simms to also step up to the plate

Whilst Wright has been far from perfect in every encounter, it is clear that the 15-time international needs a number of his teammates in attacking and creative areas to step up to the mark.

Towards the back end of last season, he and Simms were pinpointed as one of the most lethal combinations across the second tier. But, for one reason or another, it hasn't clicked for the former Everton forward at the beginning of this season.

As previously highlighted, Simms has only notched two strikes so far this campaign, underperforming his xG by 1.2, as well as missing a tally of seven big chances - the sixth-highest amount in the Championship.

In terms of the amount of shots per game, Simms is creating just 0.1 in this field less than his strike partner, but Wright's clinical edge has shone through and then some.

It's clear that if there is one player who feels they couldn't have given anymore to keep Robins in the CBS dugout, it is definitely the Sky Blues' club-record signing.