Coventry City received a baptism of fire from reigning Premier League champions Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium in a chastening 3-0 defeat. Goals from Kai Havertz, Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard saw the Sky Blues succumb to their first defeat of the new season.
The Sky Blues’ next match is at home to fellow promoted side Hull City, so what can be learned following yesterday’s loss?
All 3 goals conceded were avoidable
City’s downfall began in the 15th minute, after Milan Van Ewijk’s blocked clearance led to a neat finish by Havertz, with an excellent assist from Riccardo Calafiori. The biggest frustration was that Van Ewijk failed to spot Bobby Thomas, who had provided good positional awareness and was unmarked, and the goal would surely have been avoided had that pass been made. Arsenal’s ruthless pressing brutally exposed City defensively.
The home side doubled their advantage 8 minutes later, following an Ellis Simms header which failed to find a Sky Blue shirt, and once again, Arsenal breezed past a hapless Sky Blues defence with Christos Tzolis’ low cross, only parried by goalkeeper Carl Rushworth, and fortune favoured Saka with a simple tap-in.
Worse was to come in the 49th minute when Ødegaard’s scuffed shot somehow wrong-footed Rushworth, giving Arsenal their third goal
Manager Frank Lampard will be aware that each of Arsenal’s goals stemmed from individual errors, issues that must be addressed before the crucial match against Hull City
City too conservative when in possession
Ellis Simms, worked tirelessly up front in City’s first half, but received very little support from teammates. The Sky Blues received an unwanted statistic of no touches or tackles in the opposition box for 45 minutes, since Opta has been logging data in 2007. This shows the dominance Arsenal had. City’s first tackle in the Arsenal penalty area occurred in the 69th minute when Arsenal were already 3 goals in front.
Too often, City’s build-up play was languid and allowed Arsenal to put men behind the ball to tighten their grip on the game.
City showed desire despite trailing 3-0
When Arsenal increased their lead to 3-0 after 49 minutes, you would be hard-pressed not to find a Coventry Supporter fearing the worst. However, the Sky Blues did show plenty of fight and desire to repel any Arsenal attack. Indeed, the performances of Bobby Thomas and new signing Aurèle Amenda showed promise despite the quality of Arsenal’s attack, with blocks aplenty.
Lampard brought on 3 substitutes in 20 minutes, with Danish midfielder Victor Torp making his first Premier League appearance, coming on for Caleb Yirenkyi. Likewise, in the 70th minute, Jack Rudoni replaced Brandon Thomas-Assante, and in the 82nd minute, another new signing, Gustavo Hamer, was brought on for Loum Tchaouna.
Gustavo Hamer on pitch vs Arsenal (Photo by Catherine Ivill – AMA via Getty Images)
The Sky Blues registered their first shot on target in the 85th minute, following a beautiful inswinging cross from Torp, but Rudoni failed to connect with his head, and the chance went begging. While the match was all but over, City created a chance, showing that with a bit more belief, they could’ve registered a morale-boosting goal to provide a semblance of momentum ahead of next Saturday’s home match to Hull.
To put things into perspective, Coventry were playing the current Premier League champions Arsenal, who delivered a performance of pure class and ruthlessness. Indeed, the Sky Blues need to show more belief in their play, the very belief that got them promoted back to the Premier League after 25 long years, if they have any chance of prolonging their stay in the top flight this season.