MATCH THREAD: " COVENTRY v CARDIFF CITY " MATCH THREAD

COVENTRY CITY v CARDIFF CITY
Wednesday 25th November, 7.45pm
Sky Bet Championship
St Andrews Stadium, Birmingham 


Match to be played in front of no supporters, for information on how to watch the match on TV or to stream it - see below



UPDATED 24/11/20

BLUEBIRDS:


For Cardiff City, they are still without Lee Tomlin and Jordi Osei-Tutu, who are long-term absentees with groin and hamstring problems respectively.

Greg Cunningham has had another few days of training under his belt, however, and he will be assessed heading into the midweek clash.

Neil Harris said they are treading carefully with regards to Cunningham, given his recent injury record, as the club want him to be fit for a long stretch in the side heading into a busy period. So whether Wednesday's fixture is too soon for him remains to be seen.

Isaac Vassell also remains out as a long-term absentee.



COVENTRY CITY:

As for the hosts, striker Matt Godden has been out with a foot injury and will play no part against Cardiff, therefore Tyler Walker will likely lead the line.

Jodi Jones and Julien Da Costa are the hosts' two other confirmed absentees for this match.




UPDATED: Tuesday 24/11/20


Greg Cunningham?


NEIL HARRIS:

"He is back in full training. Whether we include him tomorrow we will have to make that decision.

"He has come back from a semi-serious hamstring injury and off the back of his injury last year we have got to make sure we don’t take any risks with him when there’s no immediate need.





CCFC TEAM NEWS

It was confirmed this week that Lee Tomlin will be out for months after undergoing surgery on his groin, while Jordi Osei-Tutu will be missing for at least another four weeks with his hamstring issue.

Greg Cunningham is back training and progressing well following his own hamstring issue, but this weekend will be too soon for his return.

Isaac Vassell is also still absent as a long-term injury continues to take its toll.



Harris is considering starting on loan player Filip Benković from Leicester City away at Coventry City this Wednesday, its been 5 weeks since we signed Benkoovic and he is yet to start. Not injured just was not fully match fit.



COVENTRY CITY:

Top scorer Matty Godden is out injured.


French wing-back Julien Dacosta needs surgery.




How can I watch this match on TV?

This match is live on Cardiff City TV.

About Coventry City

Coventry City Football Club is a professional association football club based in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is nicknamed the Sky Blues because of the colour of their home strip. From 1899 to 2005, Coventry City played at Highfield Road. The 32,609-capacity Ricoh Arena was opened in August 2005 to replace Highfield Road. However, the club have left the Ricoh on two occasions and currently are groundsharing with Birmingham City at St Andrew's. Coventry contest M69 derby matches with local rivals Leicester City.

Coventry City formed as Singers F.C. in 1883 following a general meeting of the Singer Factory Gentleman's club. They adopted their current name in 1898 and joined the Southern League in 1908, before being elected into the Football League in 1919. Relegated in 1925, they returned to the Second Division as champions of the Third Division South and Third Division South Cup winners in 1935–36. Relegated in 1952, they won promotion in the inaugural Fourth Division season in 1958–59. Coventry reached the First Division after winning the Third Division title in 1963–64 and the Second Division title in 1966–67 under the management of Jimmy Hill. In the 1970–71 season, the team competed in the European Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, reaching the second round. Despite beating Bayern Munich 2–1 in the home leg, they had lost 6–1 in the first leg in Germany, and thus were eliminated.

Coventry's only period in the top division to date lasted 34 consecutive years between 1967 and 2001, and they were inaugural members of the Premier League in 1992. They won the FA Cup in 1987, the club's only major trophy, when they beat Tottenham Hotspur 3–2. They suffered further relegations in 2012 and 2017, though did manage to also win the EFL Trophy in 2017. Coventry returned to Wembley in 2018, beating Exeter City in the League Two play-off final. Manager Mark Robins built on this success and led the club to promotion back to the Championship as League One champions in 2020.

Previous Meeting 

We beat Coventry 2-1 in the League Cup in August 2014. The match was played at Sixfields Stadium, which is Northampton Town's home ground.

Team News - Predicted Line-Ups

Coventry City: Marosi, Dabo, McFadzean, Hyam, McCallum, Sheaf, Kelly, Hamer, O'Hare, Shipley, Walker

Cardiff City: Smithies, Bacuna, Morrison, Nelson, Bennett, Pack, Ralls, Hoilett, Wilson, Glatzel, Moore

Form - Last Three Games

Coventry City 0-0 Birmingham City
Watford 3-2 Coventry City
Nottingham Forest 2-1 Coventry City

Millwall 1-1 Cardiff City
Cardiff City 0-1 Bristol City
Cardiff City 3-0 Barnsley

Match Odds

Coventry City - 11/5
Cardiff City - 5/4
Draw - 23/10

Predictions

Post your predictions below 

CCFC TEAM NEWS
It was confirmed this week that Lee Tomlin will be out for months after undergoing surgery on his groin, while Jordi Osei-Tutu will be missing for at least another four weeks with his hamstring issue.

Greg Cunningham is back training and progressing well following his own hamstring issue, but this weekend will be too soon for his return.

Isaac Vassell is also still absent as a long-term injury continues to take its toll.

I've gone for a City win by 2 clear goals

I think we need to play Bacuna back in midfield,now who plays RB is the big question ( Bennet,Baglan,Nelson,White or someone from the under 23s).Midfield hasn’t been right lately and needs adjusting.
Anyway 0-1 to the Bloobirds (Morrisson)

1-1 snooze fest

Coventry can't defend ! Not even to save their lives. If we dom't score I'll eat my hat !!!

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Coventry can't defend ! Not even to save their lives. If we dom't score I'll eat my hat !!!

Pork pie hat?

If we don’t win this game then I’m afraid it spells the end for Harris imho.
I will be optimistic and say 1-3 to the mighty Bluebirds

Must win game for Neil Harris,0-2 win for the BLUEBIRDS,come on city

Anything other than a win and I think Harris will be gone

This should be a win on paper but with both teams defences anything could happen

2-2 draw

Anything other than a win and I think Harris will be gone

This should be a win on paper but with both teams defences anything could happen

2-2 draw

I was going to say the same. Fail to win this and if the board don't sack him, he should walk. If you cant motivate your team to put in a good defensive/attacking performance against a newly promoted team with the worst defence in the league, you never will.

If we don't start with the team that finished against Millwall ill be disappointed. Will also be disappointed not to see benkovic make an appearance as well.

Harris is considering starting on loan player Filip Benković from Leicester City, its been 5 weeks since we signed Benkoovic and he is yet to start. Not injured just was not fully match fit.

Whilst Coventry are struggling and we should be beating them the problem is teams are getting use to idea that we dont go out to win games but not to lose , bthis just gives poor teams encouragement to take us on hence we concede goals when we shouldn't be.... as we offer nothing going forward even when start with two strikers....

COVENTRY INJURY NEWS / MAIN STRIKER STILL OUT


'Blood supply' - Coventry City striker latest ahead of Cardiff City clash

Coventry live

Monday 23rd November 2020


Coventry injury news latest: The Sky Blues continue to struggle to get leading scorer Matty Godden fit for this week's match with Cardiff City


French wing-back Dacosta is also out.


Coventry with only one win in their last ten Champonship games, were hoping for some good news.


Top scorer Matty Godden is out injured.


French wing-back Julien Dacosta needs surgery.



Wes Jobello was named on the bench for the first time in over 12 months

Coventry City's injury list is slowly and surely clearing up but it looks as though star striker Matty Godden will remain sidelined for Wednesday night's clash with Cardiff City.

The Sky Blues had hoped to be boosted by the return of their leading scorer to face Birmingham City on Friday night following a further two weeks of recovery during the international break, but the Blues game came too soon.

Godden limped off with a foot injury against Nottingham Forest and hasn't been able to train or play since.



Asked if Godden is hoped to be fit to face the Bluebirds on Wednesday night, Robins said: "I wouldn't have thought so.

“Matty’s injury is a problematic one. It's a plantar fascia issue and because there’s not a massive blood supply to the area it's difficult to heal.

"So we just have to wait and see with him. And how quickly he comes back depends on him being able to tolerate the pain."

The plantar fascia is a thick, weblike ligament that connects the heel to the front of the foot. It acts as a shock absorber and supports the arch of the foot, helping you walk.




French wing-back Dacosta, meanwhile, suffered a blow last week to his comeback from ankle reconstructive surgery in the summer.

“Julien has undergone surgery again," said the manager.

"It’s horrendous! He was in pain during training so we sent him to see a specialist and they saw a problem and they have tried to correct it, so hopefully that will be it.

“He’s going to be two or three weeks, probably three, hopefully two.

"But that’s the issue we have got. We have never been able to get everyone in and fit together, so we just have to wait.”


Wes Jobello:

There's positive news regarding the French winger in his progress after recovering from a torn ACL, suffered in October last year.

Having played in a series of Under-23 games in the last month or so, the 26-year-old was included in his first senior matchday squad on Friday night when he was named as one of City's nine substitutes.

Although he didn't get any game time in the goalless draw with Birmingham City, the fact that he was included as an option shows he is ready for a gradual return to first team football.

The fans' favourite was hoped to have put his injury nightmare behind him when he bagged back to back stunning goals in pre-season ahead of the new Championship campaign.

The 22-year-old was showing all the signs of being back to his best and finally able to realise his huge potential after recovering from two ACL injuries to his left knee – the first happening at Stevenage in November 2017.

Following his recovery from that setback, Jones broke down almost exactly a year later in November 2018 against Peterborough United with a recurring rupture in the same knee.

More than 12 months on again and the lively forward made a tentative return to action against MK Dons in the Football League Trophy before playing a string of Under-23 games to build up his strength and fitness.

COVID-19 then brought a halt to the season, giving the player longer than anticipated to get himself fighting fit ahead of the 2020/21 campaign in the second tier.

But on Friday, September 4, Jones suffered the same injury for a third time, this time to his right knee, which will now see him out of action for at least the next nine months.

"He's had his operation, which went really well thankfully so he's on the road to recovery," said Robins, speaking about the popular player.

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Im going for 2-0 to us and hopefully more positive football.

All I can say is CCFC will either win or draw ,and CCFC will either lose or draw !!

EFL pundit predicts what will happen in Coventry City’s clash with Cardiff City

By Jake Sanders


24/11/2020

Coventry could find themselves inside Championship relegation-zone by the time they host Cardiff City at St Andrew’s on Wednesday evening.

Mark Robins’ side sit just one point ahead of 22nd-place Wycombe in the standings, and due to the fact the Chairboys host Huddersfield 24 hours earlier, victory would see them move above the Sky Blues.

Coventry have found life tough in the second-tier following their promotion, winning just twice in their opening 12 matches, although eight of their nine points have come on home soil.

It appears than a relegation battle is going to be the likeliest outcome for the Midlands outfit this term, and if the Sky Blues want to avoid an instant return to the League One, then they’re going to need to pick up points from these kind of matches.

Especially with Cardiff enduring a tricky run of results themselves, although the Bluebirds did recuse a point at Neil Harris’ old stomping ground Millwall on Saturday thanks to Kieffer Moore’s late equaliser.

But, if the Bluebirds wanted to be considered as serious top-six contenders, they must get their act together as they’re already eight points behind sixth-place Reading.

This clash brings together two sides that’re finding points extremely hard to come by, but what does Sky Sports EFL expert David Prutton think will happen in Birmingham? He has predicated a share of the spoils in a goalless draw at St Andrew’s.









The Verdict

It’s hard to disagree with Prutton here in terms of it being a low-scoring game.

But Coventry have conceded the most goals in the Championship (23) this season, and I believe that Harris’ side will back up their point at The Den with another solid away performance.

I’m going for a Bluebirds win by two-goals to nil.

Odds

Here are the latest odds ahead of tomorrow night.

Coventry City win: 12/5
Draw: 12/5
Cardiff City: 23/20

Greg Cunningham?


NEIL HARRIS:

"He is back in full training. Whether we include him tomorrow we will have to make that decision.

"He has come back from a semi-serious hamstring injury and off the back of his injury last year we have got to make sure we don’t take any risks with him when there’s no immediate need.

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Bluebirds win

Not expecting a win 1-1 or 2-0 loss cannot see us winning possibly Harris going soon after

BLUEBIRDS:


For Cardiff City, they are still without Lee Tomlin and Jordi Osei-Tutu, who are long-term absentees with groin and hamstring problems respectively.

Greg Cunningham has had another few days of training under his belt, however, and he will be assessed heading into the midweek clash.

Neil Harris said they are treading carefully with regards to Cunningham, given his recent injury record, as the club want him to be fit for a long stretch in the side heading into a busy period. So whether Wednesday's fixture is too soon for him remains to be seen.

Isaac Vassell also remains out as a long-term absentee.



COVENTRY CITY:

As for the hosts, striker Matt Godden has been out with a foot injury and will play no part against Cardiff, therefore Tyler Walker will likely lead the line.

Jodi Jones and Julien Da Costa are the hosts' two other confirmed absentees for this match.

Coventry City manager Mark Robins: “[After Birmingham City last Friday] It was one of those nights where they get into wide positions and put really good balls into the box, and that’s playing to Jutkiewicz’s strength because he’s powerful in the air.

"But we needed to make sure we stop the crosses and then defend them properly when they do come in, and they did that OK.

“There were times when your heart was in your mouth because we didn’t deal with it properly. But this is like a practice for Wednesday night when we will face more of the same.””






Cardiff City manager Neil Harris: "Now, without international break coming up there are no grey areas. We don’t look at that whole period up until January 1 and look at how many points we expect, it’s too far in advance.

"We are looking at it a little bit smaller.

"We are prepared as a group better now than we were two months ago when we came back from a very short break. That was a real kick in the teeth at the time.

"Now, we know exactly where we are and what we’re doing. We know where we have to be better and we know we are improving.

"It’s a tough period, but we are ready for it."

Match facts

Coventry are winless in their last nine league meetings with Cardiff (D3 L6), with this the first such match between the sides since March 2012 (2-2 in Wales).


Cardiff are unbeaten in their last six away league games against Coventry (W3 D3), with their last such visit ending 1-1 in November 2011.


Coventry manager Mark Robins last faced Cardiff in the league in March 2011 when he was Barnsley manager, drawing 2-2 at the Cardiff City Stadium.


Cardiff manager Neil Harris hasn’t faced Coventry since February 2017 when he was Millwall manager, winning 2-0 at the Ricoh Arena.


Cardiff are unbeaten in their last five matches on Wednesday in all competitions (W3 D2) since a 6-1 defeat at QPR in January.

Coventry are winless in their last nine league meetings with Cardiff (D3 L6), with this the first such match between the sides since March 2012 (2-2 in Wales).

Coventry are winless in their last nine league meetings with Cardiff (D3 L6), with this the first such match between the sides since March 2012 (2-2 in Wales).

Had some good times up there. Do you recall that old guy calling us Welsh gits after the game?

Is it on sky tonight, the red button option or just Cardiff TV??

And so it begins....

COVENTRY CITY V CARDIFF CITY

Not much change then

Good ball from pack for a good run by bacuna