Brau beaten, broken record and not a beauty – Coventry City match analysis.

Coventry City match commentary from CoventryLive, as Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner discusses some of the key talking points from the 1-1 draw at Charlton.

Coventry City lost more ground at the top of the Championship as their festive slump continued with a 1-1 draw against struggling Charlton.

Ellis Simms’ early goal was cancelled out by Joe Rankin-Costello’s second-half equaliser, as the Sky Blues lost two points at The Valley. It continued a mid-season slump in which the early pacesetters had taken just nine points from 21 available in a span of seven games since the beginning of December.

A draw allowed second-placed Ipswich to cut the deficit to eight points with a win over Oxford, while Middlesbrough sits another point back after wasting an opportunity to take advantage by losing at Derby. Here are some of the game’s key talking points.

Broken record

Frank Lampard stated that making six changes and switching formations was more about combating weariness in his increasingly thin squad than it was a tactical move to counter the opposition.

With Victor Torp the latest player to be sidelined due to injury, the Sky Blues manager named only eight substitutes on his bench rather than nine, revealing his squad depth once more.

To avoid sounding like a broken record, fresh legs in the transfer window can’t come soon enough to help relieve the load of injuries, individual and collective dips in form and energy levels from a bunch of players who, for the second game in a row looked on their knees come the final whistle.

Selection spoke volumes

One of the changes on the day was Kaine Kesler-Hayden replacing Miguel Brau at left wing-back, which said volumes about where Lampard believes certain players are at this point in time.

With Jay Dasilva suspended, Jake Bidwell was given an opportunity against Swansea on Boxing Day before being replaced by Brau against Ipswich.

However, the fact that the City manager chose a right-footed player over both known left-sided specialists says a lot.

It wasn’t the answer, either, with Kesler-Hayden fairly indifferent on the day and then suffering an ankle injury and having to go off.

Kaine Kesler Hayden of Coventry City with a shot on goal

Brau beaten

Fans had been eager to see what Brau could provide since Dasilva was sent out at Southampton, and the Spaniard was handed his chance against Ipswich on Monday. When he replaced Kesler-Hayden just after the hour, he did little to help his situation.

Seven minutes later, he gave Charlie Kelman a run at goal with a clumsy back header, and then came out second best in a shoulder barge with the striker, leaving the full-back on his backside as his opponent ran through on goal to get his shot off, with Carl Rushworth parrying his effort into the path of Joe Rankin-Costello for an easy tap in.

Fortunately for Lampard, Dasilva will return for Birmingham on Sunday.

Miguel Brau of Coventry City

Pressure mounts on Haji

Aside from the fact that City’s roster is just too small to handle the sheer frequency of games and the rigours of Championship football at this time of year, several players are suffering from form slumps.

Jack Rudoni looked much brighter than usual when he came on in the second half, as he continues to strive for his early season spark.

However, Haji Wright continued to appear uneasy as the USA striker extended his goalless streak to 12 games.

It could have easily gone his way at The Valley, where he had two or three great chances, but his off-the-ball effort is more concerning, and the response of the supporters when he was substituted late on by Ephron Mason-Clark said volumes.

Leaving the ground on the opposite side of the dugouts, the striker had to stroll around the outside of the pitch and straight in front of the away stand, where many fans appeared to pay him little attention.

Haji Wright of Coventry City.

Lampard on partnership

Regarding Wright and Simms’ performance as a front two, the prevailing view tends to be that we could have seen more.

Simms took his goal incredibly well, stroking it into the bottom corner with a beautifully executed first-time strike, and put in a solid performance throughout.

“Yeah, I thought they did pretty well,” Lampard stated when asked for his view.”I believe that on paper, when we play with the back three, they can be a great threat.

I anticipated Charlton would be aggressive off the ball, which creates a one-on-one situation, and when it’s Haji and Ellis, you know you can get it into them and then they can possibly cause problems for teams.”

He added, however: “Did I want to give them more of a problem with it? Possibly yes, but when you think Ellis got his goal, Haji goes through a couple of times and has a shot that’s saved and backed up by Jamie Allen.

And it was those moments I was hoping for and to keep competing with their big boys at the back of the pitch to give us height at set pieces. So the game wasn’t beautiful, it wasn’t beautiful for Haji and Ellis and it wasn’t beautiful for us the same.

I didn’t expect beauty today.”He added, however: “Did I want to give them more of a problem with it? Possibly yes, but when you think Ellis got his goal, Haji goes through a couple of times and has a shot that’s saved and backed up by Jamie Allen.

And it was those moments I was hoping for and to keep competing with their big boys at the back of the pitch to give us height at set pieces. So the game wasn’t beautiful, it wasn’t beautiful for Haji and Ellis and it wasn’t beautiful for us the same. I didn’t expect beauty today.”

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