Coventry City manager Chris Coleman has uttered yet another evergreen football cliché when he said he is taking it 'one game at a time'
Coleman was responding to the talk surrounding the Sky Blues next three games, all against teams in the bottom, with 'City's next opponents, Scunthorpe being the highest placed of the there three at 17th. The other two are Peterborough right at the foot of the table, and Plymouth one place above in 23rd.
Speaking about the fans expectations of 9 points from the three games, Mr Coleman urged caution saying, “I can’t deny that we haven’t been looking at these next games coming up and all the ifs, buts and maybes, but what we have done well is concentrate on the next one. A classic example was when we lost to Newcastle, we never had a big inquest as to why we conceded goals, we just said it is gone and done.
“The stage we are at now in the season, it is not going to help us so we have to concentrate on the next one and make sure we get the points, which is what we have got to do against Scunthorpe on Saturday. If it is a messy 1-0 and three points then we are still in with a chance of doing something really, really good this season, so we have got to concentrate on Scunthorpe."
“Everyone will look at our fixtures over the next month but we have to concentrate on the next one. How are we going to turn them over and can we get three points to keep the run going?”
However, Mr Coleman is fully aware that just because a team is in a lowly position in the league table, it doesn't mean they will just lie down and accept defeat. It will be up to him to motivate his players to put in the required performance in order the get maximum points, he said, “When you are playing a team like Nottingham Forest the occasion galvanises everyone, the players and supporters, because we all know we have to be at our max to turn this mob over because they are a good team, and the expectation is on them."
He continued, "But with these games the expectation is on us, which is what we found against QPR when they came here having lost four on the bounce and everyone thought it would be a walk in the park. We knew it wouldn’t be. The pitch is not playing great, it was scrappy and we weren’t at our best but we got the three points."
“Scunthorpe might be the same, I don’t know, but we are not going to prepare to play in a low key game. We will prepare the best. we can for what will be a tough task for us.”
Reflecting on the poor display Coventry City produced at Scunthorpe earlier in the season, Coleman said, “They beat us at their place 1-0 and it wasn’t a good performance from us, although we had four glorious opportunities to score and didn’t, but I think we have come a long way since then in terms of the work ethic of the team and the camaraderie and team spirit, which is fantastic, and we have got to maintain that.
“They are desperate for points so it is a big game for us. They have had some good results away from home, battering Derby 4-1, so it won’t be easy.”