Decide or die and Doug King’s crucial Coventry City transfer insight

In a commanding first half at The Hawthorns, goals from Grady Diangana and Mikey Johnston gave the Baggies a comfortable lead just beyond the half-hour mark. After the half, the Sky Blues came out swinging and gave themselves and the nearly 2,000 travelling supporters hope when Kasey Palmer was tripped by Cedric Kipre in the area. With around 20 minutes remaining, Haji Wright converted the ensuing penalty.

However, the guests wasted the opportunities that presented themselves and returned home empty-handed for the second straight Friday. These are a few of the game’s most important talking points.

Create or destroy time

The upcoming games will decide whether Coventry City has what it takes to continue in the play-off race or not. The team has reached a pivotal juncture in their season. Undoubtedly, some fans have already given up on the Sky Blues after consecutive losses to two of their competitors for promotion. After their defeat at West Brom, City is now eight points behind fifth-place Albion, who appear to have the depth to sustain their challenge for a top-six finish, and four points behind sixth-place Hull heading into this Saturday’s games. On the other side, Mark Robins’ team is overworked because of three key players who are injured.

The manager acknowledges that his team is a “match for anyone” in the division with everyone healthy. However, the terrible truth is that time is running out and he doesn’t have that luxury.

Doug’s lesson

Although many, including Robins, will have been upset that the team didn’t bolster itself more during the January transfer window to better withstand the demands of the second half of the season, the scenario is not totally unforeseeable. Since joining the team, Victor Torp has mostly been a huge success, adjusting to the level fast and blending in with the group in an amazing way. In the meantime, Peterborough’s insistence on a “loan back” after purchasing Ephron Mason-Clark was a major letdown, especially considering that Tatsu Sakamoto would be out for the rest of the season. There’s always a chance that cutting yourself short will hit you in the rear, and that’s precisely what has happened. Doug King needs to learn from that for next windows, especially January, when there’s a chance to assess the situation and make necessary additions. Of course, it’s never that simple, and the days of City bringing players in just to make up the numbers are long gone. Regardless of the person they sign, there needs to be a quality improvement, which is difficult to achieve in the interim.

The failure of the formation change, which was attempted as a substitute for Sakamoto’s absence, was entirely Robins’ fault. But the majority of the fault must rest with the players for not following their directions and the well-planned strategy to neutralize Albion’s threat. They succeeded in doing so in the second half, but they stumbled to the half, putting on what the manager called a “passive” display. Afterwards, they were straightened out and eventually gave it their best. It’s interesting to note that the Baggies’ two goals were the result of City’s wing-backs being outmuscled and their incapacity to contain the second phase of the attacks when the ball was in the box. Regarding the box midfield strategy, which has occasionally worked effectively for the Sky Blues in previous years, Robins acknowledged that it was an ineffective approach. He stated that Callum O’Hare and Kasey Palmer’s failure to “drop round” and push higher up the pitch was the primary cause of that. That’s the reason Haji Wright took O’Hare’s position at halftime; following that, City was much more dangerous and the superior team in the second half.

Unable to use a banjo to open a barn door

Ultimately, City was incredibly unfortunate to leave the game empty-handed, even though they most likely didn’t deserve to win. They had plenty of decent opportunities to score during open play in both half, but it was just one of those evenings when they kept missing the mark. They produced 17 tries, just three of which needed the goalkeeper to step in, compared to the hosts’ meager seven attempts, two of which found the back of the net and the target. In the first forty-five minutes, Kasey Palmer, Josh Eccles, and Ellis Simms missed opportunities; in the second half, Torp, Palmer, and Simms again missed opportunities to take advantage of excellent shooting situations.

With three or four missed chances four days after his clinical hat-trick on Monday night, Simms will have gone from hero to zero in the eyes of some fans. The boy obviously has a high work rate, puts forth a lot of effort, and is determined, but just when we all expected his confidence to skyrocket, his finishing touch let him down. Once more, he had a good connection with Palmer, who sent him through several times. Palmer demonstrated that he could make the runs and knew where to go, but he lacked a little polish and dexterity, especially when hitting the ball from just inside or outside the box.