When it comes to problem-solving, Mark Robins is your man.
The Coventry City boss has been faced with a lot of them since he took over at The Coventry Building Society Arena seven years ago.
He’s faced problems as little as conceding a goal, and as big as the threat of liquidation.
Robins has steered the club from League Two all the way through to the Championship, and just last May, they were a penalty shootout away from the Premier League but missed out to Luton Town.
Considering where he’s taken them from and to during such a long and arduous journey, it’s no wonder the club trusted him this season – even when things were bad.
Coventry’s 3-1 defeat against Preston North End at Deepdale on 4 November saw the club slip to 20th in the table on 15 points after 15 games.
Robins knew something wasn’t quite right, but instead of finding excuses, he instead found solutions.
Tatsuhiro Sakamoto was influential to Mark Robins’ formation change
A tried and trusted 3-5-2 formation served the Sky Blues so well last season as they finished fifth in the league against the odds before reaching the play-off final at Wembley.
This season, he played three at the back in the first 15 games of the season, but results forced him to change.
Since implementing a change in formation, his side have picked up 36 points from 19 games and now sit ninth in the table – four points off the top six.
| Coventry City form in 2023/24 (Championship games) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formation | Games played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Average points per game |
| Playing with 3 at the back | 15 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 1 |
| Playing with 4 at the back | 19 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1.9 |
The week after the Preston game, Robins changed to a back four for the goalless draw against Stoke.
But the week later, when his side won 3-0 at Millwall, his eureka moment came.
It’s no fluke that this victory coincided with Robins bringing Tatsuhiro Sakamoto back into the starting XI.
Starting with the Millwall game, the Sky Blues have lost just three of 18 with Sakamoto starting in 15 of those matches.
Sakamoto has started 20 games for Coventry this season, and in those games they have picked up 34 points – an average of 1.7 points per game.
In the 14 games that he hasn’t started, they have picked up 17 points – an average of 1.2 points per game.
At the 15-game stage of this season, Coventry were on 15 points and Sakamoto had started just five times.
Since the formation change in November, they have averaged 1.9 points per game with Sakamoto having started 15 of those games.
Robins can learn from Antonio Conte if he reverts to a three-man defence
Sakamoto has this week been ruled out for the rest of the season in a huge blow for Robins.
As mentioned earlier, however, he’s used to dealing with problems. In the context of his Coventry tenure, this isn’t a small problem, but it isn’t a large one either.
“Winners find solutions, losers find excuses.” This is what former Chelsea manager Antonio Conte told club media back in February 2018 when the Blues were beaten 4-1 at Watford.
Like Robins, Conte has always found solutions – not least in his tenure at Chelsea.
In September 2016, Chelsea found themselves 3-0 down after 40 minutes against London rivals Arsenal. But in the 55th minute, Conte substituted midfielder Cesc Fàbregas for left wing-back Marcos Alonso — a substitution that shaped the rest of Chelsea’s season as they switched from a 4-1-4-1 formation to a 3-4-3.
From the next game, Chelsea strung together 13 straight victories and in May 2017 they were crowned Premier League champions.
Taking off Fabregas wasn’t enforced, but it showed that Conte wasn’t afraid of making big decisions.
In the end, it proved the right one and Chelsea coped without such a decorated player in their team.
Robins’ taking Sakamoto out of his team is enforced, but he has to find solutions and his side will have to learn to cope without him.
Change in tactics for Coventry
Ironically, a defeat to Preston could force Robins into a formation change for the second time this season.
The Sky Blues face a crunch game against West Brom at The Hawthorns on Friday night, and it’s expected to be a cagey affair.
For this reason, along with the fact Japan international Sakamoto will be unavailable, Robins could revert to three at the back.
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