Coventry City are currently at the fourth position in the 2021-22 EFL Championship season, having accumulated 30 points in their first 17 games. They have fallen out from the title race and the race for direct promotion as they are eight points behind second-placed Fulham and ten behind leaders Bournemouth. They have been strong going forward but have recently faced some defensive problems in the last couple of months and have kept just one clean sheet in the last eight games. In this post, we will have a look at some of the defensive stats for Coventry as well as the defensive dashboards of the centre-backs used by manager Mark Robins.
Mark Robins has preferred playing a system with three centre-backs and was quite successful in the first few games of the season. They had kept four clean sheets in the first nine league games but have only kept one since then. Their overall defensive record has not been decent, as they have conceded 21 goals, which is more than 10 other teams in the division. Viktor Gyokeres and Matt Godden have been impressive for them in the attack, scoring nine and six goals respectively. Kyle McFadzean, Jake Clarke-Salter, and Dominic Hyam have been the three centre-backs who have started most games for the Sky Blues.
The above viz shows the xGA (expected goals against) stats for all the teams playing in the Championship. A lower value of xGA depicts a better and strong defense for any team. Coventry City have an xGA of 20.90 and have conceded 21 goals as well. Only eight teams have a lower xGA than them. They have been conceding goals regularly, and have conceded 14 goals of the 21 in their last eight games, and had conceded just seven in the first nine games.
The above viz shows the defensive dashboard for centre-back Jake Clarke-Salter in his league games for Coventry City this season. The black line shows the average of the particular stat for all players in the division. It can be seen that he has been better than average in all of the stats except the recoveries in the opposition’s half. He has proved to be a rock in defense and has formed a great trio with Hyam and McFazdean.
The above viz shows the defensive dashboard for Dominic Hyam for this season. It can be seen that even he has been much better than the average in most statistics other than defensive duels. He has been disciplined with very few fouls committed and has earned a low number of yellow cards.
Kyle McFazdean has been one of the best defenders in the entire Championship division this season. He has been better than most other defenders in the league and has shown immense presence at the back. His partnership with Hyam on one side, and Clarke-Salter on the other, has helped Coventry have a great season so far. Even with these in-form defenders, they have been leaking goals in the last eight games. Manager Mark Robins will hope to start keeping clean sheets again, as he hopes for a top-six finish and also promotion to the Premier League.
