Coventry boss Mark Robins makes £100m Leicester City point and gives Callum Doyle prediction
The Coventry manager gives his verdict after Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall scored twice for Leicester City to earn victory over the Sky Blues in the opening-weekend M69 derby
Coventry manager Mark Robins compared Leicester City to Manchester City as he backed his former loanee Callum Doyle to grow into an important player for Enzo Maresca’s side.
Robins rued missed chances as the Sky Blues gave up a goal advantage to lose to City on the opening day, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall twice scoring in the final 15 minutes to make it a winning debut for his new boss.
After Kyle McFadzean’s header at the start of the second half, Matty Godden was twice denied by Mads Hermansen before Coventry’s record signing Haji Wright had a late drive superbly tipped onto the crossbar by the Dane.
Robins said City’s Premier League quality then told, referencing their £100m substitutes’ bench, and comparing them to the Champions League winners, from whom they have loaned new defender Doyle. Robins, who had Doyle last season, did not feel the teenager had his best game but predicted him to become a big star of Maresca’s side.
Robins said in his post-match assessment: “It’s disappointing, that’s the first thing. You know you’re playing against a top team with Premier League-quality players. In the end, that showed.
“The chances we created at 1-0, we take one more of those chances and we win the game, and we might win by two or three.
“We’re trying to be on the front foot. We didn’t want to sit in. It’s boring, just being sat behind the ball and not having a threat. Carrying a threat is important.
“The chance Haji has when he comes on, it’s pushed onto the underside of the bar, Matty Godden pulls the rebound wide and that’s the game. It’d have put us 2-1 up and they don’t score after that. Such is life. We’ve not taken those chances, and they took theirs with the quality they have.
“I think Dewsbury-Hall is going to be one of the best players at this level. He’s found the top corner. You’ve got to say that that is the quality they are likely to show. Somebody just said to me that they’ve £100m worth of talent on the bench, which is nice.
“It’s disappointing to lose, especially from a winning position, but when you look at the quality of the opposition and the way we coped with their rotation… There’s a lot of Manchester City in that, with the movement.
“Callum Doyle we know really well, he’s got quality and can switch the play. Thankfully he didn’t have his best game, because when he starts to grow into this team, he’s going to be a big player for them.”
In an assessment that may please Maresca, Robins also admitted that he was forced to make changes because City’s movement of the ball tired his players out. He said Gus Hamer and Kasey Palmer had to be taken off with fatigue when Coventry were ahead.
Robins added: “We got our noses in front and played pretty well. The only thing from our perspective was that we turned the ball over too many times, which means if you’re out of possession, you have to work really hard to stop them.
“They move the ball quickly and they move quickly themselves. That ended up running the legs out of one or two. Gus had to come off, he was feeling his calves, Kasey Palmer stretched his calf as well. You don’t want to have to make those changes if you don’t need to. The changes came at 1-0.
