Coventry City: Sky Blues need resolve to complete the job

On the face of it, Frank Onyeka is exactly what Coventry need right now.

He is not nicknamed ‘The Tank’ without good reason. Stemming the flow of passes through midfield is what is required, especially away from home, and giving the overworked Matt Grimes some badly needed assistance which, in turn, should ease the pressure on the defenders behind them.

For me, there is still a case for playing three centre-backs away from home, where results have been very hard to come by since November.

Seventeen points dropped from winning positions on their travels – 12 of those in December and January – is clearly far too many for a club with automatic promotion aspirations, more so given the glut of goals they were scoring in October and November (32) has not been replicated in the subsequent two months (13).

The two loan wingers, Romain Esse and Yang Min-Hyeok, have had varying levels of impact so far. Esse has all the technical ability to make himself a top performer at Premier League level, while Yang needs more minutes before a proper appraisal of his talents can be made.

Jahnoah Markelo fits the brief of a young player with potential who can come in and make a favourable impression and, from owner Doug King’s perspective, someone who can then generate a profit.

Frank Lampard’s man-management and his players’ in-game management will undoubtedly be tested in the next three months. After such an impressive start to the season, the object of the exercise now is to have enough confidence and resolve to complete the job they started.

In the words of the 1987 FA Cup Final song – Go For It City! It is certainly the best opportunity they have had in 25 years for automatic promotion back to the Premier League.