The tactical problems that are undermining Frank Lampard and Coventry City
Frank Lampard's side have got off to a slow start this season Dan Istitene/Getty Images
By
Liam Tharme
Sept. 18, 2026 5:05 am GMT+1
It’s been a nightmare start to the season for Frank Lampard and Coventry City.
A 5-0 home hammering by Brighton & Hove Albion on Sunday made them only the fifth team in English football history to lose their opening four games of a top-flight season without scoring.
On Wednesday, local rivals Aston Villa dumped them out of the League Cup.
Advertisement
Coventry are propping up the Premier League, and are the only pointless team in England’s top four divisions.
Coventry’s start to the season has been particularly toughHenry Nicholls/AFP via Getty Images
So what’s going wrong? Multiple things, all at once. Lampard has tried to build on the blueprint that he used to win the Championship last season: be tactically flexible, threaten from the wings and at set pieces, and hold an aggressive defensive line.
Their preference to use the offside trap on opponents demands perfection in the Premier League. Villa exploited it for the opening goal in their 3-1 League Cup win. Coventry pressed their visitors into a launch upfield, won the first contact from the long pass, but then failed to collect the loose ball.
Villa worked an attack down the left. Right-back Joel Latibeaudiere stood off Villa winger George Hemmings, who threaded an outside-the-boot through ball for Tammy Abraham. Just as Hemmings played his pass, Coventry captain Brandon Thomas stopped running, trying to catch Abraham offside. But it was no use, as Villa nailed their timing. Abraham, one-v-one, slotted home to give Villa the lead.
Coventry switched to a 4-2-3-1 for the Villa match, after starting the Premier League season with a 3-4-3 shape. With the latter, they defend in a 5-4-1, still with a high line. This suited the pace and passing quality in Manchester City’s attack during their third Premier League game of the season, a
1-0 home defeat.
On 15 minutes, Enzo Maresca’s side bypassed the Coventry midfield with a quick free-kick. This allowed No 10 Rayan Cherki to dribble at the back five, who all held their line except left centre-back Ethan Pinnock. He decided too late to stop tracking Erling Haaland’s run and join in the offside trap, leaving the striker onside and unmarked for an angled shot which was saved by goalkeeper Carl Rushworth.
Ten minutes later, City got in behind again, and punished their visitors. Knowing how blocked up the central spaces were by Coventry’s 5-4-1, the City midfielders kept pulling wide. Here, Enzo Fernandez received from Ruben Dias, and slipped a pass outside flat-footed wing-back Jay Dasilva.
This sent Antoine Semenyo into a crossing position with time and space. He whipped a cross in over Rushworth’s head towards the back post. Coventry failed to make their numerical advantage count — Aurele Amenda, the right centre-back, opted to go touch-tight with Haaland, leaving space for the striker to spin and run into, before heading in.
The challenge of executing their defensive plan was highlighted before the season started, particularly given that Rushworth is better at shot-stopping than he is at dealing with balls into the box.
All three of Arsenal’s goals
on matchday one came via low crosses or cutbacks.
The first two were from the left, starting with right-back Milan van Ewijk poorly defending a switch of play before giving the ball away, which allowed Riccardo Calafiori to set up Kai Havertz for the opener.
Seven minutes later, clever combination play between Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard broke through the Coventry midfield. Rushworth could only parry Christos Tzolis’ low cross to Bukayo Saka at the back-post, leaving him with a tap-in.
The nail-in-the-coffin third goal underlined the vulnerability Lampard’s side have at stopping crosses. Left winger Brandon Thomas-Asante did not support Dasilva, and consequently Ben White’s overlap around Saka went untracked.
Once more, despite having a numerical advantage, Coventry conceded space. Their two central midfielders sensed danger and ran towards goal, leaving Odegaard free to mishit a right-footed shot past Rushworth.
Most worrying, though, was how they were undone by Hull City. Coventry can be excused for away defeats away at Arsenal and Manchester City, last season’s top two, but facing a fellow promoted side at home is where they need to be earning points.
Lampard’s team hit 26 open-play crosses towards a tall and physical back five, and created one big chance: when Loum Tchaouna delivered an inswinging cross that was flicked on, and Taiwo Awoniyi could only connect with his thigh at the back-post, forcing a smart save from Konstantinos Tzolakis.
They received a warning as to how the game’s only goal would arrive eight minutes before Hull scored.
At 0-0 on 73 minutes, Coventry pushed for the winner. Right wing-back Van Ewijk shifted into midfield, as seven blue and white shirts tried to overload the back five. Thomas’ central pass was overhit, and immediately Coventry were exposed. Midfielder Matt Grimes, who often drops between the centre-backs, was the only man providing cover for Thomas and Amenda.
It takes Hull only two passes to cut through: first from substitute centre-back Lucas Herrington to striker Oli McBurnie, and he hits a round-the-corner ball for the pacy winger to chase. Liam Millar dribbles inside and tries to reverse his finish back past Rushworth, but puts it the wrong side of the post.
The pattern repeats with seven minutes of regulation time left. This time Mohamed Belloumi sends Millar through following a regain, and the Canada international slides the winner past Rushworth.
What should concern Lampard is how, in the past two matches, Coventry have been weak aerially. Villa scored twice from inswinging corners in midweek and Brighton’s first two goals came from Charalampos Kostoulas and Malick Yalcouye heading their way into scoring positions.
It’s a small sample size to be truly critiquing underlying numbers, but Coventry are the second-worst side defensively behind Crystal Palace for expected goals conceded (7.53, including one penalty worth 0.78xG). Conceding 15 goals in six matches across all competitions must signal some alarms.
The good news? Coventry are creating chances. It’s wastefulness which has let them down and meant drawing blanks in four league matches.
Awoniyi squandered a golden opportunity on a counter-attack early on at City. Midfielder Jack Rudoni has found scoring positions and had big chances saved against Brighton, Arsenal and City — the latter from a Van Ewijk long throw, a huge weapon in their attack. Their deep crosses remain a reliable source of chance creation.
Gianluigi Donnarumma (City), Bart Verbruggen (Brighton) and Tzolakis (Hull) have all produced strong displays to keep Coventry out. Lampard has seen his team fail to convert any of their six big chances while opponents are six from nine by the same metric.
“We’re trying to find those connections,” Lampard said after the Villa defeat, referencing a forced need to rotate after making signings late in the transfer window.
They are not doomed for relegation at this stage and, in an alternative universe, they and Hull (fourth on eight points) are much closer in the league table. Lampard has tactical problems to solve, particularly defensively, though once the attack starts firing Coventry should start to pick up points.
