Frank Lampard is back in management and proves that people are wrong.
He arrived in Little Fanfare in Coventry City in November, charged with the almost impossible challenge to replace the enormously popular Mark Robins.
Skepticism was high after a challenging term for him in Everton and Chelsea, but Lampard proves its references when returning the Sky Blues back in the right direction after a shaky start of the season.
'From the Corsp of the lower three to the edge of the play-off'
“He did incredibly well,” Sky Sports' Gary Weaver told the essential EFL Podcast.
“The performance data with Coventry before he entered, suggested that Coventry should be the top six, but at that time they didn't get the results under Mark Robins.
“It was a sad goal for him, but Frank had them do what the data suggested that they should do.
“They were two points from the drop when he entered, and now they knock on the door of the play-offs.
“They have shown that they can also grind the results, as they did a few weeks ago on Sheffield on Wednesday. Wednesday played well, but Coventry got away with the victory.
“He now has them back in a 4-3-3, and Matt Grimes is huge in that midfield after he had signed from Swansea in January. They have won three games on the bounce since he entered and he makes his presence in that midfield.
“Jack Rudoni has also been excellent and Ephron Mason-Clark did the company, which you think he could do after switching from Peterborough.”
'Every day is as competitive as the last'
Winger Mason-Clarke, who has thrown under Lampard, admits that the head coach wore a real appearance about him when he first arrived at the club.
“I would definitely lie if I said that [awe] Was not there in the beginning, “said Mason-Clark Sky Sports.” But that faded quickly when you just got into management mode.
“Learning the things he wants to implement for the team is easy to understand. Working under him and Joe [Edwards, Lampard’s assistant] Is really positive for me and also for the team.
“Every day is just as competitive as the previous one. You can see that all the time, whether it is the Rondos or the playthroughs that we do. Everyone is just finished every day.
“At the moment we are just trying to coordinate the small things in our performance. That is something he focuses on with the details of how we play.”
'Lampard turned pessimism around and fans removed'
Coventry Fan Matt Quigg, CCFC Live
We had a slow start the season, but fans were still furious about the decision to dismiss Robins and replaced him by Lampard.
However, the first pessimism and deflation have disappeared. So far it has turned out to be the right decision, the results have changed and we have gone from a bad lower half side to serious play-off contenders who play decent football-even with important players who are missing during his term of office, such as Haji Wright, Mason-Clark and Captain Ben Sheaf.
There has been a real sense of raising the mind and the feeling in the club. Significations such as Grimes and Jamie Paterson added real championship experience last summer to the horde of arrivals and showed Lampard's intention to really insist on promotion.
A few months ago it seemed unthinkable that we could go through Robins as our leader in the Dugout. But the results have been so good under Lampard and he has now sung his name under the home support.
Can he go a better one than the last time?
Sky Sports EFL -Editor Simeon Gholam:
Lampard previously managed a full season in the championship and brought Derby County to the play-off final, where they lost at Wembley of Aston Villa.
That campaign, 2018/19, was one of the most dramatic in recent two-day history, with Marcelo Bielsa, 'Spygate' and their incredible semi-final comeback over Leeds United.
Although it was only short, Lampard did enough to go back to Chelsea that summer, and since then there are several reasonably different views on whether he was a success at Derby or not.
He built a side around various young Loanese – in particular Mason Mount, Fikayo Tomori and Harry Wilson, who made clear quality at this level, but were all still young at the time. Some have since suggested that a team with that core should have finished higher than the sixth and earned promotion, but they were against a villa side that was in the field like John McGinn, Tyrone Mings, Jack Grealisk and Tammy Abraham. And that team only finished fifth.
Derby did not do well in the following years, and some of the expenditure that season wages certainly did not help. But in general, Lampard did from my perspective that Lampard did a good job that year through a coaching capacity.
He had the ability to succeed at this level and taking over a huge under -performing Coventry side has so far been fertile. The last two play-off places are wide open, and the Lampard side is currently looking good to walk through that door.
Once in the showdown at the end of the season, anything is possible.
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