MATCH THREAD: “ COVENTRY CITY v CARDIFF CITY “ MATCH THREAD
Posted: Fri Mar 29, 2024 11:00 pm
COVENTRY CITY v CARDIFF CITY
Monday 1st April, 3pm
Sky Bet Championship
CBS Arena
Cardiff have sold 1,600 tickets, Cardiff fans can pay on the day.
PAY ON THE DAY:
Coventry away end holds 2,500 and Cardiff Fans can pay on the day / hopefully at least 2,000
Tickets for Monday's match can be purchased from the away turnstiles at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Erol Bulut:
Relegation does not seem to be a realistic threat with the bottom three 14 points behind, but Bulut does not want his players to simply go through the motions in the final stages of the campaign, even if they might not have much to play for.
"Maybe they think like this but I don't think so," he said.
"I told them when they came in [to the changing room], 'we cannot be comfortable because we have 53 points'.
"We still have seven more games to play and have to get as many points as we can.
"We can't stop the season from now. Everyone has to come back from this performance and in the last seven games we have to give our best, for the fans first of all and for the club, also for themselves.
"There will have to be a change mentally when we are on the field."
TEAM NEWS:
Erol Bulut:
“JC has a bit of a problem with his hamstring, so it looks like he won’t be with us on Monday .
Kion [Etete] is also training with us, but he won’t be ready to start, nor Jak [Alnwick]. We have to be careful, but I don’t think it will be long until he is back.”
“McGuinness is back in full training.”
Joel Colwill and Cian Ashford are on contention for inclusion in the squad.
Cardiff manager Erol Bulut:
"Until minute 12 in the Sunderland game when we conceded a penalty, everything was fine. After that, we lost totally our confidence, our playing shape. We couldn't create.
"This is disappointing. We couldn't wake up. We lost a lot of duels, a lot of individual mistakes were made. When you make this many mistakes, you cannot expect to win the game.
"During the international break, the players trained really well so I was expecting a much better game. To see that performance today, it hurts.
"Today I have to be honest, from the 39 games we've played this season, this was one of the worst. I have to be clear about that. I didn't like it at all."
The Opposition's Manager
Mark Robins began his second spell in charge of Coventry in 2017.
In that time, he has taken them from League Two to the Championship.
Last season they were a penalty shootout away from the Premier League but lost to Luton.
Despite a slow start to this season and selling two of their best players from last season (Gyokeres and Hamer), he again has them competing for the top six.
Opposition Dangerous Players
Ellis Simms has eleven league goals this season, including two goals on Friday.
Haji Wright has scored 14 league goals this season.
Head To Head
We beat Coventry 3-2 at CCS in September.
That was one of two wins against them in the last five meetings, with them also winning two.
Team News - Predicted Line-Ups
Coventry City: Collins, Latibeaudiere, Thomas, Kitching, Bidwell, Eccles, Sheaf, Palmer, Van Ewijk, Wright, Simms
Cardiff City: Horvath, Ng, Goutas, Phillips, Wilson-Esbrand, Ralls, Wintle, Colwill, Bowler, O’Dowda, Grant
Last Game
We lost 2-0 at home to Sunderland on Friday.
On the same day, Coventry won 3-1 at Huddersfield.
Match Odds
Coventry City - 1/2
Cardiff City - 5/1
Draw - 10/3
Predictions
Post your predictions below
Monday 1st April, 3pm
Sky Bet Championship
CBS Arena
Cardiff have sold 1,600 tickets, Cardiff fans can pay on the day.
PAY ON THE DAY:
Coventry away end holds 2,500 and Cardiff Fans can pay on the day / hopefully at least 2,000
Tickets for Monday's match can be purchased from the away turnstiles at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Erol Bulut:
Relegation does not seem to be a realistic threat with the bottom three 14 points behind, but Bulut does not want his players to simply go through the motions in the final stages of the campaign, even if they might not have much to play for.
"Maybe they think like this but I don't think so," he said.
"I told them when they came in [to the changing room], 'we cannot be comfortable because we have 53 points'.
"We still have seven more games to play and have to get as many points as we can.
"We can't stop the season from now. Everyone has to come back from this performance and in the last seven games we have to give our best, for the fans first of all and for the club, also for themselves.
"There will have to be a change mentally when we are on the field."
TEAM NEWS:
Erol Bulut:
“JC has a bit of a problem with his hamstring, so it looks like he won’t be with us on Monday .
Kion [Etete] is also training with us, but he won’t be ready to start, nor Jak [Alnwick]. We have to be careful, but I don’t think it will be long until he is back.”
“McGuinness is back in full training.”
Joel Colwill and Cian Ashford are on contention for inclusion in the squad.
Cardiff manager Erol Bulut:
"Until minute 12 in the Sunderland game when we conceded a penalty, everything was fine. After that, we lost totally our confidence, our playing shape. We couldn't create.
"This is disappointing. We couldn't wake up. We lost a lot of duels, a lot of individual mistakes were made. When you make this many mistakes, you cannot expect to win the game.
"During the international break, the players trained really well so I was expecting a much better game. To see that performance today, it hurts.
"Today I have to be honest, from the 39 games we've played this season, this was one of the worst. I have to be clear about that. I didn't like it at all."
The Opposition's Manager
Mark Robins began his second spell in charge of Coventry in 2017.
In that time, he has taken them from League Two to the Championship.
Last season they were a penalty shootout away from the Premier League but lost to Luton.
Despite a slow start to this season and selling two of their best players from last season (Gyokeres and Hamer), he again has them competing for the top six.
Opposition Dangerous Players
Ellis Simms has eleven league goals this season, including two goals on Friday.
Haji Wright has scored 14 league goals this season.
Head To Head
We beat Coventry 3-2 at CCS in September.
That was one of two wins against them in the last five meetings, with them also winning two.
Team News - Predicted Line-Ups
Coventry City: Collins, Latibeaudiere, Thomas, Kitching, Bidwell, Eccles, Sheaf, Palmer, Van Ewijk, Wright, Simms
Cardiff City: Horvath, Ng, Goutas, Phillips, Wilson-Esbrand, Ralls, Wintle, Colwill, Bowler, O’Dowda, Grant
Last Game
We lost 2-0 at home to Sunderland on Friday.
On the same day, Coventry won 3-1 at Huddersfield.
Match Odds
Coventry City - 1/2
Cardiff City - 5/1
Draw - 10/3
Predictions
Post your predictions below
(Turnbull)