EFL Championship: Coventry City vs Ipswich Town! Struggling with a flu outbreak, is Coventry City only strong in name?

Our first topic today isthe Championship clash: Coventry City vs Ipswich Town!

Before December, Coventry City was nearly invincible, racking up a series of crazy consecutive wins.

However, since December, in 5 matches, they have only won twice, and their satisfaction rate has plummeted to just 20%. Why such a sudden decline?

On the surface, Coventry’s overall record still looks decent—7 wins, 2 draws, and 1 loss in their last 10 games, with a 70% win rate and 90% unbeaten rate, which is impressive.

But their recent performances show a downward trend; whether drawing with Southampton or narrowly beating Swansea, luck has played a significant role.

This isn't normal for Coventry’s true strength. What exactly is going on with this team?

A major reason is that a flu outbreak has hit the Coventry squad.

After their narrow win against Swansea,Lampard admitted he himself was feeling unwell.

So, which players have been affected by this flu?

Mainly five players have been impacted:

For the Ipswich match: Tope suddenly fell ill and missed the game, marking the start of the flu outbreak;

For the Preston game: it was Van Ewijk’s turn to be affected;

Against Southampton, three players—Sakamoto Tatsuhiro, Kitchen, and Thomas—were all sick simultaneously;

And during the Swansea match, only Thomas was ill, but some recently recovered players were still not at full strength, like Van Ewijk, who was substituted due to persistent coughing and breathlessness.

All five are key starters, some even contenders for Championship MVP, such as Tope.

Plus, the Championship top scorer Assante is out injured,meaning Coventry essentially has six main players facing issues.

Football is an 11 vs 11 sport; no matter how strong Coventry is, having over half of their key players compromised will inevitably reduce their fighting power.

Facing Ipswich today,Coventry likely won't risk too much.

After all, their lineup is far from peak condition.

In the early part of this month, when they lost to Ipswich, Coventry’s squad was stronger, riding a winning streak and confident, dominating Ipswich throughout but conceding multiple clear chances and ultimately suffering a 3-0 defeat.

They got punished for pressing high then; will they dare to do the same today?

There really is no need to take risks; Coventry’s ultimate goal is promotion to the Premier League. Today’s match against Ipswich is a crucial positional battle. Securing a draw and denying Ipswich the full three points to maintain their lead is a strategic victory.

We can also see Coventry playing very cautiously lately.

In the last game against Swansea, they willingly ceded possession to the opponent,and previously against Preston, they even adopted a 5-4-1 defensive block despite Preston being league leaders.

This shows that Lampard clearly understands the team’s current lack of attacking firepower, so he is willing to park the bus and accept draws. With a big points advantage, taking points steadily keeps their chances of direct promotion very high.

Therefore, although Coventry’s overall season performance has been impressive, recent adverse circumstances mean they are no longer the unstoppable winning machine they once were.

Can Ipswich satisfy their fans? What do you think? We hope they can at least hold a draw or even fight for a win!

Alright, for today’s other matches, I’ll still share my written insights with you all tonight. If anything is unclear, feel free to ask me. Let’s watch the games with understanding and not miss a moment!

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