Coventry City summer signings rated after 12 games in all competitions
Coventry City opinion from CoventryLive as Sky Blues reporter Andy Turner assesses the club’s new signings after the first block of fixtures of the season
Coventry City brought in seven new players in the summer, five of whom bolstered the front end of the pitch to give Mark Robins what he’s described as his strongest squad in terms of all-round attacking options in his time at the club.
Two strikers in Brandon Thomas-Asante – already familiar with the rigours of the Championship – and relative unknown teenager, Norman Bassette, have provided bags and energy and pace, complemented by wingers Ephron Mason-Clark and Raphael Borges Rodrigues, albeit the latter yet to kick a ball in anger for the Sky Blues due to an unfortunate injury. Jack Rudoni is the fifth forward thinking player who arrived as a number eight or ten, but has tended to fill in the more advanced play-maker role since Kasey Palmer’s deadline day move to Hull.
Elsewhere, City upgraded Luis Binks’ loan deal from Bologna to a permanent contract and drafted in a new goalkeeper in the form of Sweden Under-21 international Oliver Dovin. So how are they getting on? Nine games into the new league campaign (12 in all competitions), here we assess each of the summer arrivals with an early season rating.
The goalkeeper has actually done OK despite being dropped after six games, having started the season seemingly as City’s new number one. He hasn’t made any glaring blunders but, having not been able to keep a clean sheet, which is obviously a collective effort, it seems that Robins was keen to make a change. It feels more of a case of taking the 22-year-old out of the firing line after being thrown in at the deep end in the English Championship, and he’ll no doubt work his way back in sooner or later. The only areas that appear to need work on are that he’s not vocal enough – one of the reasons the manager said he brought Ben Wilson back in, to be a voice at the back – and being more dominant from set-pieces, as opposition managers seem to have pinpointed that as a weakness to be exploited.
Having been frustrated last term during his season-long loan spell from Italy, the 23-year-old was in the box seat when closest rival for the left-hand central defensive berth, Liam Kitching, was suspended for the opening game at Stoke. He was clearly determined to stamp his authority but results appear to have conspired against him despite not particularly doing anything wrong. Added to that is a hectic schedule which has meant the manager has made changes when faced with three games in a week, and it’s all been a bit stop-start for the defender. However, with Kitching struggling to find a bit of form himself, the door may well be open for his return sometime soon.
