EFL pundit Sam Parkin has claimed that poor finishing has been a big factor behind Coventry City’s underwhelming start to the new Championship campaign.
The Sky Blues were tipped by many to push for promotion to the Premier League again this year after coming ninth in the table in the previous campaign.
However, Mark Robins’ side sit 17th after the first four games of the season, having won one, drawn one and lost two.
A 1-0 home loss to Norwich City prior to the international break was a particularly disappointing result in front of their own supporters.
Coventry’s two main forwards, Haji Wright and Ellis Simms, have scored a combined two goals from these four games, with Wright bagging both in a 3-2 win over Oxford United (all stats from Fbref).
Parkin believes that Coventry are doing a lot of things right in attack, but that poor finishing has let them down so far.
He has also highlighted the absence of Ben Sheaf as a major concern, claiming that the team must improve in midfield in order to turn their results around.
“It’s been a disappointing start I think for them when you consider how good they were at the tail end of last season, especially in the forward positions,” said Parkin, via the What the EFL?! podcast.
“I think everyone who followed the Championship would have anticipated Haji Wright and Ellis Simms starting the way that they finished, and that’s not really been the case.
“Haji Wright got the two against Oxford, but Simms yet to get up and running.
“I think statistically, not too much to be overly concerned about, defensively looking pretty strong.
“But new coaching team, new methods, new players in there as well, and also probably greater than any of those little factors: no Ben Sheaf at the moment.