Leeds United transfer point made as Coventry City boss hits out at 'nasty' social media critics
Mark Robins admits social media can be a "really nasty place" as his out-of-form Coventry City side prepare to meet Leeds United. The Sky Blues boss has come in for criticism in some quarters following their disappointing start to the season.
City are languishing in the lower reaches of the Championship after picking accruing just five points from their opening six matches. Robins feels players can be negatively affected by comments on social media, most notably X, formerly known as Twitter.
When asked about social media at his pre-match press conference and if it’s a place to stay away from, Robins told reporters: “I don’t participate in it and I really do not care. I don’t care at all. People can say what they want to say, about individuals, about me, about what they want because these are people who, if they stood in front of you, they wouldn’t say anything.
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“And I think it can be a really nasty place. And I don’t know why people do it, what people get from it. If people say nice things about me, what does that matter? Just be yourself, just be a nice person and go about your business and try to do the right things, and that’s all we’re trying to do. We’re trying to entertain people and make sure we do the best we possibly can do, and that’s what we strive to do every day.”
The Sky Blues took four points from United last season. Their 2-1 home win over the Whites back in April severely dented Daniel Farke's team's hopes of securing automatic promotion.
“They [Leeds] have got a lot of good players, even though they’ve sold some for lots of money, they’ve replaced them pretty well," said Robins, who has confirmed midfielder Jamie Allen faces eight to 10 weeks on the sidelines due to a knee injury. "They’re managed really well, and Daniel Farke has done an incredible job and was really unlucky last season, as we were the season before not to go up and they will be looking to do that this season.
"The pressure is different at Leeds United compared to what it is at Coventry City, although we want the same end goal, I think the demands are greater for Daniel than they are for me here.
"It is an interesting game and one we’re looking forward to and hopefully we can contest it in a better way than we did last season, even though it was a draw last year, we didn’t really take part in the game from an attacking point of view. We want to try and pick up the three points at a difficult place to go.”
United sold a number of first-team players over the summer after failing to secure an instant Premier League return. Archie Gray, Glen Kamara, Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter all departed as Farke reshaped his squad. On the challenge facing City tomorrow afternoon, Robins said: “Leeds have got really good players there’s no doubt. They’re on the front foot and they want to press and the spaces they take up are really intelligent and they have intelligent players.
"They’ve lost a number of players, but they still have a lot of talent there and they look a threat. We will have to be at our best again, but I want us to take part in the game properly if we can do and that is something we will be looking to do. When we have possession of the ball, we want to make better use of it than what we did last season.”