Mark Robins clarifies post-match comments aimed at ‘one or two’ Coventry City players

Coventry City manager Mark Robins
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Mark Robins has clarified his post-match comments that appeared to single out “one or two” of his Coventry City players following last weekend’s disappointing performance and defeat at home to Swansea.

The Sky Blues boss questioned the commitment of certain individuals, saying in his after match assessment: “First and foremost, as an athlete, as a football player, a sportsman, you have to show that commitment.

“...and it was lacking in some areas today. And that cannot be to do with the physical side of it. It’s not the physical side of it because you can still have a go even if you are half a yard slow or not getting there. But not to move, to be frozen and to be really out of the game, and I am sort of trying not to embarrass people at the moment because there’s clearly something not quite right. But I have got to get to the bottom of something with an individual or two.”

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Having taken off Haji Wright at half-time for tactical reasons, the obvious conclusion for most was that the USA striker came into that category.

In his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Leeds United, the manager was asked if he’d dealt with the situation, to which he explained: “I think you have picked up the wrong end of the stick. It wasn’t a criticism. I was concerned with one or two players that are not understanding, or not reacting in the way I would expect or want them to do, or they would normally do.

“There are always things that happen in football and I have spoken about this before. Managing a group of individuals, they are human beings at the end of the day. There are a lot of things that happen for them in daily life and then there is social media on top of it. And if they are daft enough to pay any attention to that then it can affect individuals in a negative way. And also, if certain people felt under pressure or they felt it wasn’t going right and they didn’t know how to put it right, then they need help.

“That’s what I am saying and that’s what I wanted to get to the bottom of. So it’s not a criticism at all, although in the moment you want a better performance and more aggressive performance than we gave in the first half, so that was the thing. But it happens.

“It happened last season and happens every season, to be fair. I remember games at Norwich, and this season at home to Norwich, we weren’t brilliant. Two seasons ago, against Norwich at home was awful, we lost 4-2, and the games that we have had where we haven’t performed very well that was sort of on those lines, but nowhere near as bad as when we lost 3-0 away to Norwich.”

Returning to last week’s game, he added: “It was something that needed to be resolved, so I needed to understand it, get to the bottom of what’s being said on the pitch, who is saying what to who and what the instructions are to individuals; what they are doing when they are under pressure. And that was the thing about the expectation levels going into this season.

“We have to manage that and make sure they are in a realistic place and a realistic frame of mind, but that doesn’t change the end goal. You know, we all want to get promoted from this division. But I have said before, there are 23 other teams that want the same thing at this level and it’s really, really difficult, and doesn’t automatically happen. And if people think that is the case, then it’s absolutely mad. It’s crazy!

“It’s a process and you have got to go through the process every season. You have got a different group of players in and a different set of circumstances and different teams in there, and to manage that takes time. And the same thing happens year on year, and at some point this season it will click and it will start to look how we want it to look. But there have been some really positive signs so far.”

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