This followed by a half-decent result against top flight opposition, ruined once again with a poor defeat against a team the Sky Blues really should be looking to beat. I haven’t just copied and pasted last year’s report, but seeing as how familiar it is I could have done.

There are a few other similarities that seem to have cropped up again this year as well. Once again we start the season with only one right-back, he gets injured after two games, and a young defensive central midfielder has to step into the breach to get his manager out of a hole. Ulises de la Cruz is expected to sign soon to plug the gap, but the problem should never have been allowed to arise again in the first place.

Beuzelin and Gunnarsson have displaced the Doyle-Hughes partnership, only to turn out to be an almost exact carbon copy. Boozy doesn’t look up to speed yet, and his repertoire of sideways and backwards passing has you checking Hughes hasn’t sneaked back in in disguise! Gunarsson is a decent destroyer, and has an absolutely HUGE throw that will surely be a potent weapon over the course of the season, but like Doyle you occasionally think he’s going to go that bit too far. Watching him wind up opposition players is fun though.

Looking at the other new signings, most have settled in well. Morrison looks sharp and hard working, linking up well with Eastwood, who’s been very impressive leading the line. Westwood has looked assured between the sticks and Wright looks capable at right back. The injury curse has already struck though, with Westwood, Wright and Eastwood all missing games already. Fourth choice ‘keeper Danny Ireland has already had one run out due to injuries.

While Eastwood and Westwood have impressed, the club still can’t get rid of deadwood (Kyle and Birchall) and this has severely hampered Coleman in continuing his squad rebuilding. The failure to see either of them leave for pastures new has led to Julian Gray’s surprise departure to Fulham. While not exactly a fans favourite due to his tendency to go completely missing in a game once he’s been tackled, he was our only dedicated wide player and getting rid of him without a replacement readily lined up seems a bit short-sighted, although I’m sure Coleman’s looking to use his wages to get someone in soon, and McKenzie or Tabb should be able to fill in for the time being.

Tabb’s early form hasn’t been overly imprssive, along with Fox and Dann’s, all of whom look a shadow of the players they were last season. Dann maybe settling into his new captain’s role and Tabb is apparently suffering from infected blisters on his feet, so hopefully they’ll be back to their best before long.

Despite winning half of our early fixtures, we’ve yet to look convincing in any of the games, and even a spirited fightback against a decent Newcastle side in the Carling Cup couldn’t hide a poor overall performance. But if you’d asked me if I’d accept winning half the games over the course of the season without actually playing well I’d have been more than happy to say ‘DEAL’! To be honest, I think the season has started pretty much as I expected it to but with more points in the bag than I thought, so I won’t be complaining just yet.

Although we don’t look like we’ve come on leaps and bounds since last season, small improvements are noticeable here and there, and CC has said it’ll take time to see marked changes, so maybe we shouldn’t expect too much too soon.

[ With apologies to AD for taking so long in getting this article onto this site! The 'Unofficial Coventry City' HQ is now slowly but surely returning to down-side up, having been the other way round for a good few weeks, and all those missing match reports will be available to read VERY soon!]

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

Related Articles:

• 2008-9 Season Preview

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS