"Money down the drain" - Reason behind Coventry City's torrid start to the season pinpointed | OneFootball

Mark Robins' side are currently in the relegation zone after picking up just nine points from their first 11 matches.

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Coventry City have endured a torrid start to the 2024/25 campaign, and after 11 matches, the Sky Blues currently occupy a spot in the relegation zone with just nine points.

Mark Robins' side have struggled to match the same standards that they had previously done in seasons gone by, and are a far cry from their usual selves.

They have won just twice since the Championship kicked off at the start of August, running out 3-2 winners against Oxford United and then cruising to a 3-0 victory at home to high-flying Blackburn Rovers.

However, apart from those two victories, it has been a really difficult time for Coventry, and there is seemingly no end in sight to this current rut after drawing 1-1 with fellow early relegation candidates QPR.

There will be fears going forward for Robins that his job could be at stake if results do not improve, and with teams around them starting to pick up consistent points, time could be running out.

Verdict made on what is going wrong at Coventry

After coming close to making the play-offs in back-to-back seasons in 2023/24, expectations would have been high heading into the summer, but early showings have not been what supporters would have been hoping for.

A slow start and a lack of goalscoring has seen the Sky Blues be left behind by clubs that they were competing directly against in the previous campaign.

Robins' side are winless in three and Football League World has asked their Coventry Fan Pundit, Ryan Murphy, where things have gone and how he believes they could be fixed.

He told FLW: "It’s hard to say exactly what it is. We had a bad transfer window in the sense that we've still failed to fill the void left by Gustavo Hamer, we're crying out for a central midfielder, and we didn't bring one in.

"We brought Jack Rudoni in to replace Callum O’Hare, and then we let Kasey Palmer go as well, so we're already struggling for numbers here, and then we let another guy go. So, there's been mistakes.

"But also, some of it is down to Robins tinkering a lot. He doesn't know his starting XI, he doesn't know his formation, he doesn't know his partnerships.

"We don't know who's going to partner each other up front or in central defence every week. Every game when you're looking for the line-up, you do not know who’s going to be playing or the formation, and we've spent a lot of money on that defence, and it's money down the drain, if you ask me.

"Liam Kitching, Bobby Thomas, it’s big money, and I expect better from them now, and it's just not good enough from the pair.

"Losing Kyle McFadzean, he was an experienced head, that's a massive key in that squad that's missing. We’ve got no experienced heads, no leaders. There's not one player I look at in that squad and I think they're going to run through brick walls for this manager or this football club. There's not one."

"Behind the scenes, something’s going on because it just doesn’t look like it's the same team anymore. The players that were great last year, they look a shadow of their former selves and the new people that have come in just haven't shown and clicked.

"Hopefully it does, but at the minute it's not looking great, but I think Robbins really needs to settle on a starting XI and a formation. He needs to stick with it and go for it and give a set number of players a block of games to try and turn this around, because this tinkering isn’t helping anyone.

"So, it's hard. People are blaming too many coaches and this and that and stuff behind the scenes. But at the end of the day, this squad should be playing well against anyone in this division and picking up better results than it is.

"So bad form is down to a lot of reasons. I'd say we need a leader, more experienced heads in there and a central midfielder. Then I think it would be a totally different team."

Improvements have to be made immediately

Coventry have to find a way to turn their current situation around, but their fixtures are not getting any easier.

The Sky Blues face multiple promotion contenders in the coming weeks, including Burnley, Sheffield United and Sunderland and these games could hit very hard if they are not able to pick up points against some of the sides closer to them in the division.

Derby County visit the CBS Arena at the start of November, and Robins, if he is still in charge, must make sure that he does not allow the Rams to take all three points back with them to DE24 after their less than impressive start away from home.

Confidence will grow with positive results, but it seems unlikely unless performances improve rapidly. Haji Wright has been a bright spark in a tumultuous couple of months, but Coventry need more than just one player to score goals to get them firing once again.