Brau, Kesler-Hayden and injuries – what we learned from Coventry City’s Portimonense loss
Coventry City pre-season news from CoventryLive as we look at Saturday’s opening warm-up match in a bit more detail
Coventry City got their pre-season friendly campaign up and running at the weekend with a 2-0 defeat against Portuguese side Portimonense.
The behind-closed-doors match at the Estadio Municipal de Portimao came at the end of a full-on and intensive training camp in the Algarve. The Sky Blues then flew home on Saturday night and have a couple of days of rest before getting back to Ryton on Tuesday to prepare for their second test on Wednesday when they face AS Monaco at St George’s Park, the English national team’s headquarters.
That will also not be open to supporters who will have to wait until Wednesday, July 23, to see Frank Lampard’s men in action away against Bristol Rovers (7pm).
Here we take a look at what we learned from City’s opening warm-up game.
Fitness exercise
Every manager and head coach will tell you that pre-season is all about getting fitness and sharpness back into the players’ legs rather than getting bogged down with results. That’s particularly the case with the opening fixtures when it’s all about getting equal match minutes.
City, therefore, fielded two different sides in each half to ensure every fit and available senior player got an initial 45 minutes of football.
Fitness exercise
Every manager and head coach will tell you that pre-season is all about getting fitness and sharpness back into the players’ legs rather than getting bogged down with results. That’s particularly the case with the opening fixtures when it’s all about getting equal match minutes.
City, therefore, fielded two different sides in each half to ensure every fit and available senior player got an initial 45 minutes of football.
Basic match details
City kept a clean sheet to the break but conceded twice in the second half from two highly avoidable goals – the first understood to have been from a short back-pass and the second an unfortunate own goal after a shot hit the crossbar and bounced off a City player’s back and into the net.
It’s worth noting that Portimonense of the Portuguese second tier are slightly ahead of the Sky Blues in their pre-season schedule, having already played two games before Saturday’s meeting. Coventry, you may recall, reported back for summer duty slightly later due to having extended their season in the play-offs.
Who caught the eye?
New signing Kaine Kesler-Hayden appears to have been the standout performer, starting at right-back for the second XI when he linked up nicely with Tatsuhiro Sakamoto on the overlap while taking players on with confidence and combining well with Jack Rudoni.
How did City’s other new signing fare?
Miguel Angel Brau was deployed out of position on the day. The Spaniard, who joined the club on a free transfer from Granada last month, is a left-back by trade but with Jay Dasilva and Jake Bidwell also currently competing for that starting berth, he was pushed further forward to occupy the left wing slot. That also made sense at a time when Haji Wright continues to recover from an Achilles injury.
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