Victor Torp is predicting “something great” for Coventry City this season – despite a disappointing opening-day defeat at Stoke City.
The Dane lasted for just over an hour of the game at the bet365 Stadium, which was settled by a Lewis Baker goal on 78 minutes. The Sky Blues bossed possession for long periods, but were unable to convert their domination into goals – not that Torp is letting it get him down too much.
With a tough-looking Carabao Cup tie at Bristol City to come on Tuesday (7.45pm kick-off) and then a home opener against promoted Oxford United on Friday (8pm), the midfielder said: “We have good confidence in the squad and among the players. We have a good squad and good depth, and personally I don’t feel the pressure.
“I’m more excited because I think we can do something great this season and I feel we have a very good squad with some hungry players that want to achieve something. We’re disappointed now but excited about what’s coming.
The Sky Blues have so far added five players to their first-team squad this summer – Ephron Mason-Clark, Raphael Borges Rodrigues, Luis Binks, Jack Rudoni and Brandon Thomas-Asante – quality recruits that have helped make them one of the early-season favourites for a top-six finish.
Torp is confident that quality will shine through sooner rather than later. Reflecting on the defeat at Stoke, he told the club website: “It was disappointing. It was one of those games that if you can’t win, we have to take a point and keep a clean sheet.
In the first half we lacked the speed of the game in the press, and in the intensity with and without the ball.
“We got more players further forward and got into better positions [after the break], and we moved the ball better, but it’s about the final pass in the final third and we didn’t quite have that, so it’s disappointing.
“It’s not the start we had hoped for, but the objectives are still the same. We want to win as many games as possible and go at teams, and that’s still the main objective.”
A January signing himself, Torp announced himself to Coventry City fans with a cracking debut goal against Sheffield Wednesday in the fourth round of the FA Cup, a glorious run that only ended in a questionable semi-final defeat to Manchester United at Wembley.
He is confident that he has much more to offer City after a decent pre-season. He explained: “I came in January and it was a bit of a hectic start. I feel I started well, but I hadn’t trained for five weeks when I came, so towards the end it kind of felt like that.
“Now I have built that up in pre-season and hopefully I can stay good and play as many games as possible.”
