Coventry City will have to improve their form if they are going to reach the heights of last season.
The Sky Blues have made a somewhat slow start to this campaign, as they sit in 20th place at the time of writing, with 15 points.
While they sit just above the relegation zone, Coventry are only five points adrift of the play-off places, so with a few positive results, they will be back nearer the top end of the table.
| Championship Table (As it stands October 26th) | ||||
| Team | P | GD | Pts | |
| 17 | Stoke City | 13 | -4 | 16 |
| 18 | Plymouth Argyle | 13 | 2 | 15 |
| 19 | Swansea City | 13 | 1 | 15 |
| 20 | Coventry City | 13 | 1 | 15 |
| 21 | Huddersfield Town | 13 | -10 | 14 |
| 22 | Rotherham United | 12 | -10 | 9 |
| 23 | QPR | 13 | -15 | 8 |
| 24 | Sheffield Wednesday | 13 | -17 | 3 |
While it is very much doom and gloom for Mark Robins’ men, they did receive a boost in midweek as midfielder Callum O’Hare made a return to the squad.
Callum O’Hare makes Coventry City return
As mentioned, Coventry suffered a defeat on Wednesday, and that means it is now just two wins in their last 11 games, but there was significantly good news as O’Hare made a return after 10 months out.
O’Hare suffered an ACL injury against Sheffield United on Boxing Day in 2022. So his appearance on Wednesday was the first in this calendar year.
The 25-year-old came off the bench in the 76th minute to replace defender Joel Latibeaudiere as the Sky Blues searched for a way back into the game.
The Sky Blues have made a sluggish start to this season, and they seem like a team that is in need of some inspiration.
Of course, losing Viktor Gyokeres and Gustavo Hamer has had a big impact on the team, and in these few months of the season, it seems the players brought in to replace them are struggling to fill that role.
So, Robins will be chuffed to see O’Hare returning to the team, but it must be remembered that patience is very much needed when it comes to the 25-year-old.
O’Hare has been out for 10 months, so it is going to take the player a few weeks to get up to full fitness, and therefore, it is unlikely he is going to start games anytime soon.
But Coventry need to be patient, as they will want O’Hare fit and available for the whole season, not just the next few weeks or months, as he’s shown over a season how important he can be for the team.
The 2021/22 campaign has been O’Hare’s best to date, as he scored five goals and recorded eight assists in the entire season. But his all-round game was at a very high level; he averaged two shots per game and 1.3 dribbles, which proves his ability on the ball, and he was also fouled an average of 2.3 times, as per WhoScored.com.
That season, he was averaging 40.5 passes per game, with 1.9 considered key passes, and that in the end helped him record the number of assists that he got.
That season in the Championship was O’Hare’s most fruitful, and it proves how good and important he can be for this team.
But that isn’t going to happen overnight, so with patience and more game time, he can easily get back to that level.
