'No need to fear' - Coventry City boss bullish in face of Leeds United Elland Road threat

The Sky Blues sit 14th in the Championship table ahead of a clash with Daniel Farke's third-placed Whites, but Coventry have lost just one of their last six and that was a 2-1 defeat by top-two outfit Ipswich Town. Farke has gone on record with his appreciation for the job Robins is doing at Coventry and believes they will present a difficult test for Leeds. "I rate him really highly," said the German. "I think he's doing a fantastic job with also limited resources. But the club has also developed and this means a pretty, pretty tough opponent. We don't have to speak about last last season when they made it to the play-off final. I think also the brand of football that he plays is nice to watch and then they always are brave, they try to attack and I like a lot of what they are doing. They are also on a good run and they are climbing the table at the moment so pretty dangerous opponents tomorrow."

Leeds, though, are heavy favourites for this game for good reason. Prior to the defeat by Sunderland in midweek they were unbeaten in seven and they are yet to lose at Elland Road this season. They're looking to make it eight wins in a row on home soil and a front four who have been racking up goals and assists will be looking to get back to business after being shut out at the Stadium of Light. Georginio Rutter, Crysencio Summerville, Joel Piroe and Daniel James have 28 goals and 19 assists between them so far.

Robins remains undaunted, however. “You shouldn’t fear anything anyway, I mean, it’s just a game of football at the end of the day, "he said. "I think you have got to respect the opponent, and we do respect the opponents, whoever they are. And obviously understand what their qualities are while knowing that at some points in games there are going to be some things that you try and you get everything right, and you may also get some things wrong. But if their quality shows and they bang it in the top corner or thread through you or whatever, you’ve just got to go, ‘we’re working really hard to try and stem that tide,’ but also be in a position where we can hurt them as well. There’s a balance to it and you’ve got to try and get on top in games, and once we do that I’m sure we’ll have a fair share of the game. Obviously when I say a fair share of the game I mean when we have the ball we can hurt opponents. There’s no doubt about it.”

Leeds have managed to dominate at Elland Road, controlling the vast majority of games and enjoying the lion's share of possession, but Robins has echoed what Farke said earlier in the season about not seeking possession for possession's sake. The Coventry City boss highlights their last outing, against Southampton, when they saw much less of the ball than their opponents and still came out with a 1-1 draw, as a prime example of making your possession count.

“I don’t think there was a fair share of the game the other night because we ended up with something like 38% possession, which is fairly low," said Robins. “But I’ve always said that possession is vanity. It’s what you do with it and how incisive and creative you can be, and then taking your chances at the one end and keeping them out of the other end. But in between it you’ve got a lot of technical, tactical, psychological and physical detail that all goes with it. But there’s no need to fear.”

Robins is anticipating a difficult day on the road for his men, against a team who have enjoyed a day extra of preparation, but he’s relishing the chance to come to Elland Road: “They’ve had an extra day’s rest and we’re facing another recently relegated team in quick succession, and it’s never easy anyway. But we are 100 per cent looking forward to it. Elland Road is a brilliant place to play and the support and atmosphere that’s generated by our support will make for a really good game. We’re in decent spirits after a good run of form when we’ve picked some decent points up over the last five games, and so we have a bit of momentum and are building a bit of confidence. But we’re under no illusions how tough this match will be.”