The City boss wants to see the defending improve as it is crucial to the future of the football club...
Coventry City manager Steven Pressley has challenged his defenders to prove ‘they can stand up to the game’ ahead of the game against Gillingham.
The City boss watched his side concede two goals in the first 25 minutes at the Weston Homes Community Stadium as the Sky Blues suffered a 2-1 defeat against Colchester United.
The Sky Blues travel to Gillingham tomorrow looking to bounce back from the defeat and Pressley wants to see City’s defending improve.
Pressley said: “If you look at the statistics, we were the better team throughout the game and we should be winning those games.
“We had a lot of chances to score in the second half but the goals we've conceded were poor. We’re giving away too many soft goals.
“I have to challenge my defenders to prove to us that they can stand up to the game because we’re conceding soft goals through lapses of concentration and mistakes.
“Within every game at the moment, we give away around two or three big chances and that’s not good enough.
“We've got to deal with it because this is bread and butter football.”
The Sky Blues have kept just seven clean sheets this season, conceding 59 goals in the process.
The City boss has urged his side to keep it tight at the back as it is crucial in the ‘progression of the football club.’
He added: “If we’re going to be a successful team, the defenders at this football club have to start defending properly.
“What I'm saying is I know where I want to take this football club and in order to get there, we need to keep more clean sheets and it is crucial in the progression of the football club.
“We work very hard on the detail and with the analysis before the game on all the aspects of the opposition, but we have to defend the key moments better.
“We looked much better against Shrewsbury and Walsall but once again, the lapses came back in at the weekend and that can not happen.
“The key is consistency and that has to be evident in our defending.”