City boss says Arsenal cup clash represents a great opportunity for the Sky Blues
Coventry City boss Mark Robins says tonight's Capital One Cup clash at Arsenal represents a massive opportunity for the Sky Blues.
City travel to the Emirates Stadium to take on Arsene Wenger's Gunners for a place in the fourth round and Robins, who kicked off his Coventry managerial career with a narrow defeat to Carlisle United on Saturday, said he was relishing the opportunity to see his side test their mettle against one of the best sides in Europe.
"It's a great opportunity. We've got a fantastic following of 8,000 supporters taking the trip to the Emirates, it's a fantastic stadium and we have a great opportunity to pit our wits against one of the best teams in Europe," he said.
"We want to go there and try and be productive. We'll have to work hard and we'll have to retain possession and use the ball better than we did on Saturday and if we can do that then football can be a strange game."
Robins added the thousands of travelling supporters was also a great marker for the size of Coventry City as a club.
"It speaks volumes of the club for me, the size of it and it's fantastic supporters who have stuck behind the club through thin and thin.
"Their support for me has beens second to none since I arrived and I intend to repay them with hard work, determination and putting something on the pitch that they can enjoy coming to watch.
"It will take time as I've mentioned a few times. When I arrived we quickly identified their was a lack of confidence and a malaise around the place. You could sense it. We've got to change that and be bright and breezy when coming into work in the morning and the players have responded well in training but now we have to get results off the training pitch.
"I actually thought we were a tad unlucky against Carlisle on Saturday because we matched them for workrate but we need to be better when in possession of the football.
"We've got to learn to get a better stranglehold on games otherwise people start to lose confidence and that's when you see the ball go long and that's not what we want. So we will go to Arsenal and try a few things and although you may not see a full strength Arsenal they have got a great squad of talented players at the club and it will be good to see us pit our wits against that."