City boss Steven Pressley also believes the City squad need to develop a winning mentality...
Coventry City manager Steven Pressley admits that the Sky Blues are in a relegation fight and expressed that the mentality of the players is crucial in the next few weeks after a disappointing last minute loss to Swindon Town at Sixfields.
The defeat left Coventry on 49 points, five ahead of 21st placed Carlisle with 3 games to play. Despite City looking like they could snatch a winner, a loss means the Sky Blues are in a relegation battle, a situation Pressley assures he and the club are well aware of.
Pressley said: “We’re in it. We are very much aware of that. We are 5 points above the team lying in the last relegation place.
“The truth is, we have a number of players at this club that have experienced relegation. They need to prove to this football club, and our supporters, that they have the mental capacity to deal with these situations.
“That’ll be the big question over the next few weeks, do these players have that mentality or is that part of their make-up.”
A last minute header from Michael Smith condemned the Sky Blues to a second consecutive home loss, and despite Coventry showing a glimpses of good football, they failed to create a lot of chances, something Pressley says needs to change.
The City boss said: “It was very frustrating. I felt that we started the game with a little bit of trepidation, a little bit of nerves in our performance. It took again, very similar to the Peterborough game, 20 minutes for us to really settle in to a rhythm.
“I thought our commitment was very good today, but we need to get more at this time from certain players, not in terms of effort but in terms of quality.
“I felt the back four in general and the middle three worked exceptionally hard, but we need more from our offensive players. I found our final decisions, our final quality were not good enough today.”
After identifying mentality as the key over the next few games, Steven Pressley has also stated that he will instil this going into the summer and beyond as he looks to improve next season.
“Moving this club forward, it is going to be about not just about the quality of the football, but the mentality and that is one of the biggest shifts that need to change at this football club. No complacency, a real winning mentality.”