The Sky Blues manager has urged for patience from the players and supporters as he expects the Latics to try and dominate the ball at the Ricoh Arena...
Coventry City boss Tony Mowbray has urged patience from both the players and supporters ahead of the opening day clash with Wigan on Saturday.
The Sky Blues come up against one of the favourites for automatic promotion at the Ricoh Arena and a team that according to Mowbray, will look to keep the ball and use possession to tire out the Sky Blues.
For that reason, the manager has urged for patience from his players and the supporters, so that the visiting side’s incisive passing doesn’t provide them with the opportunities to create clear chances in the opening game of the season.
The manager said: "They’re probably the favourites to go up with the one of the biggest budgets. It’s going to be a tough day, but one we’ll be very competitive in with the supporters behind us trying to get the best result.
"There will be spells in the game when they have the ball and we have to be patient about the way we play and make sure they don't get through our lines of defence.
"Wigan are a good team, I've watched a couple of their games and our supporters should be ready for them to keep the ball, there will be spells of that. If you run around and chase it down they pass it through you, so there has to be a patience about us.
"It will be an interesting game, almost like a chess match.”
The Sky Blues go into the game at the Ricoh Arena having not trained on the new surface.
Mowbray admits that’s a frustration of his after he tried to get a training session on there before the game, but says that he’s not getting too wound up about the situation.
"I went down there on Monday, the pitch is looking fine but I am disappointed we haven't been able to get on it to train," he added.
"It's a strange scenario that we play at the Ricoh Arena and yet it's not our ground but we have to get used to that. It is a bit frustrating but it is what it is.
"We’re hoping for a good atmosphere to get our season underway and we hope to start the season well to give us a good platform."