Sky Blues boss Mark Robins detailed how his side’s second-half resurgence today was as a result of increased belief to claim the 4-1 win against Fulham.
A Kyle McFadzean own-goal sent the Sky Blues into the changing rooms a goal down at half-time, however an exemplary second-half response saw City strike four goals to claim the three points from Fulham.
“On the back of the other night, it could have easily gone the other way, but also I know how good they are,” Robins stated.
“They need to believe that, and believe that from the start of games.
“We’ve got to give Luton credit; we learnt a lot from that the other night. We responded really well and did a really good job going into the international break.”
Viktor Gyökeres struck two minutes after the restart, and Matty Godden’s penalty gave the Sky Blues the advantage minutes later. When asked about Gyökeres’ equaliser, Robins praised the intelligent finishes of all four goalscorers today:
“His goal was absolutely outstanding, but all of the goals were outstanding.
“For the penalty, Matty [Godden] took it really cleanly, Viktor [Gyökeres] scored two brilliant goals again.
“The first one was very calm and the second one was an unbelievable pass from Matty Godden. Great touch because it was a tricky surface; he’s taken it really well to get his foot on it and stick it in.
“I’m really pleased with the overall performance and the mentality. I thought they were very, very good.”
Ian Maatsen struck his first goal for the club just past the hour mark, before Gyökeres went on to also score his second of the day. Having helped send the Sky Blues into third place in the SkyBet Championship today, Mark Robins spoke of his delight for Maatsen’s performance.
“The likes of Ian Maatsen grew in stature during the game – grew in confidence, grew in belief, and then the quality was there. His positioning, his pressing, the way he won the ball was outstanding. Both defensively and attacking, he got it spot on.”
Moreover, Robins expanded on how his side’s impressive second half display was “just about belief and about knowing that they were getting into good positions to stop them, but also about having the belief and the vision and ability to do what we want to do, which was to move the ball really quickly and shift them.
“We knew where we could exploit, and we exploited their positions really well by quick movement, good vision, good execution of passes, but by a willingness to press and get all over them and rob them of the ball, which is what happened to us the other night.
“It was a fitting day, as Jimmy Hill Day, and it was almost as if he was here watching. A fitting result.”