Sky Blues boss Mark Robins praised his side’s strong team ethic ahead of the clash with Peterborough United tonight and has been pleased with the defensive performances so far this season.
City have conceded the joint fewest number of goals in the Championship, along with AFC Bournemouth, with six and Robins is pleased to see his team hitting one of his early season targets.
“It’s the whole team, you defend together, you attack together, you’ve got to be linked and I think it’s all linked.
“That’s how it works and how the players are working which is absolutely brilliant because those were the goals we needed to set because we conceded too many goals in this period last year and that was one of the goals to try and make it a better outcome for us than it was last season.
“The players have stepped up and preformed to a really good level at the moment and, there is no reason why that can’t continue as long as we stay focused with our mind on the job and continue to work in the way that we are.”
The work rate his players have put in so far is one aspect of their performances Robins highlighted and the gaffer insists the strong start to the season isn’t by accident, but down to the hard work done all week on the training ground as he aims to get all he can out of his squad.
“It’s early days but there is a lot of good signs and there is a lot of confidence going into games and as long as we execute the game plan and anything we give them in the right way then brilliant and that’s all you can ask for.
“The biggest thing for me is the work rate, the work rate from the players and staff and everybody, is reflected with the atmosphere in the ground as they are giving me everything they possibly can do and that’s all you can ask.
“But on the back of it the concentration levels and their execution is good and that’s why things have knitted together so far but it’s not by accident it’s by design and the work they are doing you can see coming out into the games which is very pleasing.
“That’s teamwork and that’s where they are at. They have set standards and they are trying to surpass those standards and they have done.
“I think it’s very difficult to keep demanding more and more and more in a small space of time but that’s what we try and do to push it and the players have responded brilliant so all credit to them and it means we can go into Friday night confidently but also know they are a really difficult opponent.”
When asked what has changed this season, Robins insisted that some of the key ingredients for success have been well established and was thankful for all the work people have done around the club that has allowed the club flourish during his time in charge.
“I think mentality and attitude have been really good throughout the time I have been here and that is one of the things we demand, and they have to work hard.
“I think the biggest difference is you try and add quality and the quality has gone up and that’s through our work and also recruitment as you try and move things forward.
“There is no secret to it, it’s graft but also craft, and there is a lot of people that continue to contribute to it as it is a club wide thing and that includes the supporters.”
Turning attentions to the match with Posh Robins spoke of the importance of focusing on performance rather than league position of the side, knowing that his team need to be wary of everyone in a busy week for the Sky Blues.
“Obviously we play today, we go to Luton on Wednesday and then an early kick off, which gives us less time to recover, before the 1230 kick off with Fulham so we’ll focus on today and preparation for the Peterborough game but nothing will change.
“Every game is on its own merit and it’s early days. There’s only eight games gone, I think the performances are more important and the results are a byproduct of your performance and it’s really important to focus on that really.
“You can trip up in any game if you are not quite right or if the opponent is better than you and we really have to focus on what we do.
“That’s why everybody loves football as nobody knows how things are going to go and people may be surprised at where we are at the moment, but it doesn’t make any difference where anybody is at this moment in time.
“If you want to take anything from the table it’s the performances have been pretty good, and we’ve got to try to keep doing that as there is a long way to go.
“We know what we need to do to get football results and the players have been brilliant and we’ll keep transferring the work and transferring the information that helps them and that’s all you can do.”