The Sky Blues entertain Barnsley this Saturday at the Coventry Building Society Arena in the SkyBet Championship. Here is everything you need to know about our opponents.
Fact File
Name: Barnsley Football Club
Founded: 1887
Stadium: Oakwell
Capacity: 23,287
Nickname: The Tykes
Address: Oakwell Stadium, Grove Street, Barnsley, S71 1ET
Pitch Size: 110 x 75 yards
The Opposition
After reaching the Championship play-offs last campaign, Barnsley find themselves at the opposite end of the table this season, bottom of the league.
Former manager, Valerien Ismael, departed in the summer for Premier League hopefuls West Bromwich Albion, with Tykes talisman Alex Mowatt following him across to the Baggies.
Come the winter window and two loan signings arrived, in the form of two attacking players- Watford’s Domingos Quina and Metz’s Amine Bassi- who will look to help Barnsley in their fight for survival.
Cauley Woodrow is the Tykes top goal-scorer with four to his name and Callum Brittain is the club's top assister, setting up three goals.
The Manager: Poya Asbaghi
Poya Asbaghi’s journey into management came via a different route to many of his Championship managerial counterparts, with the Swedish Iranian manager having not played professionally in the game.
Asbaghi embarked on his coaching career at Dalkurd FF in 2014, as an assistant, then progressing to becoming their manager, where he continued until 2017.
Gefle IF, faired as a brief pit-stop, before Asbaghi moved onto IFK Goteborg in the top tier of Swedish football. During his time at Goteborg, Asbaghi was offered the vacant Barnsley job, but he turned down the opportunity.
A step into international football followed, with Asbaghi taking charge of Sweden’s Under-21 side from 2020-2021. In November 2021, Asbaghi was appointed Barnsley head coach, after Markus Schopp was relieved of his duties.
Last Six Games
Won - Barnsley 1-0 QPR (Sky Bet Championship)
Lost - Luton 2-1 Barnsley (Sky Bet Championship)
Lost - Huddersfield 1-0 Barnsley (Sky Bet Championship)
Lost - Barnsley 0-1 Cardiff (Sky Bet Championship)
Lost - Barnsley 0-1 Bournemouth (Sky Bet Championship)
Lost - Nottingham Forest 3-0 Barnsley (Sky Bet Championship)
Last Time We Met
The Sky Blues last match against Barnsley ended in a 1-0 defeat at Oakwell, in City’s second league match of the season.
After the dramatic opening day win versus Nottingham Forest, Mark Robins’ side started brightly, looking to make it two wins on the trot.
However, it was the hosts that took the lead, with Dominik Frieser opening the scoring just before half-time.
The Sky Blues went close on several occasions in the second half and looked to have salvaged a point in the final minutes, but Viktor Gyokeres’ penalty strike was saved by Bradley Collins, gifting Barnsley all three points.
Sky Blues Xl: Simon Moore (GK), Fankaty Dabo, Michael Rose (Jake Clarke-Salter 77’), Kyle McFadzean (C), Dom Hyam, Ian Maatsen, Ben Sheaf (Jamie Allen 77’), Gustavo Hamer, Callum O'Hare, Tyler Walker (Martyn Waghorn 17’), Viktor Gyokeres.
Subs: Ben Wilson (GK), Jake Clarke-Salter, Julien Dacosta, Jamie Allen, Jordan Shipley, Jodi Jones, Martyn Waghorn
Head-To-Head Record
Sky Blues wins - 30
Draws - 15
Barnsley wins -19
Club Connection: Martin Cranie
Martin Cranie began his career with Southampton, progressing through the Saints academy before breaking into the first team for 16 appearances across three years.
In his time with his parent club, Cranie gained experience on loan at Bournemouth and Yeovil Town, then leaving Southampton to join close rivals Portsmouth in 2007.
Two more loan spells followed, with Queens Park Rangers and Charlton Athletic, where the defender then joined the Sky Blues in 2009.
In his time with Coventry, Cranie made over 100 appearances in Sky Blue and had one of the longest stints in his professional career.
After three years with City, Cranie moved onto Barnsley, the club in which he made his Sky Blues debut against, enjoying a long playing spell with the Tykes.
Another 100 appearances followed at Barnsley, but after three years, the Englishman was released from the League One side.
Moves to Huddersfield Town, Middlesbrough, and Sheffield United followed, with Cranie last having played for Luton Town in 2021.
Match Officials
Joshua Smith is the man in the middle for this weekend’s game against Barnsley- it is the second time he’s officiated the Sky Blues this season.
Smith will be joined by linesmen Jonathan Hunt and Matthew Jones, as well as fourth official Sam Purkiss.