Sky Blues boss Mark Robins spoke on the recent addition of Jake Bidwell, as well as the general squad shape.
Ahead of City’s next fixture, Mark Robins spoke on new signing, Jake Bidwell, and what the full-back brings to the table.
“He looks like a Rolls Royce, he moves really well, he’s a brilliant young man and hopefully he can be as reliable as he’s been throughout his career, he’s a player we like, Chris Badlan brought it to our attention that he was going to be available, which was a surprise in the first instance, but we’re happy that happened, there was a lot of interest in him and we’re thankful we got the backing of the club and the board to sanction a deal.
“It was a good deal to do because we’ve not had a player in that position that’s belonged to us since we sold Sam McCallum, obviously different end of the spectrum, he’s a 28-year-old, soon to be 29, we’ve looked at that, but the experience that we’ve brought in is very good, what we need to look at now is the future recruitment of potentially younger players that can develop.
“You have to compete with others at the level and that’s what we were prepared to do, when you’ve got a player like that, you’ve got to try and complete and we’ve managed to do that, it’s a big commitment, but in terms of what he is and what we expect, we expect to get that value for money and he get’s up and down that left side, he’s got experience, he’s got good feet and a decent delivery, but he’s got to get used to us, as well us to him, but I think it’ll be a really good signing for us.”
“I think he played last in November but he’s been training, so he’s ready to go and can’t wait to get started, we play QPR, one of his former clubs at the weekend and we have three games in a week again, with Stoke on Tuesday and away to Middlesbrough at the weekend following, so games are thick and fast now.
With Bidwell coming in, Tyler Walker departs on loan to Portsmouth and Robins assessed the situation and the striking options, with Martyn Waghorn closing in on a first-team return.
“We weren’t doing anything, that was the standpoint that we weren’t able to do anything, but you have to be nimble and if things come up and they can affect you positively moving forward and with Jake becoming available was something we felt we had to do and we’ve balanced things with Tyler going out to Portsmouth, with finances we’ve been able to make that work and ultimately we’re not looking to do anything else in the window, but sometimes things need freshening up, Tyler needed to go out and play and we’ve got Martyn Waghorn, Viktor, Matty Godden, and Fabio Tavares, whose flying in the under-23s.
“Tyler needed to go and play, go and get that frustration out and score some goals, so it benefited us and works for all parties, we signed him because we know he’s a goalscorer and we signed him to play regularly, Matty got injured, so that meant he played with Max last season, or on his own with good effect from time to time, I remember the goal he scored against Cardiff which typifies him, he’s a finisher.
“As you progress you need to have more in the building, Viktor comes in with Waggy and those two hit it off, Matty’s still trying to get fit and then Tyler was brought in against Barnsley and was on the periphery because of the circumstances and with everyone really at it and everyone ready to go into the side, there will be opportunities and he needed to go and be fresh and go and score goals, I want to keep him in but he needs to go and enjoy playing.
“[Martyn’s] getting closer, training yesterday he looked sharper and he’d benefitted from the minutes of Tuesday and that was the whole point of it, in terms of a game we did it right, got about the pitch properly, there was no messing about, so you could see the movements, the patterns were there, they got what they needed.”