Sky Blues striker Matty Godden says the squad are ready to get back on track ahead of this weekend’s trip to Peterborough United.
With Covid-19 postponements making for a highly disrupted winter schedule, the Sky Blues return to Championship action, just over two weeks since their last outing.
City goalscorer Matty Godden spoke on the recent matches, against Millwall and Derby County, and the boost in morale after welcoming a full squad back into training.
“It’s been a tough period leading up to Christmas and tougher over Christmas not playing games, we all want to play games over Christmas, it’s probably my favourite time to play.
“We went into the Millwall game and you could tell both sides were very rusty having not played for so long and then we went into the Derby game and knew it was important to get minutes in our legs and get the right performance and find that win at home.
“We said yesterday, we had a little meeting, it’s probably been over a month now since we’ve had everyone back in the building for various reasons, injury or illness, so it was nice to have everyone back in this week and it gives us a platform to go by for this weekend and beyond.
“It’s just about building that sharpness back up, which is probably my biggest disappointment, after the Huddersfield game I was really sharp, but with all these postponement its not done me many favours, but I’m embracing the challenge to get back to where I was before Christmas.”
The trip to the Posh sets up a return to the Weston Homes Stadium, where Godden spent a year before moving to the Sky Blues.
Godden revealed he is looking forward to a return, but affirmed his focus is now on City.
“I’m looking forward to going back. In League One I picked up a little knock just before we were due to play them, so that was the first game I missed, I was there but not part of the squad, so I’m looking to going back for sure.
“I think it’ll be a reasonable reception, I didn’t leave on bad terms, I was there just for the season, so it wasn’t like I was there for a really long time, I know a few people still there and I’m friendly with ones still there now, so we’ll see, it doesn’t really bother me to be honest.
“We know what they’re going to be like, they’re very dangerous going forward, like a lot of teams in this league, they commit a lot forward, but on the flip side that can play into out hands and the way we play.
"We need to get back to how we did that at the start of the season, we know we can cause them as much problems they can cause us.”
After returning from an injury spell at the start of the season, late heroics from Godden helped find his way back into the starting line-up.
Godden's form and inclusion in the side has seen Viktor Gyokeres miss out on the starting eleven in recent outings and after a run without a goal for the Swede, Godden told how he has been encouraging his strike partner.
“I spoke to Viktor about it yesterday and just said chill out, relax and I said to him it comes, everyone goes through these spells.
"You look at top-level Premier League players, world-class strikers, you might go twenty games without a goal, but try and bring something else to the party and if you’re bringing that, then no ones going to get on your back and eventually a goal will come.
“I’ve always said to myself, try and make yourself undroppable and that’s the way I’ve been coming up, so I said the same to Vik, get your heard down and work hard and it’ll come.
"He knows they’ll come, he’s not scored nine goals for no reason, so it’s only a matter of time before he gets one roll off his chin and away he goes.
“He wants the ball, he wants to bully defenders, that’s what he’s good at and that’s the way he is, I don’t think it’s getting to him, I just said, stop getting on your own back and relax, if it don’t come this weekend or the following weekend, it’ll come.
“I’ve been through it, you go through spells in the past, it’s part and parcel of football at the end of the day and you do go through dry patches and it’s a part of football."