Sky Blues boss Mark Robins revealed that his side will be without Tyler Walker this weekend after the striker suffered an injury in the defeat to Burnley.
Walker suffered a torn ACL in the clash against the Clarets, but thankfully it isn’t as bad as it sounds, with Robins expecting him to be out for up to two weeks.
On a more positive note, he has also told how Callum O’Hare is back in full training and club captain Liam Kelly will be available for selection next week.
Robins also looked ahead to the weekend’s trip to the Cardiff City Stadium, as his side prepare for the first of nine games in the next four weeks.
Tyler Walker to spend spell on sidelines…
“He’s tore a ligament, but thankfully it will be only a few weeks, I think.
“He’s tore his ACL and when you hear that it sounds horrific and obviously it’s not great but it’s miles better than it could have been.
“Thankfully I think he will only be out for a week or two, it’s not something we wanted to see but he will be back us quickly.
“He did it in the game last week. There was twice he went through; the first time was in the first half when he was brought down by Jordan Beyer.
“Then the second one was on the far side of the pitch in the second half, when he didn’t have treatment, that was the time he twisted and tore the ACL.
“Whilst it’s not great to be without anybody it could have been so much worse, but as I said, I’m being told he should be okay in a week or fortnight which is brilliant.”
Callum O’Hare returning to full training…
“Callum O’Hare is back in full training which is a big lift for everybody.
“He’s back, he’s fit and it’s just the load he needs to get into his legs before he can join in.
“He doesn’t necessarily need an under-21s game, but he will need some specific work to make him ready for it.
“Because of the nine games coming up he may have to be involved to get his fitness in the games so we will just have to weigh that up and it’s something we may do.”
How Liam Kelly got through the Under-21s game…
“He’s come through it ok. He played 45 minutes, and he had a decent run-out and he trained yesterday.
“He will be available next week. He needs some more training; he has an injury history and I want to make sure he gets more load into him and see how he copes with it.
“There’s bits and pieces he’s still feeling, so I think it would be foolish to include him tomorrow but hopefully he will be involved at some point next week.”
On facing Cardiff City this weekend…
“They’re a good side and well organized. Obviously Mark Hudson has taken over and he has got them really well organized
“They defend well, and they try and limit space and they’ve got some really talented players.
“Steve Morrison worked hard over the summer with recruitment and the team and dynamic changed and they were successful on that front.
“I think they’ve been up and down in terms of results, but the performances have been decent and they have some good players in the side with some know how.
“As usual Championship games are always difficult, but from our perspective, we have to focus on us and keep doing that and keep improving as we go.
Looking ahead to the next four weeks…
“Nine games in four weeks can be daunting, because it’s brutal, but we’ve been hoping for runs of games and this is the first time we’ve been able to sort of hopefully get those games played.
“It’s difficult because you only have limited recovery in between and there’s plenty of scope for us to get really good recovery into the players now because of the protocols we introduced in the summer that the club kindly helped us provide and everyone takes advantage of that.
“Everyone is looking to build some momentum and build some good performances. We’ve done that in the five games previously apart from the result Saturday against a good Burnley side.
“We’ve tried to limit the chances oppositions were creating but also you have to balance to get because when you open up you become open, so we have to keep the ball better and that’s something we’re trying to establish.
“It’s a work in progress as always and we have to keep moving forward.”
On changing formation during games…
“It depends on a number of factors; we have to see what the opponents is like when we’re preparing for games and first and foremost how we can hurt them and limit their opportunities.
“Because you’re playing against good players every week and we don’t want to be on the back foot, we want to be on the front foot, and you can employ a lot of strategies for that.
“But ultimately, we have to be better in possession, but we turn the ball over too much at the moment, so that’s one of things we have to get better at.
“We’ve had a lot of passion in a lot of the games and we’ve come out on the wrong side of a result and then we’ve won a game when we’ve had less possession, it’s really weird this league.”