Coventry City manager Chris Coleman has told his players not to be too downhearted about the defeat at home to Cardiff last Tuesday and has reminded them that the season is still alive and “It’s still all to play for.”
On the back of the defeat, Coventry City dropped from eighth to tenth in the Championship and went from being just two points from a play off place to being five points behind.
Coleman had warned his team that even if they did lose to Cardiff the season is not over. He said, “It can’t be the end of the world if we lose the next game. We have to get away from that thinking because all the while we are in the mix we have got to stay positive."
“Cardiff is just another game, there are another nine matches after that. If it was our last game, our last chance, fair enough, but there will be other chances. I’m not saying it doesn’t matter if we lose, absolutely not, but you’re not going to win them all."
“I tried to explain to the players after the Plymouth game that if you look at the results around us it was a point gained, so we mustn’t be too disappointed and let it carry in to the next match.”
“We have got to take the positives out of it and whether it’s a win, draw or loss we have to get it out of our system because the next game is just round the corner and it is another opportunity for us.”
“What we mustn’t do is go on a big downer if we lose. We can’t have a massive slump with everyone walking around like it’s all over.”
In a diplomatic move, Coleman sent his assistant Steve Harrison out to do the obligatory post match press interview. Coleman was fully aware he would probably have said something that could have resulted in a disciplinary hearing at the FA .
Harrison said in the post match interview, “We weren’t at our best but Cardiff are a very good side, nicely balanced in every department, and we didn’t half give them a game."
“Yes, they created more chances but we defended very resolutely and we’re unfortunate to come away with a defeat because of a couple of decisions. It’s disheartening to lose in that manner, but we’ve got to look at it in perspective because we’ve made a lot of progress since the match in Cardiff when we were well beaten."
“We’re now looking to compete with the big sides in the division and we’re doing that well, I’m sure the fans will recognise that our players gave it everything they’ve got. We need to pick ourselves up and get on with it. It’s not the be-all and end-all because we’ve suffered one controversial defeat.”