We Won't Be Under-Estimating Coventry - Adkins

Last updated : 04 November 2011 By Covsupport News Service

Southampton boss Nigel Adkins has said that they won’t be under-estimating the Sky Blues tomorrow. 

The Saints come to the Ricoh Arena, top of the Championship and take on a City side in the bottom three. 

“We have watched two matches already and we can see that they play some good football," he told  Saints Player. 

"They play a diamond formation, 4-diamond-2, the pitch there is beautiful and they pass the ball extremely well. 

"If you look at the league table they are in the bottom three so one would suggest that there is an opportunity to win the game because they are down there for a reason. Believe me it will be tough though, they press from the front, they work hard for each other and they pass the ball around an awful lot and if we aren't on top of our game then they will give us some major problems and we are well aware of that. 

"We never underestimate the opposition at Southampton. We have said that from day one, and certainly when we go to Coventry at the weekend we will be totally focused on getting hold of the football to present problems for them. 

"We have this winning mentality about us and we always try to find a way to win a game, but the emphasis is now on can we get the performances right. If we can keep the standards right at the club on what we do and how we play, then we give ourselves an opportunity to keep winning games of football. 

"I think when you look at it, the opposition are probably a little more aware of us now. 

"We are top of the passing charts, and against Peterborough on Tuesday night we had 505 passes with a 90.1% completion rate, which is really pleasing; teams will see that and try to break you down a little bit. 

"It was interesting the other night that for the first time this season, with Peterborough going down to ten men they decided to put two banks of four and a striker behind the ball. That was the first time this season that we have been presented with the challenge of trying to break down a team that was so deep and in numbers, so it was a great exercise for us considering we got the three points. 

We have to work out ways to play out from the back, which we want to do because teams will come and press us - the trip to Coventry will be a prime example of that. They will want to stop us trying to play out from the back, so we have to come up with solutions to get around that, and then go and break the opposition down."