Portsmouth facing renewed Championship test with in-form Coventry City as Frank Lampard tactical plan detailed

Portsmouth might have hoped Saturday’s visit of Coventry City came a few weeks earlier, with their weekend opponents much-improved since the arrival of Frank Lampard.

Coventry confirmed the appointment of Lampard as head coach at the end of November, having sacked long-term boss Mark Robins following a dismal opening period of the season. The Sky Blues were widely tipped to challenge for the play-offs but sat in 17th at the point in which Robins left.

Lampard will have had little time to impact his squad ahead of a 2-2 draw at home to Cardiff City, but Coventry have since won two of their last three to take seven points from 12 on offer under the Chelsea legend. Their first win in over a month came at Millwall, with Ephron Mason-Clark scoring the only goal - a victory the new head coach described as a ‘small step’.

Defeat at play-off hopefuls West Bromwich Albion brought with it a hit of reality but Coventry kicked off a preferable run of fixtures by beating Hull City 2-1 last weekend. Lampard saw his side fall behind to the rock-bottom Tigers but enjoyed a first home win courtesy of second-half goals from Mason-Clark and Jack Rudoni.

Coventry dominated possession and created more than their fair share of chances before scoring, with signs of growing frustration at half-time. But the experienced former midfielder, who is now with his fourth club as manager, kept his composure to turn things around.

"Well yeah I did [sense the frustration], but I have to not transmit that to the players," he told talkSPORT after eventually sealing all three points. "So it was more keep going and keep doing what you're doing well, and do it even better but don't get desperate, don't change.”

And the Coventry boss perhaps gave an idea of the way he wants to attack ahead of Saturday’s trip to Portsmouth: “We had a real plan today, to play to the size of the pitch and to get triangles and overload the sides and then get crosses into the box.

“We were doing everything we wanted other than that last bit and then they score, so it was trying to give the players belief to continue doing it. And to be fair to them, they went and did that so that's one of the bigger things, some nice patterns of play and bits and bobs on the pitch, but the mentality side of it from the players was really strong."

That run of results has pulled Coventry away from any immediate relegation trouble and they will be seven points clear of Saturday’s hosts, Portsmouth. John Mousinho’s side could climb out of the relegation zone with as little as a point, dependent on results elsewhere, but three points would give them a much greater chance.