Coventry seal first PL win in 25 years amid VAR controversy

0:00Who says Halloween only lasts one day? With Wayfair, one night of Halloween becomes a whole season at home. From larger-than-life yard decor and moody lighting to festive accents for every room in the house, Wayfair has what you need to make Halloween feel like magic all in one place. Because the best Halloween memories aren't made in just one night. They're made all season long. Shop Halloween decor now at Wayfair.com. That's W-A-Y-F-A-I-R dot com.

0:56Way fair, every style, every home. car today on Carvana. Pickup fees may apply.

1:07Welcome to the Sky Sports Premier League podcast. Saturday night football came from the city ground where Nottingham Forest took on Coventry. Here's how the game finished.

1:27It is a day to remember for Coventry City. For fans under the age of 30, it's a really memorable one because it's probably the first time they've ever seen their side win in the Premier League. They've waited since April 2001 to do it, but Frank Lampard has led them to success here with the most unlikely of goal scorers. Jay De Silva's first ever for the club from a breakaway cause by his goalkeeper who gets the assist. A long clearance from Carl Rushworth and Bobby Thomas played his part as well with a goal line clearance from Igor Jesus that ensured Coventry got this one over the line. They were helped as well by VAR because Jesus thought he had equalised but it turns out that he'd actually fouled Kaleb Urenci in running the ball over the line.

2:26So disappointment for Oliver Glasner, for the jeering Forest fans at the end. But Lee Hendry, what a night for Coventry. Oh, it's massive. Listen, it's all about getting three points. It's all about scoring goals. And they've done it all tonight, haven't they? This is the platform for them to really go and kick on now. I thought they were excellent. When they had to defend and dig deep, they did. I just felt that Forest didn't quite have enough this evening. I've seen them this season and I like what I see, but they were nowhere near what I've seen last week. That'll be the disappointment, yes, things haven't quite gone their way today, but listen, all credit goes to Frank Lampard and this Coventry side.

3:06They've dug deep and they've got all three points. After the bruising by Brighton, this has been a lesson in bounce-back ability. Finding gold thanks to De Silva. Nottingham Forest 0, Coventry 1. what a night for Coventry their first win of this Premier League season and they've done it in some style Jamie does it feel like this was a performance that was building for Coventry over the last couple of games?

3:34Pien Meulensteen:Yeah I do I mean it's been a really hard start for them in terms of the teams they've had to play against you know obviously Man City and Arsenal tough tough games but there were times when there were signs even the last week they looked at the little bits against Brighton where they had the moments before Brighton scored and thought, you know what, we can compete at this level. And it was so important to get this result today. I'm pleased for the players, I'm pleased for the fans, and obviously especially pleased for Frank Lampard because they've done such a great job getting here, but now you want to make it count.

4:05Pien Meulensteen:You want to get rid of that inferiority complex. Can we handle the occasion? Can we handle the Premier League? And they showed tonight. I thought it was a brilliant performance. They defended really well, had a really good system. They looked dangerous on the break. big performances Ethan Pinnock about 33 years of age but what a really good signing he is Fumi 18 years of age and his two centre-backs were magnificent Bobby Thomas in the middle really really good but for that man to score the goal and I know you know him well Steve you had him didn't you? Yeah Jay's had a good story to be fair working with the England set-up and he's really earned the right to play in the Premier League and he's had a great moment scoring the winner in the first win back in the Premier League is something that he and his teammates will remember forever And also for Frank Lampard as well to get this first win in this Premier League.

4:52Well we talked before the game about reference points, talked about obviously clean sheets, we talked about three points, even one point would have been progress today and I think the way they played with the set up, the chances that they created and I have to say the way they saw the game out as well, gives them a brilliant reference point and there's nothing better than a second this year as the first league in the world. It's given them some great reference points now for Frank to say to the players that we can do this. As we talked about before the game, so much of this challenge is about belief, about self-worth, about momentum, about belonging and tonight will be an important night for them.

5:32As a manager, what's going through your head right now? Relief, more than anything and maybe you get an extra few hours sleep with them, to be honest. And also before the international break, you want to come in to think you can have a little

5:44Pien Meulensteen:rest now I'm sure he'll spend time with the family or be in training making sure you're still working hard he eats sleep breathes football he is addicted to it and you can see how happy he is because he knows the effort they've all put in him that's the staff everybody behind the scenes the chairman bringing in players and then you have a rough start to the season but then it's important that you stay calm and that is a huge result for them today I thought the performance was excellent they look really balanced in there obviously playing three at the back matching up what Nottingham Forest did, but they will remember this for a long time, the Coventry fans.

6:16Pien Meulensteen:And obviously Doug King, the chairman, will be delighted. And it's certainly something to build on now because they can have a really enjoyable international break and they can't wait now for their next games to really enjoy and then kick on from here.

6:32Well, what a night it was in the end for Coventry and of course for Frank Lampard as well. their first win three points on the board in this Premier League season well delighted to say Frank Lampard joins us now live Frank congratulations I mean what a feeling that must be to get the first three points on the board how do you feel?

6:50Pien Meulensteen:Yeah yeah I feel great I feel amazing the way the players work for it it's a tough place to come we knew that having lost our first four games all in different circumstances I think it's easy to feel negative to feel like where's the goal where's the win coming from and the reality is in football you have to fight for it you have to work for it You have to have organisation. And I thought the work of it, I go through so many players today, how they individually work within the collective. You make your own luck in terms of VAR. I think it is a foul, but I think when you work that hard, the boys deserve it.

7:20Pien Meulensteen:Delighted for the fans. So no, really good for us. Frank, hi, Steve Cooper here. Hi, Steve. Really wishing you well on your job this year, man. Hope it goes as planned. Didn't really want it to start tonight, if I'm being honest, but I thought the balance of your in-possession game give you a lot of options, whether to play short with build-up and also play longer times, which I thought you did really well with great tactics and caused for us a lot of problems. Would you say that was something that you talked a lot about in the build-up? Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Steve. I appreciate it. It was because we know their system.

7:56Pien Meulensteen:We know they play it really well. So defensively, I think it was more simple to explain to the players. It's not simple in practice, but to explain the game plan. But we've had a couple of games now. We played some good teams, high-pressing teams. We felt that we'd probably gone a little bit, sometimes direct, more than we wanted to. So we tried to set up today to give ourselves a chance to play against them, to get Matt Grimes to come down a little bit and get involved in our back line. And we didn't want to have any players playing up against them so much, the big centre-half. So Rudy and Brandon and Efron were trying to go between lines and give them some problems, which hopefully would give us a bit more time to play.

8:30Pien Meulensteen:So I felt that in the first half. The first half I felt that we played well. I just wondered if we had that conviction, that last bit in the final third. Do we believe we're going to score a goal? And that's what I said to them at half-time and they carried on. And then obviously Jay pops up and Jay's been outstanding in all our games so far. And he fully deserves that goal. Frankie. Hey, Jay, mate. What a win, mate. Well done. Congratulations. Let's talk about the goal because it was a fantastic goal. And obviously you played your full-backs really high. Steve did a lovely piece at half-time talking about Jay De Silva.

8:59Pien Meulensteen:Great delivery as well from Rushworth. was this something that you felt that you could get some success down that left-hand side when being so high yeah we worked on that exact pass and run yesterday jane in training and uh no we listen if you if you have wingbacks in in in your team i mean it's harder when you're going wingback against wingback because it ends up a bit of a matchup so as you see there jay has to outrun him but the timing's perfect to do that and i think as steve said in the previous question It's like, can we play and can we also have that threat? Because when you play people between the lines, like we did a little bit central, you have to have a bit of a threat.

9:34Pien Meulensteen:And I thought Caleb did well on the other side as well. He's a midfield player. He's 20 years of age. He's come here to play in midfield. He's played right wing back. And he gave us some thrust on that side as well. So we felt that we could continually have a threat in the game. And it's how we made our success last year, was we can play and play through, but we can also have runners and be a bit more direct in our style and you can see the effectiveness of it in the goal. We'll talk about Bobby Thomas as well. I thought the three centre-backs today, Fumi, Pinnock, Bobby Thomas, fantastic for you.

10:03Pien Meulensteen:But that clearance, you need moments like that to go your way and just that desire to get back in there, Frank. Yeah, I'm so pleased with Bob. It's the type of defender he is. He will make those sort of like that John Terry kind of Thiago Silva. You know, top players that just always think protect my goal. And again, Bobby, I think his performance is stepping up to the league. He's had some really good ones already. against Man City against Erling Haaland. It's great that he's gaining that confidence and sort of growing in sort of maturity on and off the pitch because he's a really good player.

10:32Pien Meulensteen:You're right, I think all three centre-halves, Ethan's come in and given us a real bit of calm and experience. And Steph Maffuni, I mean, he played against Aston Villa in midweek and we liked him. And you know when you feel someone's a good young player, but when they come in with that composure and confidence and all the things, and he's a lovely, lovely lad. So I thought those three were great. A special mention, I think, for Brandon Thomas Asanto as well. I thought Thomas Brandon's work ethic and continuously sort of the pressing and helping and then getting the ball and getting us up the pitch.

10:58Pien Meulensteen:And I thought, you know, to name check a few, but I thought all round the boys were brilliant. And I know obviously tonight you're a massive fan of VAR. I loved it. I'm not going to comment too much because I know that it will be swings and roundabouts as it goes. It's been out of it for a while. Because we look, first of all, Frank, we couldn't see anything. It was obviously with VAR and the technology just gives us that advantage. He definitely clips him, doesn't he? Yeah, yeah, and I was worried. From my view it looked like it. I went back to the bench and I said as he clipped him and they said no, it looked like he'd stumbled over his feet.

11:30Pien Meulensteen:So I spent the next 30 seconds, but as they took time on it going over it, I thought maybe we're there and I think as you see in it here as you're replaying it, you can see that he has that little step on him there which puts him off balance and it's a foul. And as I say, I won't get carried away with it because sometimes they go for you, sometimes they won't in different ways, but I think that's VAR getting the right decision. And obviously now of international break, this feels like a lovely moment for the team. Everybody just to reset and enjoy. It was such a big three points for you. Yeah, it's huge, Joe, mentally for the team.

12:00Pien Meulensteen:I mentioned it there before, but we're a team with a lot of players that come in and play in their first stint of Premier League football. And I think it's human nature. You can't expect them to come in. Not everyone. Not everyone's a Wayne Rooney or these superstars just own it. You know, they've worked hard in their careers to get here. We're trying to get that out of them. And I think when they play like they did today, you can see that. And we've got players that have come into the club that are searching for fitness, adaptation, all those things. So there's been a few things that we've had to deal with that have been there in the first four games.

12:27Pien Meulensteen:So this can now hopefully give us confidence not to get carried away. There's so much to do. Every win point, everything you can get in this league is going to be an absolute fight. But the boys have shown that they can do it and there's a blueprint for them to carry on doing that. Frank, just before we let you go as well, how do you now build on this momentum that you're creating? Well, to understand what it meant, we speak a lot. I hear managers speaking about a lot this Premier League has so much power and fire and physical nature to it and I think we need to understand to be effective as a team we have to be on the limit with all those things so I think it's taking that all in mentally I think it's now getting a nice balance of some rest and we've got three weeks now until we play Newcastle on the Monday and we have to continue and keep our feet on the ground we have a lot of humility towards what we need to do because if we can become that squad if we can become that club then we'll give ourselves a really good chance to have our form of success this year.

13:21Well, congratulations and thank you so much for your time tonight.

13:24Pien Meulensteen:Thanks. Thanks very much. Thanks, Jamie. Thanks, Steve. It's obviously a great feeling for him, isn't it? Because this is something that's been building. We said about they've had the chances, they've just not been able to get those results yet. But to be able to get this, as we mentioned, just before the international break, it is crucial, isn't it? Yeah, I think one of the biggest changes from the Premier League to the Championship, you play less games so there's naturally longer spells between each games and and when you have a tough result or a tough performance and maybe consecutively as well um it's really the biggest part of the job for frank and any manager i felt it myself is just to continue to believe in the players and for them to believe in themselves because it gets noisy outside but you've got to make sure it doesn't get noisy inside you've got to keep the togetherness you've got to keep the player sort of as i said believing in in what you're doing and by the time the next day it comes round be motivated again to try and get the result they've done that really well tonight there's no doubt about that and like you said in the question it allows them now to go into the international break with a different frame of mind and also as Jamie you will know from playing you can reflect when you have a break as well and you can talk about you know what's gone well and what you might need to improve on having had a positive night tonight now they've had the full spectrum you know they've had a difficult game they've had a really positive game and they've got some time now to really think about it and especially the new players to the league whether they're new signings or have come from the championship they can take a deep breath now and think about what it takes to be a Premier League team and a Premier League player.

14:56For the players as well Jamie this will feel like a huge confidence boost especially with the last couple of results to be able to go into that break now knowing that you've had that win there's a bit of relief there isn't there?

15:06Pien Meulensteen:Can you can only imagine how they've been feeling because they haven't been playing necessarily really bad. He just haven't had the results. And then you start to think, when are we going to get a break? When is something going to go away? And then you look at every fixture, then it becomes really difficult. Whereas now they've got three points. Every fixture feels like, oh, we've got a chance here. We can win this one. That's how the mentality can change and shift so quickly. So for Frank and his squad, and now this international break has come at a nice time. You know, they've got a few players that have been out injured.

15:30Pien Meulensteen:They can get them back. Had you right, I'm not sure how long he is away, but you just get a bit closer to playing and starting. But that feeling, that's what you want. That's what the Coventry fans have turned up for and hoping it will happen. Because the longer it goes on, you do start to wonder. But I thought there was a lot of good performance. Obviously, the goal scorer there. I like Rodoni. He missed a bit of pre-season. So you can see now, four or five games into the season, he's starting to show his true qualities. He was fantastic in the championship. He's shown he's a Premier League player.

15:57Pien Meulensteen:I mentioned before people like Ethan Pinnock. Good human beings, good citizens that understand the game. 33 years of age. He's got so much experience at Brentford, where they're so disciplined now they do. And then you've got Fumi next to him, who's 18 years of age. I think it's a really nice balance on Yekker in midfield. Again, been at Brentford, knows what it's like in the Premier League. You need players that have got that experience. But I think there's also that balance of players coming into it with something new and enjoying it and throwing themselves into it. So, no, wonderful night for the whole football club.

16:26Pien Meulensteen:They can enjoy it, embrace it, but they've got to obviously keep working. Because Frank knows these are the levels you've got to set. You can't become complacent and start to think we've arrived because that then can punch you on the nose very quickly, Steve, can't it? and that is again one of the biggest differences in the Premier League and Frank's worked really well and he understood that it's a really big night for them but he talked about not getting carried away and learning about what went well tonight because that's how it is the game whatever happens in the last game the next game doesn't get any easier you know it's always a challenge whoever you play you know we see Brentford last night and the way they played and we look at how Aston Villa went about their game today without the ball outstanding so there's always a massive challenge in every game that you play.

17:06And I've said it a few times tonight, it is about the tactics, it is about the principles, of course, but it's about the mentality and it's about the sticking together and it's about the belief. And nights like tonight, individual performances, defining moments, really good game plan, you know, some really good things to reflect on and go forward with. Okay, we can hear now from two players that played a huge part in the win tonight, Bobby Thomas and Jay De Silva with Johnny Phillips. Jay, there's only one place to start, your first ever Coventry goal and it gets the first win in the Premier League this season.

17:36What about that? Yeah, great time for it. I've been waiting a while. The boys have been giving me stick for a long time, so yeah, happy to take that chance today and give us the win. You took it so well. Was that diagonal pass from Carl Rushworth something you've worked on in training? We know Carl's distribution, whether that's in his hands or from the floor, so yeah, as I saw him lying enough on the floor, let me gamble on it. Managed to get a good, nice touch on it and yeah, nice finish. Bobby, an incredible victory. What does that mean to the whole squad? What belief does it give you now? It gives us a right boost going into the break.

18:10We've had a couple of good performances in the first five games we've played but obviously with no points to show for it. I think we were moving in the right direction but come and stuck against Brighton to be fair second half they thought they were really good but this is a real good stepping stone today and something we have to build on and not get carried away but enjoy it at the same time. and yeah. There were great moments at both ends of the pitch, that goal line clearance. Tell us about that. Yeah, it just didn't seem to want to go in and I managed to get a swing lefty on it and yeah, not long after big fella's goal.

18:49That's the first time he's been called a big fella. Jay, how important was a clean sheet though today, especially after what's gone before? Yeah, massive, massive. I think last season that's something that we pride ourselves on. So yeah, I think that's something that we can take from. build on again and make us really hard to beat. That's what we want to go out and do. Has it been tough when you've been so used to winning last season and then you come into this league and it's been the opposite? Yeah, of course. We knew it was going to be a big step. Just trying to prepare for that and get ready for that.

19:17We've had some real tough games to start, I think. But, you know, every game is tough. So I think it was really important for us to get that win, get that clean sheet, moving into the international break. Yeah, what does it do, Bobby, when you go into this big break? because obviously had you not had a win, had you not had any points, there would have been a lot of talking, a lot of noise outside. Does this just settle everything down? Yeah, for sure. You go into a break where something in the back of your mind leaves a stale taste in your mouth and you can't fix it, you can't correct it, but to get the win before the break gives us a couple, two or three weeks, whatever it is now, for a positive refresh and hopefully a week off, once it happens.

19:59Well, you deserve a break. It was a fantastic performance from you both, from the whole team. But Bobby, you are the player of the match. Will you do the honors, Jay? Well done, mate. Well done, lad.

20:11Lots of smiles from those two, and rightly so. Let's have a look as well at the goal that Jay De Silva scored, because you really liked this, especially because of the pass that came before it.

20:20Pien Meulensteen:It's a great pass. We've seen Suzuki at Aston Villa. We see his delivery. when you see goalkeepers, because the first initial fall as they play, Grimes plays it back to him, is you've got Ethan Pinnock out, Peel in there. He goes to play it to him and he thinks, no, he's just going to wait. You can see Munoz here. He's just trying to jump a little bit. It's poor defending from his point of view, but what happens here is this first touch, it's immaculate. It's absolutely perfect. Then he sets himself up because once you make that first touch and you get across his body, then you're away. Look, he cuts across him.