Coventry City boss reveals early injury blow as squad commitment questioned ahead of Leeds United clash
Leeds United welcome Coventry City to Elland Road this weekend.
Coventry City will be sweating on the fitness of Jamie Allen for Saturday’s trip to Leeds United after the midfielder limped off in the first-half of their 2-1 defeat against Swansea City.
Allen was forced off inside 23 minutes after going to ground holding his knee, having been assessed on the pitch before limping off to be replaced by Victor Torp. The 29-year-old was able to bear weight but left the CBS Arena on crutches and with his right knee in a leg brace.
Further assessment will be carried out this week, including a proper scan, but Allen is now a major doubt for this weekend’s clash at Elland Road. It leaves Robins with just two fully fit senior midfielders in Josh Eccles and Torp, while Ben Sheaf is building fitness after a pre-season ankle injury.
“He’s got a knee ligament injury, so he had to come off,” Robins told Coventry Live of Allen’s injury. “He twisted it. I don’t know how bad it is yet but it’s a knee problem and we’re hoping it’s not a really serious one.”
Allen’s injury rubbed salt into first-half Coventry wounds, coming between a pair of Swansea goals from Liam Cullen and Oli Cooper. The home side pulled one back via an own-goal but Robins was far from happy with his side’s performance. He took attacker Haji Wright off at half-time and saw little improvement in the second 45-minute spell.
Coventry were expected to be in and around the play-off places come May but, even for their standards as slow starters, have struggled with just one win in six. And Robins has clearly taken issue with the performance-levels of some players, appearing to question their commitment.
“One or two are looking like they are really struggling all of a sudden, and that doesn’t make sense,” Robins added. “It’s not like us and it is one of those things where I can’t just put it down to experience and move on. There are things that with one or two individuals that clearly weren’t quite right. So we have got to get to the bottom of that.
“First and foremost, as an athlete, as a football player, a sportsman, you have to show that commitment. You really have to show that commitment, and it was lacking in some areas today. And that cannot be to do with the physical side of it. It’s not the physical side of it because you can still have a go even if you are half a yard slow or not getting there.
“But not to move, to be frozen and to be really out of the game, and I am sort of trying not to embarrass people at the moment because there’s clearly something not quite right. But I have got to get to the bottom of something with an individual or two.”
Leeds welcome Coventry to Elland Road having returned to winning ways with a 2-0 victory at 10-man Cardiff City. Largie Ramazani and Joel Piroe were on target for the Whites, although manager Daniel Farke was somewhat critical in his post-match press conference.
The clash with Coventry kicks off a tricky run of fixtures for Leeds, with games against Norwich City, Sunderland, Sheffield United, and Watford to follow inside the next month.