FRANK Lampard insists Coventry City’s focus is on the final 20 league games of the season following the club’s FA Cup exit at Stoke City.
The Sky Blues suffered a third-round exit at the hands of the Potters as former City boss Mark Robins triumphed against his old side courtesy of Lamine Cisse’s late stunner at the bet365 Stadium.
The defeat leaves Coventry’s sole focus on the league with the Sky Blues currently six points clear at the top of the Championship table.
And while Lampard admits his side found the festive period challenging, the Sky Blues head coach insists he needs his squad to come together as a collective to achieve promotion to the Premier League.
Lampard said: “It didn’t go for us, it was a pretty tight game. I can’t be too disappointed with the lads. Everyone tried everything.
“I thought we were the footballing team, played the better football and had a lot of possession.
“With eight changes, it had to happen, we needed to see the new boys play and it’s good for the players who haven’t played so regularly to get minutes.
“Everybody wants a run in the FA Cup but it shows where our focus is now and it’s on 20 league games.
“There’s a long way to go. We’ve had a challenging period over Christmas but it still leaves us in a really good position.
“It’s going to be a whole collective of the squad to try and get to the aim that we started the season with.
“Now we found ourselves in a position we might not have expected to be in. Now all the challenges are ahead.”
The Sky Blues made eight changes for the clash with the Potters as new loan signings Romain Esse and Yang Min-hyeok both made their debuts for the club.
And Lampard praised the impact of both players and feels the pair offer him more options in forward areas.
Lampard added: “I’m really happy with them both [new signings].
“They both showed good flashes of what they’ve got to bring to the squad and we needed it to help us.
“I brought Yang off because he’s not played so many minutes, now we have those options that we didn’t have before.
“Romain showed some really great technical stuff and movement with the ball. The game was great for them and they showed more than glimpses of what’s to come.”
Coventry are next in action against Leicester City on Saturday, January 17 with kick-off at 12.30pm at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
