GORDON Strachan admits Coventry City ‘have a problem’ but still backed the Sky Blues to achieve promotion this season.
Strachan managed the club in the Premier League from 1996 to 2001 and made 33 appearances for the Sky Blues at the end of his playing career.
However, despite Coventry’s recent dip in form, Strachan still expects Coventry to finish in the automatic promotion places come the end of the campaign.
Speaking to BetVictor, Strachan said: “I didn’t think it was going to be a good league this year, about four months ago, but it’s developing into a really good league.
“As I said, I’m okay, two of my clubs are at the top now. It means if I wanted the league to finish, it would be now, just finish it, because I think Ipswich will claw their way back, and you’ve got Hull there as well.
“Coventry have a problem. If you had offered this position at the beginning of the season, would you have liked to be here? Absolutely. But the fact is, being so far ahead and then getting clawed back plays with your mind.
“That’s when you have to strip it back and ask, ‘What are we good at?’ Forget the noise, forget what’s happened, and this is where we are. It’s not easy, by the way, to forget where you’ve been to where you are now.
“The attitude will just be like, ‘Whatever we’ve got to do, we’ll have to win games of football now.’ But there are different ways to do that. You can go basic, or you stick to what you’re good at.
“I think they’ll stick to what they’re good at and reaffirm, you know, ‘That’s the way we play.’ Then they’ll be fine. I genuinely think they’ll be fine. I think most teams, before you win anything, you’re made to suffer, like anything in life.
“The main thing is not winning the Championship. I always look at the points between the third-placed team and the second-placed team. And that’s what you’re aiming for at the moment.
“I’d be delighted for Middlesbrough and Coventry to go up, they are having a moment but I’m sure Frank can deal with it. As I said, the best thing for him and his players is to forget the noise that’s coming around about them.
“Block them off from that. And it’s like stripping back a golf swing, right? Strip it back to the basics. And what we’re really good at, right? We go back to that and we keep working at that. And the players will believe in that.”
