{"id":1497570,"date":"2026-09-29T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?post_type=features&p=1497570"},"modified":"2026-09-29T10:51:51","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T09:51:51","slug":"tactical-analysis-why-frank-lampard-new-formation-suits-coventry-city","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/tactical-analysis-why-frank-lampard-new-formation-suits-coventry-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Frank Lampard’s new formation suits Coventry City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Coventry City<\/a> have been playing with a back-three as of late and are already seeing improvements.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sky Blues have only just picked up their first win in the Premier League<\/a>, beating Nottingham Forest<\/a> 1-0 at the City Ground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It came right after the first time they managed to score a goal against top-flight opposition, in a 3-1 defeat at home to Aston Villa<\/a> in the Carabao Cup<\/a>. They had already won 4-2 away at Plymouth Argyle<\/a> in the cup.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those might sound like small achievements, but Coventry fans seem to have realistic expectations for the season. They did not get shaken up by the four straight defeats to start the league campaign and are celebrating the players and coaching staff every game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Frank Lampard might be onto something with his ‘new’ system that has gotten the Sky Blues those achievements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The former legendary midfielder’s best season of his managerial career in the Premier League came in 2019\/20 with Chelsea<\/a>. And it was precisely going back-and-forth from his preferred 4-3-3 to sometimes the 3-4-3 that he led a young and limited Blues squad to fourth in the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time, he activated a similar ‘protocol’ in order to try and get Coventry out of the small crisis they found themselves in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stat (per game)<\/th>3-4-3<\/th>4-2-3-1<\/th>4-1-4-1<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Matches played<\/td>3<\/strong><\/td>2<\/td>1<\/td><\/tr>
W-D-L<\/td>1-0-2<\/strong><\/td>0-0-2<\/td>0-0-1<\/td><\/tr>
Goals scored<\/td>0.3<\/td>0.5<\/strong><\/td>0.0<\/td><\/tr>
Goals conceded<\/td>2.0<\/strong><\/td>2.0<\/strong><\/td>3.0<\/td><\/tr>
Shots taken<\/td>12.0<\/td>13.0<\/strong><\/td>4.0<\/td><\/tr>
Shots faced<\/td>20.3<\/td>12.0<\/strong><\/td>20.0<\/td><\/tr>
Big chances for<\/td>1.7<\/strong><\/td>0.5<\/td>1.0<\/td><\/tr>
Big chances against<\/td>2.7<\/td>3.0<\/td>1.0<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Expected Goals<\/td>1.1<\/strong><\/td>1.1<\/td>0.20<\/td><\/tr>
Expected Goals against<\/td>2.0<\/td>1.6<\/strong><\/td>1.9<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

*Considering only matches against Premier League opposition across all competitions<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Why does the 3-4-3 suit Frank Lampard’s Coventry?<\/h2>