Flying high but Lampard vows Coventry can get better

Frank Lampard has picked up 92 points from 46 league games in charge of Coventry

Replacing legendary club managers is often fraught with danger - football is littered with examples of high-profile failures.

In English Football League (EFL) terms, Mark Robins was held in that esteem at Coventry City. Quite right too, as over seven years he had dragged the Sky Blues from the doldrums of League Two to a penalty shoot-out from both the Premier League and the FA Cup final, while having to navigate off-field issues such as playing away from Coventry itself.

The decision to remove Robins was not an easy one and understandably prompted strong reaction from Coventry supporters.

Into that hotseat walked Frank Lampard, whose own managerial career was at a crossroads after unsatisfactory endings at Chelsea and Everton.

Fast forward 12 months and fed on a diet of goals and attacking football, the Sky Blues are 10 points clear at the top of the Championship and in prime position to return to the top flight.

Between them, Haji Wright (left) and Brandon Thomas-Asante have scored 18 of Coventry's 47 league goals

Goals, goals, goals

First of all, it is time to get the calculators out for some number-crunching.

Lampard has collected 92 points from his 46 league games in charge - an average of two points per game, which would have been enough to secure automatic promotion in seven of the past 10 seasons.

When he took over last November Coventry were 17th, two points off the bottom three and 10 away from the play-offs.

But they collected 52 points from 29 games - a return bettered only by the top three of Leeds United, Burnley and Sheffield United - in finishing fifth only to lose in the last minute of extra time in the second leg of their play-off semi-final with Sunderland.

This season has been even better. A return of 40 from 17 games is an average of 2.35 points per game and has them on course for a staggering 108 across the season, which would break Reading's Championship points record of 106 achieved in 2006.

But it is the sheer number of goals that is really catching the eye. The four scored in Tuesday's 4-2 win at Middlesbrough in the meeting of the top two took their tally to 47 in only 17 games.

The next best in the Championship are Hull City and Ipswich Town with 28 - a whopping 19 goals fewer, while their goal difference of 30 is 17 better than the next best.

If the Sky Blues maintain their rate of 2.76 goals per match, they would clock up 127 goals across the 46 games.

Peterborough United scored 134 goals in winning Division Four in 1960-61, but that is the most recent of any of the leading 14 tallies for a season.

Though in Premier League terms, Manchester City's 100-point season under Pep Guardiola saw them score 106 goals at 2.78 per game but in only a 38-game campaign.

'Players' character was being questioned'

The other key thing to note is the personnel. Lampard's squad is basically the same one he inherited from Robins 12 months ago.

Ten of the 14 players he used in his first game were used at Riverside Stadium on Tuesday.

That increases to 11 for those involved against Boro who also played in the play-off loss to Sunderland.

The influential signing of captain Matt Grimes from Swansea City in January to play the midfield anchor role has been augmented by the loan deal for goalkeeper Carl Rushworth, but it is the improved output from each member of the squad that is most eye-catching.

And in a season when 11 Championship clubs started with a new manager and most others were involved in extensive rebuilding and remodelling of their squads during the summer, the continuity of Lampard and Coventry has given them a huge headstart.

"I got the feeling people were questioning character when I came in," he said. "Not questioning bad lads, but how strong the group is. I heard that.

"What the players have done is grow together as it's pretty much the same squad. They have grown a lot. Leaders have started to emerge in the dressing room.

"Then they've got quality and they're really hungry. It's a massive ingredient. If you don't have that, you won't be able to sustain or do anything."

Defeat by Sunderland in the play-offs last season was a third consecutive year of major heartbreak for Coventry players

'We absolutely can get better'

Coventry have a 10-point cushion over Stoke City and Middlesbrough, but we are only just over a third of the way through the season.

There is plenty of opportunity for pitfalls and a loss of form. But a scary prospect for the rest of the Championship is that Lampard does not believe his side have reached their ceiling yet.

At 30, Grimes was the oldest starter against Boro in a side whose average age is 26 with plenty of scope of get better.

"There's always stuff to improve as a team or an individual," said Lampard.

"We're not really, really old - a lot of players are low to mid-20s and they can get better. They do train with that attitude - they're a joy to train with. If you ask them to run, to take on information in whatever drills we are doing, they take it on. That's a blessing and an amazing feeling for us to come in and enjoy working with them.

"So we absolutely can get better."