Coventry City

Image source, Getty Images

Frank Lampard wants his Coventry City side to find their flow again immediately after suffering their first defeat of the season.

Free-scoring Coventry, who have netted 12 goals in their last two Championship games, were beaten 2-1 by Millwall in the EFL Cup on Tuesday evening.

Lampard, who made eight changes to his team for the second round tie, says the Sky Blues cannot allow the loss to linger.

"We've had a good start in the league and we need to carry that on. This can't break the rhythm - I've said it to the players. We have to get back to where we were before this game," the Coventry manager told BBC CWR.

"We made changes because we have to because we don't have a big, big squad. We're early in the season and we have to be careful at this stage with the players to be able to play three games in a week.

"Maybe that's some part of why the performance looked like it did. That's for us to digest a little bit.

"We need to improve on that front. If players come in they have to keep the level and we didn't quite do that.

"Yes, we can make the excuse of changing the team but the game has now gone and we have to move back on to the league."

On Saturday, third-placed Coventry travel to Oxford United who are still looking for their first point of the season.

20 August 2005. Coventry City midfielder Claus Jorgensen scores the first goal at the newly opened Coventry Building Society Arena to put his side 1-0 up against Queens Park Rangers.

He celebrates with a bouncy, loping skip towards the corner flag.

23 August 2025. Coventry City's Haji Wright and Viktor Torp each score a double in the 7-1 demolishing of Queens Park Rangers as the club celebrates ending the 20-year wait to call the CBS Arena home.

They celebrate by skipping toward the jubilant fans inside the arena in homage to Jorgensen.

It's a full-circle moment, external which encapsulates the relief felt by supporters when owner Doug King was finally able to get the deal over the line for Coventry City FC to own the CBS Arena.

Jorgensen, now 49, is pleased his skipping celebration is being utilised once again.

"The amount of stick I've got for 20 years for that celebration... I've always had faith in it," he told BBC CWR.

"The celebration was a nice touch, they showed they had some sense of humour. [It makes] you feel connected to the club."

Listen to the full interview with Claus Jorgensen and more on BBC Sounds.

Rob Gurney
BBC CWR commentator and presenter

It's a day a lot of Sky Blues fans thought would never come.

Fittingly though, the news that Coventry City's Coventry Building Society Arena belongs to them broke on Monday - the 20th anniversary of the stadium.

Doug King has brought the stadium and the football club under the same ownership and that should secure the future of each, for the benefit of existing fans and those in the years to come.

The dark days of ground-sharing at Northampton and Birmingham, and being beholden to the likes of Wasps Rugby, are finally consigned to history.

The city now has what the arena was built for in the first place - a stadium for The Sky Blues to call "home" at long, long last.

Nathan Albon
BBC Final Score reporter

Image source, Rex Features

I don't think I've ever seen so many smiling faces at a football ground.

Even before the match on Saturday, Coventry fans were noticeably outgoing and positive on the news of buying their stadium.

I spoke to one, Rakesh, who said he'd woken up to 38 group chat messages about it and that 'Coventry are back'.

Well, the sky blue ribbon was well and truly cut with that kind of performance and result.

The challenge now will be sustaining that positive feeling and unbeaten momentum after an unusually fast start to the season.

Frank Lampard praised his Coventry City players after they hammered QPR 7-1 on a momentous day for the club.

The stunning victory came hours after City announced they had completed the purchase of their stadium, the Coventry Building Society Arena, describing it as a "pivotal moment" in their history.

"It's a great day. This club has a great history and tradition and been through so many things. To make this feel our home is really special," Sky Blues boss Lampard told BC CWR.

"I'm delighted for everybody. We have this officially as our home. Then the onus was on us to put in a performance and the boys certainly did that - from the first minute.

"It was a performance of quality, mentality and attitude. They were at it in every single way.

"We want to take the template of today. We won't always play with so many great things but we must always have the attitude and mentality we had today."

Image source, Getty Images

Coventry City manager Frank Lampard says it is difficult to find consistency because of the quality in the Championship.

The Sky Blues have made an unbeaten start to the season, winning one and drawing one of their opening two games.

But Lampard is wary of over confidence ahead of Saturday's game with Queens Park Rangers.

"Consistency is tough to find for a lot of teams," Lampard told BBC CWR.

"Some of that is credit to opponents. There are a lot of different styles in this league. You always come up against different challenges week to week, that is why we don't lean too much from last week."

Meanwhile, QPR are winless so far this term but Lampard has noticed a change in the club after Julien Stephan replaced Marti Cifuentes.

"QPR are a different team with a new manager, quite intense, some different players from last year. It is important we do our job.

"We have to prepare for the best version of them. It is a focus on us; if we are at our best, we back ourselves."

Coventry City will aim to maintain their unbeaten start to the Championship season when they take on Queens Park Rangers on Saturday (15:00 BST), having begun with a 0-0 draw with Hull City and a 5-3 win at Derby County.

QPR will look to build on a draw and a loss in their opening two Championship fixtures as manager Julien Stephan's side remains "under construction".

• Coventry City have won four of their last six league games against QPR (D1 L1), as many as in their prior 13 encounters.

• QPR have lost five of their last eight away league games against Coventry City (W3), doing so 1-0 in last season's meeting.

• Remaining unbeaten in the Championship so far this season (W1 D1), Coventry City will look to go unbeaten across their opening three games of a league season for the first time since 2019-20.

• QPR have lost seven of their last 10 away league games (W3), while in 2025, only three sides have lost more Championship games than their 11.

• Coventry City have recorded more touches in the opposition's box than any other side in the Championship this season (73), are second for non-penalty expected goals (3.9) and third for possession won in the final third (10).

Coventry have seen a bid for Ipswich defender Luke Woolfenden rejected, with the Tractor Boys keen to keep the 26-year-old at Portman Road. (Sky Sports, external)

Want more transfer news from the EFL? Take a look at Thursday's gossip column here.

Belief was key to Coventry City's victory at Derby County on Saturday, says midfielder Victor Torp.

The Sky Blues came from 3-2 down to win 5-3 at Pride Park and record their first Championship victory of the season.

"It was a crazy game - throughout the game we had a feeling we could win, in the dressing room at half-time at 2-2, and we believed if we did well we could win it," Torp told BBC Radio CWR.

"We were really good winning second balls and we scored five goals which should be enough to win and it was - (scoring) five goals isn't something which happens in every game so we should enjoy that."

The 26-year-old Dane scored his first goal of the season after latching on to a Milan van Ewijk pass to notch Coventry's fifth of the afternoon and is pleased with their unbeaten start to the campaign.

"It's a decent start - we go into every game with a mindset we want to win but with the first game (a 0-0 home draw with Hull City), if you can't win then don't lose and we put in a good performance here."

Coventry are next in Championship action at home to QPR on Saturday, 23 August (15:00 BST)

Coventry boss Frank Lampard praised his players for their battling spirit after they came from behind to beat Derby 5-3 in a thriller at Pride Park.

It was the Sky Blues' first league win of the season and was secured by three goals in the space of seven second-half minutes.

"If it's not my favourite game since I've been here then it's right up there because of the character and quality - we kept playing and kept pushing and showed belief," Lampard told BBC CWR.

"We won at a place a lot of people are going to find really tough. We were really sharp against a back five that don't give you any space.

"I'm just really pleased with the players. They have to have the belief at 3-2 down. An outstanding game from us.

"We scored a couple of real quality goals and I think that quality from us was the difference. The players were fantastic."

Coventry are are home to Queens Park Rangers next Saturday.

Alex Howell
BBC Sport football news reporter

Image source, Getty Images

Sheffield United have made a bid for Coventry City defender Bobby Thomas in the region of £5m.

One source also said that a bid of £8m has been registered with Coventry.

The 24-year-old moved to Coventry from Burnley in the summer of 2023 and signed a four-year deal.

He is closing in on a century of appearances for the Sky Blues, and played in both of their games so far this season.

Coventry boss Frank Lampard has been speaking to BBC CWR ahead of the Sky Blues' trip to his former club, Derby County, on Saturday [12:30 BST].

City began the season with a goalless draw against Hull City at the CBS Arena last Saturday but Lampard is hopeful time on the training ground will help them sharpen up in front of goal.

Here are some of the things he had to say:

• "We deserved to win the game [against Hull], we have to look at how we can improve."

• Practice in front of goal - "It's early in the season. Only training and practice and becoming ultra sharp will give you the edge at the end of the pitch".

• "If we can help the squad in terms of balance before the end of transfer window absolutely we'll look at it."

• Ben Sheaf could be back to face Oxford United on 30 August.

• "I enjoyed my time at Derby, it's a big club, we just fell short [of promotion] in the end."

• "John Eustace did a really good job to keep Derby in the league last season."

• "We need to remember the feeling of the [2-0 defeat at Pride Park in March] and work against that.

• "Derby are a dangerous team who will want to react to [opening defeat at Stoke] in front of their own fans."

Coventry City travel to Derby County on Saturday (15:00 BST) with both sides looking for a first win of the league season.

Since joining the Rams in February, manager John Eustace guided the side to a 19th-placed finish which ensured their survival, while Sky Blues' boss Frank Lampard will be hoping to finish inside that top six again following last season's disappointment.

• Derby are unbeaten across their past four league games against Coventry (W2 D2), completing a league double over them last season. The Rams haven't won three in succession since April 2010.

• Coventry have won just one of their past 21 away league games against Derby (D9 L11); a 3-1 victory in October 2003.

• Derby have won two of their past three opening home games of a league season (L1), as many victories as across their prior 12 such matches combined (D6 L4).

• Coventry haven't won their opening away game in any of the past seven league campaigns (D3 L4) since winning 2-0 at Grimsby Town in League Two back in 2017-18.

• Last weekend, Derby's Ebou Adams made more tackles than any other player (8) – the last player to record more in a second tier match for the Rams was Graeme Shinnie vs Bournemouth in October 2020 (9).