Doug King makes a demand during the Coventry City FA Cup press conference.

Coventry City news and opinion from CoventryLive as we take a look at what Mark Robins said in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Sky Blues’ third round FA Cup tie with Oxford United

Doug King, the club owner, has informed Mark Robins that he wants Coventry City to make a run at the FA Cup as they get ready to play promotion-chasing Oxford United in the third round.

Last season, the Hollywood-funded non-league Wrexham team eliminated the Sky Blues from the competition with a 4-3 loss at the CBS Arena. The manager of the team, who had originally benched star players Gus Hamer and Viktor Gyokeres, expressed some regret over his decision. They were eliminated in the third round of the 2020–21 season, despite having advanced to the fourth round the previous season.

Finding the ideal balance between resting players and selecting a squad that is capable of winning the game while keeping a watch on the league is the issue that most managers are facing with the current competition. Des Buckingham, the manager of Oxford, has not hidden the fact that, despite his desire to fight and win the tie, his main focus is still on the league, where his team is presently fifth and hoping to advance. In actuality, though, Robins might also be up against a less formidable foe.

When asked if he would consider the early departure from last year to minimize opposition when choosing his starting lineup for Saturday’s 12.30 kickoff, the manager firmly stated that he wouldn’t. “My biggest regret, looking back, was not having a team capable of winning that game. The scheduling was challenging because of all the games just after the hectic Christmas season, when you had to evaluate the players and the likelihood of success. When selecting a squad to try and win the game, there is a certain amount of intuition, expertise, and guessing involved.

“But it’s clear that we had some terrible luck when Fabio Tavares injured his Achilles tendon early in the match, right after we had just lost to Callum O’Hare on Boxing Day. I believe I’m correct when I claim that only Viktor fit. I believe Matty Godden was hurt, thus selections to the team are always made for a cause. We also constantly strive to do things correctly.

However, you need to be somewhat aware of what’s going to happen next. We still have to prioritize, even though you would like not to, as was the case the previous year. Thus, the outcome was the source of disappointment. Viktor was given some time off last year, and  he ended up having to come on fairly early in the game and ended up scoring a goal.

“Things could have gone differently, but given a clear set of circumstances, I just couldn’t pick the team I wanted to pick.”

Four years ago, in 2019–2020, when the team was in League One, City made its FA Cup debut earlier in November, defeating Bristol Rovers, Colchester, and Ipswich before losing to Championship Birmingham in a replayed fourth round match. It was an exhausting schedule, with replays against Ipswich and Rovers required for City to advance. The season before, they narrowly defeated Derby, and their prize was an unforgettable trip to Premier League Southampton, where the Sky Blues played brilliantly and came dangerously near to advancing after taking the early lead  through Gyokeres and finally being beaten in extra-time.

“A few years ago, we played Southampton in the fourth round, and that was a really decent game in which we were a little bit unlucky,” Robins said. However, a cup run is purely the result of chance.

“We’ve got a really good team that is playing at the top of the league, at least in the top six, so we have a big challenge ahead of us. We absolutely must play at our best because Oxford plays in a similar style to how we did when we were in that division. In the end, we need to give a strong performance. If we take action and do it  right there’s a strong possibility that we progress into the next round.”

And there appears to be a bit of added pressure from the top, going into the tie, with the manager admitting: “We want to try to have a cup run. Doug wants a cup run. That’s something that he has said and it’s certainly something our supporters will want. One or two people stood behind me last year and let me know what they thought.”

City have enjoyed bumper crowds averaging around 25,000 at home of late in the league and can expect a noisy away end from aroud 3,000 travelling U’s supporters. And Robins clearly hopes Sky Blues fans come out in force to play their part.

He remarked, “It will be interesting to see the interest in this game.” “I just want to see the numbers tomorrow and see if people come along and watch it so that we have an atmosphere similar to our league games,” said the person who was talking to everyone about how interested they were in the FA Cup.