Lampard ‘proud’ of Coventry players after big win over Newcastle
Coventry City coach Frank Lampard has showered praises on his players following a stunning 4-1 win over Newcastle United on Monday night at the CBS Stadium.
The newly-promoted side produced an impressive performance to win their second consecutive game of the season after a poor start to the campaign.
Jack Rudoni, Sidiki Cherif, Ellis Simms, Stephen Mfuni all scored for Coventry City while Sven Botman scored a consolation goal for Newcastle United in the 70th minute.
Coventry City scored four goals in the top flight for the first time since a 4-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday in May 2000.
At 19 years and 301 days old, Cherif is Coventry’s youngest Premier League goalscorer since Robbie Keane against Middlesbrough in April 2000 (19y 282d).
Lampard was pleased with his team’s performance while urging them to keep their feet on the ground.
He said: “It’s big and we have to tap into that in a good way, in a humble way.
“We have to be excited and I’m seeing players in my eyes that are developing quite quickly.
“A lot of players had low Premier League minutes, or zero Premier League minutes – Jack Rudoni, [Brandon] Thomas Asante, [Ephron] Mason-Clark, a lot of them.
“So is it human nature in the first few games we’ve had two top teams in the league (Arsenal and Manchester City) and we’ve had Brighton and we’ve gone: ‘hmm, it’s not easy here’.
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“This [win] gives good confidence, so it’s the balance of confidence against overconfidence. But it’s great when you have a template of feeling when you get a result of that level.
“We’ve got to keep our feet on the ground because it’s only one and we’ve got 30 plus more of those, but it’s a great feeling for the players.”
Cherif is the first player to score a Premier League goal from outside the box for the Sky Blues since David Thompson struck against Newcastle in January 2001.
Lampard was full of praise for the young striker, who joined the club in the summer from Fenerbache.
He said: “We’ve got a lot of belief in Sidi, a big signing for the club.”
“He’s very respectful but there’s a hunger that flicks on when he goes on to the training pitch and in game. I felt it from our first meeting and I’ve seen it in training, he wants to train and do well.
“Sometimes you don’t realise he’s 19. He’ll be disappointed with the one he missed and I’ve said to him it’s no problem because that’s good. You get there, you get hungry, you go again. He’s got that little edge to him in a good way.”
It was another disappointing outing for Newcastle United, they have now lost two consecutive away matches by a 4-1 scoreline against Leeds United and Coventry City.
Coventry City now occupy the 14th position, and they will be back in action against Tottenham next Monday.
Newcastle United will hope to bounce back from the heavy defeat against Aston Villa on Saturday.
