Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup second round action at Home Park sees Argyle take on Premier League opposition, and Head Coach Tom Cleverley renew acquaintances with a former team-mate and adversary.
Coventry City reached the top flight with promotion from the Sky Bet Championship last season, completing an extraordinary story. Since relegation from the Premier League 26 years ago, the Sky Blues had been all the way down to League Two, as little as nine years ago, before a remarkable rise through the leagues.
Their resurrection was masterminded by Mark Robins, who got them to the second tier, and then, last season, former England midfielder Frank Lampard lifted City back to the Premier League.
Cleverley and Lampard were team-mates several times for England, and faced off in seven Premier League games, for varying opponents.
“We're all excited about hosting Premier League opposition with a manager that I know quite well,” Cleverley told a press conference on Monday. “I think it's always special when you get such high-quality opposition in town.
“[It is] a very similar sort of game in terms of level of opposition, and what we're trying to get out of the game, as the Swansea game last season. I thought we gave a really goodaccount of ourselves in that. Unfortunately, we lost the game on penalties in the end, but I'd imagine the flow of the game and the kind of performance we're looking for is something similar to that one.
“Whatever 11 players they put out there will be high quality. The style and structure, at that level, they tend to stay quite consistent. The further down you go, managers chop and change and change for personnel. Our structures and styles tend to stay pretty consistent, so we'll go off that. Their bench was very, very strong [against Arsenal] and we have to be on our A- game to make sure that we're competitive in the game.
“I think the Brazil game he scored the winner in, so that would be a standout one. I probably have more memories playing against him and being really aware of his timing in the box and always knowing he was a goal threat. [He had a] fantastic career and now he looks like he's really got a tune out of Coventry. All the young English coaches want people like Frank to do well. Not tomorrow night! But moving forward, the young English coaches are right behind people like Frank and Michael [Carrick] at Man United.”
For Argyle, playing outside of league action comes with a benefit. The Greens have played twice in League One so far, losing at home to Stockport County and drawing at Wycombe Wanderers, and Cleverley feels that being underdogs against Coventry could be of use.
“There's nothing to lose,” he said. “and I think that that can be healthy for a team who has looked like it's playing with something to lose. We fully identify we have not been good enough with the ball for the first two league games. We look a little like a team that's got a bit of pressure, a bit more expectation than the opposition. With all respect to Stockport and Wycombe, playing for Argyle has a different kind of pressure than it does playing for those clubs.
“We look like a group who's feeling that a little bit. We can be better. I thought Bristol City, when the pressure was off, we showed an unbelievable version of ourselves with the ball. Really clean, really technical. The last two games, we look like we've got a little bit to lose.
“It's my job to get into the mentality of the players. I think having a little bit of a free hit tomorrow night, nothing to lose, will help that.”
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You can watch Tom Cleverley’s Coventry City preview on Argyle TV, in full, here.
