How Frank Lampard has turned Coventry City into Invincibles

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 24 Oct 2025 15:22 CDT
• 7 min read

Analysis

11 games. Seven wins. Four draws. Frank Lampard’s Coventry City are currently top of the Championship table with an Invincible record.

For someone who’s constantly been ridiculed since venturing into the managerial world, that’s not a bad record. And the Sky Blues aren’t top by luck; they are the best team in the Championship.

Lampard’s career in the dugout started promisingly, thanks to a strong stint at Derby County and an admirable first campaign as Chelsea boss. But, things took a turn for the worse during his second season in charge of the Stamford Bridge outfit and he was fired in January 2021 with the club down in ninth place in the Premier League table.

The Englishman fared even worse at Everton, picking up just 12 wins from 44 games, and an ill-fated interim spell back at Chelsea subsequently looked as though it may have ended his top level managerial career. In fact, when Coventry chose the 47-year-old to replace club legend Mark Robins in November 2024, the decision was met with widespread confusion.

Robins had endured a torrid start to the 2024-25 campaign, but he’d taken Coventry from the depths of League Two to the Championship Play-Off Final in just six years. Lampard’s status, meanwhile, was at rock bottom having flopped at Everton and Chelsea.

But, what has happened since has beggared belief.

Frank Lampard at Coventry

Lampard took over with Coventry languishing down in 17th place. By the end of the season, they were fifth. They were then the better team during their play-off semi-final defeat to Sunderland, and were cruelly denied another visit to Wembley by a last-gasp Dan Ballard header. But, they’ve come back stronger and are now the leading contenders for automatic promotion this time around.

With the relegated Premier League teams floundering and both Birmingham City and Wrexham struggling to live up to expectations following promotion from League One, Coventry have taken advantage.

They remain unbeaten after 11 league matches and they have undoubtedly been the best team in the division.

Lampard’s men have scored 31 goals so far this season; by comparison, Bristol City and Hull City are joint-second with 19. They also boast the most shots (191) and most shots on target (62) of any team in the second tier of English football this term.

So, they must play an all-out attack style of football with little regard for the defensive intricacies of modern football, right? Wrong.

Coventry also have the lowest xG against in the entire Championship (9.3) and only Middlesbrough (seven) have conceded fewer than their eight goals.

With 25 points from 11 matches, Coventry have enjoyed their best ever start to a league season and the underlying data suggests their fast start is unlikely to end soon. Of course, it’s highly probable that Lampard’s men will suffer defeat on a number of occasions by the time 2025-26 draws to a close, but the Chelsea legend has fostered an environment for his talented squad to excel.

In Matt Grimes, Coventry have one of the Championship’s best ball-playing midfielders, and Lampard has devised a system to enable the 30-year-old to consistently have the most touches of any player on the pitch.

Meanwhile, Haji Wright, Brandon Thomas-Asante, Ephron Mason-Clark, Jack Rudoni and several others have the attacking quality to create chances from a plethora of different scenarios. Coventry are potent at breaking down a deep block, they’re extremely proficient from set pieces and they are arguably the best team in the Championship on the counter-attack.

Combine that fluidity and flexibility in forward areas with a stern defensive rearguard that has gradually improved since Lampard’s arrival and it’s no surprise that Coventry are leading contenders to win promotion back to the Premier League for the first time since 2001.

A 2-1 victory over Portsmouth on Tuesday was Coventry’s fifth consecutive win, and Makenzie Kirk’s stoppage-time consolation was the first goal Lampard’s side had conceded in 613 minutes.

It’s early days, but Coventry look the real deal and promotion already appears to be a real possibility.

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