‘You can feel it’: Frank Lampard says Arsenal exposed Coventry to something they’ve not seen before
Arsenal are very much the team to catch in English football right now and Frank Lampard has admitted just how difficult it is to play against the Gunners.
Lampard could do nothing but stand back as the Gunners tore through his Coventry side at will and won 3-0 to kick-off the season in fine fashion.
For the Sky Blues and Lampard, it was an early and harsh lesson in just how difficult things can be at the very highest level.
For Arsenal, it was just another day at the office and at times, they looked a class or two above.
Indeed, according to Lampard, there’s not a lot Mikel Arteta’s side cannot do.
Frank Lampard claims Arsenal taught his Coventry side a lesson
Lampard himself will have known full well coming into the game that anything other than a defeat by a few goals would actually be a success for his team.
In the end, they huffed and puffed but got nowhere.
And according to Lampard, Arsenal have shown his Coventry a completely different side to football in general.
“They have a bit of everything, they’re very good off the ball, the best out of possession team in the league last year, all the data backs it up, they close down all your passing angles very, very quickly, we’ve not been exposed to that as a team,’ Lampard said while on media duty.
“As they play you can feel it on the side of the pitch there’s a high technical level, a physicality about them, a great way of playing. It’s very, very hard to high press this team because they’ll play through you and rip through you.
“So we decided we wanted to be more in the middle of the pitch, and I thought we did some work really, really well to delay and work the sides, and then they just need a few moments to hurt you.
“A very good, all round strong unit they’ve built.”
Coventry’s season will not be defined on this one result alone.
However, for Arsenal, it was important to lay down an early marker and that’s exactly what happened at The Emirates.
Straight away, every other Premier League side knows there is going to be no letting up from this Gunners side this season. In a way, that was more important than anything last night.
Lampard will not be the first manager to notice such trends with this Arsenal team.
