BREAKING: Frank Lampard reveals ‘minutes’ plan for forgotten Coventry City signing and two others
Coventry City news from CoventryLive as head coach Frank Lampard looks to integrate summer signing Raphael along with two other peripheral squad players as the Sky Blues embark on a busy schedule of fixtures
Forgotten man Raphael Borges Rodrigues has taken a step closer to making his Coventry City debut after being selected as one of three players Frank Lampard wants to give match minutes.
The 21-year-old winger has been stepping up his fitness in recent weeks
The 21-year-old winger has been stepping up his fitness in recent weeks after struggling with injury since his summer arrival from Australian A-League side Macarthur FC, getting run out in the under-21s. The player, however, was left out of the Sky Blues development squad for this week’s match – a 4-3 win at Sheffield United.
Asked if that was an indication that he’s getting closer to the first team, or, conversely, an indication that he’s suffered a setback, Lampard said: “There’s no setback. He’s had injuries prior to us coming in. He played some minutes in the 21s the week we came in and everyone was happy with that in terms of he came through it and was all right.
“There’s obviously an adaptation to the demands here and the league is something we have got to really consider. The fact that he hasn’t played, he won’t play 21s games now. We need some young players training with us and I want to see them training with us because we have a busy week coming up with three games.
He’s with us until that point.
“Whether he gets minutes, we’ll see, but what I will do is take a lot of care with players like him and Fabio Tavares and Kai Andrews and just make sure they are with us but also playing minutes so we can see them progress individually as well as integrate when they deserve it and when we need them.
“Again, with all those players, they have shown good talents and a good attitude this week and it’s not easy because my eye is always drawn to the game in front and the mainline players that you think of. But we also have a responsibility to those players, and they’re all good and they’re all progressing. And Rapha is progressing.”
Tavares slipped out of the reckoning this season despite exciting with the occasional cameo last term, most noteably against Manchester United in the FA Cup Semi-final at Wembley, during which an injury set back the striker’s progress. Midfielder Andrews, meanwhile, has been a fairly regular unused sub this season.
