Matt Grimes makes the ugly work look beautiful in Coventry City promotion push
Frank Lampard wasted no time in signing the player who supercharged Coventry’s season
When Frank Lampard was appointed as the manager of Coventry City in the aftermath of the controversial decision to sack Mark Robins, he looked at a squad in seventeenth position in the Championship and liked what he saw.
Coventry took a gamble when they appointed Lampard, not that they saw it that way, but the former Chelsea manager has radiated confidence in his new job and it all began with that initial assessment of his squad.
But it was telling that Lampard, who knows a thing or two about the middle of the pitch, took the first opportunity he got to sign the best deep-lying midfielder in the EFL.
The Sky Blues have scrapped and clawed their way to sixth – as high as fifth at some points – since Lampard was hired. While their climb was well underway by the end of the January transfer window, the signing of Matt Grimes from Swansea City accelerated their progress.
Since his debut, a home defeat against Leeds United in which he came off the bench with Coventry already 2-0 down, they’ve dropped points in just five matches.
They lost to the other two of the Championship's runaway top three, drew at Hull City, and committed two aberrations at Derby County and Plymouth Argyle.
Those unfortunate blemishes aside, it’s been wins all the way. Sometimes they’ve been dramatic ding-dong battles, sometimes long slogs with the sweet release of late winners, but always very Coventry.
Grimes hasn’t just been instrumental in that. He’s been integral.
Watch him for 90 minutes and you’ll see a player who leads the press one moment and covers the centre backs the next. When Coventry have a sustained attack, he’s either orchestrating the whole thing 30 yards from goal or anchoring the back line in anticipation of it breaking down.
To put it simply, Grimes is where he’s needed, wherever it may be. He fills gaps. He creates overloads. He drifts into space in midfield where he can receive the ball or make sure an opponent can’t. He does all of it very, very well – little wonder Lampard was so keen to get his man.
“We as a club pinpointed him as a player,” the manager told the media after the Good Friday win over West Bromwich Albion.
“I thought he could give us so much in the area of the field that he plays in. Between myself and Dean [Austin, Head of Recruitment] and Doug King, we worked together on it, and his input, what he's done coming in, he's made us really comfortable in those build areas of the pitch.”
No frills, no fuss
Grimes is a manager’s dream and he’s responded to a big vote of confidence from a former top-class midfielder by performing consistently under Lampard.
He put his full game on display against Albion, from taking a yellow card for an important and unfussy foul at 0-0 all the way to a sensational piece of pressing and nerveless finish to turn 1-0 into 2-0 early in the second half.
The standing ovation that followed wasn’t really about either of those but a complete midfield performance in victory.
Grimes is most striking in transition. He positions himself well to mop up the mess after attacking set pieces break down but he’ll also bust a gut to become a covering centre back when things are really looking bleak. When Coventry turn the ball over, Grimes moves the earliest, the most and the fastest.
He’s a handy one-on-one defender too. When he’s sitting in a deep two with captain Ben Sheaf – whose return from injury has tweaked Grimes’ role – they’re a useful shield in front of Lampard’s defence.
No player is immune to criticism when their team concedes goals and loses games, which Coventry have done like everyone else in the Championship since Grimes’ arrival. He is part of a team with failings. He’s also a big part of a team with strengths it didn’t have before he got there.
Grimes is better in space than Elon Musk will ever be
It’s not unusual for Coventry’s new midfield recruit to be his team’s deepest player when he’s not directly involved in a sustained attack but what he’s actually doing, always, is effortlessly filling the gaps depending on who else has gone where.
When Grimes has possession – which, if the Sky Blues had their way, would be all the time – he’s a picture of calm.
Panic isn’t on the agenda and nor should it be. He’s a sharp user of the ball, able to deploy his body to protect it but also adept at turning into a space with one touch that allows him to play it simple.
Grimes plays his own game at his own rhythm, a luxury only players who know they’re not playing their own game can really indulge.
But if Coventry brought him in to help them in areas where they can build, they want him on the ball in attacking positions too. He’s at ease there, too, sitting 30 yards from goal to act as the central point of their play.
Give it to Grimey!
Grimes is a high-quality passer even on the move and has a full range of passing to boot. He can drive forward with the ball, too. Masters of space tend to be very good at that and he is certainly one of those.
There are lots of players like Grimes and they’re great to watch when you’re of a mind to take your eye off the ball in a way they never would. They stick out like a sore thumb in the Championship.
Grimes spent a decade at Swansea, briefly in the Premier League but then punctuated by loans in his first few years in South Wales.
At 29, he may or may not have the trajectory and the appetite for a return to the top flight and a slice of a future in the Premier League. If his form for the Swans and then Coventry this season is any indication, he has the ability.
Should the Sky Blues achieve the most unlikely promotion through the play-offs this season, it’s hard to imagine Lampard demanding Austin and King find him an upgrade.
“He’s an outstanding player,” said Lampard.
“He’s an outstanding lad [and] a great professional. And there’s more to his game as we saw [against West Bromwich Albion].
“It’s always the case that how you recruit and add to the squad to improve it is pivotal. I can sit here and coach and coach and coach away, but sometimes players with that level give you an uplift and Grimes, he’s done that.”
Managers don’t like to single players out too much when their teams are on an upwards charge and Lampard has more than a few who are pulling their weight, not to mention an established clutch of leaders who know the lay of the land rather better than the newcomer.
Grimes, though, is a cut above. Isolate his contribution to Coventry’s gradually improving and increasingly composed home performances, and Grimes already looks like the heartbeat of his team.
No club in the EFL made a better signing in January. If Coventry are still in the Championship next season, replicating recruitment like that could ensure they’re not there for much longer.
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