Mark Robins admits he has some tough decisions to make with every one of his Coventry City players “desperate” to play against Tottenham Hotspur.
The Sky Blues boss has historically used the Carabao Cup to give game time to his wider squad, as he did in the first two rounds of the competition this time around. That has resulted in early exits until this season when City have progressed to the third round for the first time in 12 years after beating Bristol City and Oxford United.
But a glamorous and mouth-watering tie against Premier League opposition doesn’t happen very often, and is an occasion every player wants to be involved in.
“From our point of view we have got some who are desperate to play, some players who have been in the team and others who have been on the periphery,” said the City manager. “They’re all desperate to play in this game, which is on live TV with a big crowd. You don’t get to experience it that often, so that’s my next few hours, making sure we have a coherent plan and having a team in place that can give a really good account of themselves and do Coventry City proud, as they have done in the past.
“We had a brilliant FA Cup run last year and this is the first time we have been beyond the second round in 12 years or so, so we know how difficult it is, and it’s been historically difficult to get through because we have tended to use this for people that have needed the next game to keep everyone as level as we can with their game time and load. So sometimes that pays off and sometimes it doesn’t. This season it has because we have a really good depth to the squad in most areas, so we have managed to get through and played some really decent stuff so far in this competition.”
One player who is as desperate to feature as the fans will be to see him back on the pitch is Arsenal graduate Ben Sheaf, who hasn't started a game all season due to a summer ankle injury.
Asked about his desire to play and how he’s doing with his recovery, Robins said: “Yeah (he’s desperate to play), and Ben and Tatsu have been training and they’ll train again today and I’ll see how they are. But it’s just nice to have them back on the grass, and every day that goes by they are getting closer and closer, which is a real positive for us.”
The 26-year-old midfielder was pitched back in against Oxford in the previous round of the competition, going on as a late substitute, only to break down two days later in training and forcing him to miss more games. It remains to be seen whether he'll be re-introduced to the matchday squad or whether Robins will save him for the weekend's league game against Swansea.
As for fellow midfielder Josh Eccles, who suffered a shoulder injury at Watford on Saturday, the manager added: “He came in on Monday and had some attention paid to his shoulder. He did some rehabilitation work, didn’t go on the grass but he was in a better place than we had initially feared.”