Chris Coleman targets international striker

[briggcov]

Mar 26 2008 by Andy Turner

CHRIS COLEMAN is "confident" of drafting in an international forward to solve Coventry City's striker crisis ahead the weekend.

The Sky Blues goal scoring problems got worse this week with the news that Leon Best is suspended for the next two games after picking up his 10th booking of the season at Southampton on Saturday.

But the City boss has got a replacement lined up and is hopeful the player will sign on loan by Thursday's deadline in time to spearhead the attack against Plymouth Argyle at the Ricoh Arena.

"It is never a good time to get suspended and at the moment Leon's the most experienced and best man for the job in that lone striker role, albeit our strikers have been a bit goal shy and lost a bit of confidence in front of goal," said Coleman.

"And now we are going to lose him for two very important games so my job getting a loan player in is critical now.

"The chairman has been working hard to try to help bring some new faces in.

"We have got two and, ideally, if we got another two this week I'd be happy.

"One would be good but two would be fantastic.

"I'm confident of getting a striker and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

"I can't give you any names yet but it will be an international striker.

"But as I said before, there are always twists and turns when signing players and unfortunately we have only got until Thursday.

"He can come in like for like with Leon but he could also play with Leon and in different formations.

"He has got a good goal scoring record and it is important that we need a bit of help and I think it will be an important signing if we get him.

"You always want to better what you have got and to add quality with another international."

Meanwhile, Coleman is hoping Michael Mifsud will get a goal for Malta against Liechtenstein tonight to boost his confidence.

"It would be great to see Michael get a goal because it would take a bit of pressure off him because you can see he is feeling it a little," he said.

"Sometimes you can try too hard and you could see the lads were getting a bit agitated with themselves because we were getting into good positions or were off-side.

"Michael being away this week might do him the world of good and if he gets a game and a goal I will be delighted."

[briggcov]

COVENTRY CITY'S bid for Championship survival suffered a huge knock last night when a deal to bring in a high-profile loan striker collapsed.

Time was running out for the Sky Blues today as manager Chris Coleman upped his desperate bid to get a new goal-scorer to help the club's relegation battle.

The manager thought he had got his target in the bag until a last minute hitch saw the deal fall through on the eve of loan deadline day.

Coleman had lined up an international centre-forward with a proven goal-scoring record but has now been forced to look elsewhere.

It is understood the club have alternative targets but they face a race against time to get someone in before today's deadline closes.

If City are unable to draft in a new striker it leaves them with a crisis up front for the next two crucial games when Leon Best - the man who has been leading the line - is suspended for picking up 10 bookings this season.

The setback has disrupted Coleman's plan for the Plymouth match on Saturday as he is hoping for an early goal to settle the nerves in what he is expecting to be another tense encounter.

His side showed signs of anxiety in their last home game - a goalless draw with fellow strugglers Sheffield Wednesday - and feels things might be similar against promotion chasing Plymouth.

However, with Argyle desperate for three points to keep them in the top six, it could make for an extremely open game.

"If we get an early goal it will be great for us to get the crowd going," said the City boss.

"I know we haven't scored in the last two games but we have had good chances to."

"They need the three points and have got to come to score.

They are up against a mean defence who have kept six clean sheets at the Ricoh Arena - five in eight games and two back-to-back.

They will know they are coming to a club who are desperate for points and not giving away a lot of goals, so it should be an interesting game.

"It is amazing the number of teams that come to us and play counter-attacking football.

"If they look at our stats they can see we are not scoring a lot of goals but will maybe worried about the way we have been playing by creating lots of chances.

"We have created chances against all the teams who have come to town, even Sheffield Wednesday - we had enough chances to win two games against them. So it will be interesting to see if they do open up against us."

He added: "I was very happy with the result on Saturday which ended the sequence of eight defeats away from home, which is not good enough.

"But we have been playing well at home.

"We were a little nervous against Sheffield - I saw that on the Friday night when I got the boys in the hotel to give them a bit of extra rest and I understand why.

"Our fans were a little nervous as well and rightly so because of the position we are in.

"When we opened up a little bit and got extra passes in, offensively we looked a better team.

"It was when we went forward too quickly that nothing really came of it.

"But you could sense the anxiety and tension around the ground because it was such a big game.

"It will be the same on Saturday for different reasons, because Plymouth are at the other end of the league so maybe they wil be a bit more positive than Sheffield Wednesday."

[Beefy]

Have you any idea who the striker was B/C

[briggcov]

Not yet, no one seems to know but the rumours revolve around a Premiership player who can't get first team games, no idea which team either. I just wonder what the stubbling block is........

[Beefy]

I bet it's David Healy, Coleman has links with Fulham and Healy can't get a game at The Cottage.

[briggcov]

Ha! Freddie Eastwood from Wolves was the Welsh international striker.....

WOLVES striker Freddy Eastwood was the man at the centre of the Sky Blues' collapsed loan deal, the Coventry Telegraph can reveal.

The two clubs spent 10 days working on a deal to bring the Welsh international to the Ricoh Arena on loan with a view to a permanent transfer in the summer.

But Wolves pulled the plug on the switch yesterday, just hours before Eastwood scored twice for Wales in their international in Luxembourg.

The Telegraph understands that after the end of the loan deal, City would have had an option to buy Eastwood for £1.5m-£2m. City striker Kevin Kyle, currently on loan at Molineux, was not included in the deal.


There had been a sticking point in the loan agreement earlier in the week when Wolves insisted that Eastwood could not play for City when they meet Wolves at the Ricoh Arena on April 26.

City originally refused the request but relented to try to push the deal through. Despite this Wolves changed their mind at the last minute and refused to sanction the loan.

The news has left Sky Blues boss Chris Coleman fuming. He refused to confirm the club involved but said they had acted in an "appalling manner".

"There's nothing we can do, " he said. "The last 24 hours we've been chasing our tails and this is not great news."

Coleman added that it was now unlikely City would be able to draft anybody in ahead of today's 5pm deadline for loan signings.