'I'd love to be one of the Stoke coaches working on the next steps after the huge strides that we have made so far this season'

COLUMNIST COMPILES 'WORKING LOG BOOK' OF WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN NEXT AT THE BET365

- By Mike Pejic

MARK Robins will have been clear in his thinking as he named his Stoke City starting XI last time out and that is a sound base to start from.

A thumping win over Bristol City had probably made his mind up about which players had made their own spot their own and that's a good feeling to have as a manager.

It gives you a spring in your step going out to play in front of your own fans. It couldn't be better.

Still, I could well imagine that players and staff could sense the expectation levels and knew it was going to be tight against Coventry. It always works that way.

Everybody has to be on their toes for every second of the match and I was intrigued with how it was going to pan out as the visitors lined up in a 4-2-4 formation.

The fact that Frank Lampard set up with two wingers and two strikers away against the club who were second in the league was an insight into their confidence.

Sure enough, after a short while, Coventry started to control posseswsion even if they had only two in central midfield. They were able to slow the game down or quicken it up when they sensed an opportunity.