--- source: thedugout.football generated: 2026-07-28T04:39:28.527Z last_updated: 2026-07-19T06:00:00+00:00 data_provider: API-Football canonical: https://thedugout.football/clubs/coventry-city/news/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuY292ZW50cnl0ZWxlZ3JhcGgubmV0L3Nwb3J0L2Zvb3RiYWxsL21hdGNoLXJlcG9ydHMvbm9ydGhhbXB0b24tY292ZW50cnktY2l0eS1wcmVzZWFzb24tbGFtcGFyZC0zNDMxNDQ3OA --- # Seven sit out as Coventry City pre-season continues - **Source:** - **Published:** 19 Jul - **Club:** Coventry City - **Original URL:** https://www.coventrytelegraph.net/sport/football/match-reports/northampton-coventry-city-preseason-lampard-34314478 Pre-season friendlies don’t get much drabber than a goalless draw against League Two opposition. Coming a week after Coventry City’s 3-2 defeat to AFC Wimbledon from League One, we need not read anything what-so-ever into the scorelines or, with all due respect, the level of opponents. Pre-season is merely a process that players have to go through, a means to an end in terms of rediscovering their fitness levels and building their sharpness before the real work begins. And the early run-outs, in particular, are largely a fitness exercise to get minutes in the legs and re-establish or build new connections on the pitch. There will be a bit of tactical work and experimenting – the use of inverted wide men, for example, in the first half – but much of it is meaningless in terms of the bigger picture and Lampard’s starting XI to face Arsenal next month. You only have to look at the squad list of those in attendance at Sixfields to understand that come August 21 it will look considerably different. Frank Lampard has barely begun his transfer business, with just two fresh faces over the line in Loum Tchaouna and Aurele Amenda as speculation rumbles on about several reported targets and deals being worked on by the club. It was nice to see the likes of young centre-back Callum Perry be rewarded with some senior game time after the 20-year-old’s outstanding season on loan at Rochdale, whom he helped gain promotion to League Two via the National League play-offs. It was also good to see Raphael, Norman Bassette and Kai Andrews back in the fold after their respective loan spells. But the reality is they’re all likely to be elsewhere come the start of the season. Whether it’s another loan deal to further their development or, certainly in Bassette’s case, the probability of a permanent move back home to Belgium where he’s been strongly linked with interest from Standard Liege, that’s four already who are unlikely to make City’s final senior squad. That’s not to mention other players for whom game time is likely to be hard to come by following the huge step up to Premier League football. Although very much a low-key friendly, the game still presented a great opportunity for players to catch the eye, albeit not necessarily the easiest thing to do when there were probably plenty of heavy legs from a couple of hard weeks of training. Fans got their first look at summer signing Loum Tchaouna and the winger certainly looks the part in term of his stature, which is muscular and physical in a similar way to Ephron Mason-Clark. He’s clearly got pace and technical ability, and likes getting forward, but he only showed a glimpse of what he’s about during the 45 minutes he was on the pitch. The one player who did arguably stand out was Kaine Kesler-Hayden. The right-back was full of energy and used his pace to good effect when he replaced first choice Milan van Ewijk for the second half. Having been limited to just five league starts and 17 from the bench last season, the 23-year-old clearly has a point to prove and looks hungry to impress and fight for more game time. Winger Jahnoah Markelo is a player who was unable to make an impact after joining the club last January and it remains to be seen if he can make the step up. Costing the club £4.3m from FC Zurich, City will have high hopes that he will push himself into the top flight reckoning. The 23-year-old looks a useful outlet, working the left wing and cutting into the box but it’s one thing doing it in a nothing kick-about against lower league opponents and entirely another in the cut and thrust of the best league in the world. There were seven players who were either absent or didn’t feature. Strikers Haji Wright and Brandon Thomas-Asante are still on holiday after spending most of their summer on World Cup duty. And although latest signing Aurele Amenda was in the UK last week to complete his move from Eintracht Frankfurt, the Swiss international is also taking some time out for a break following his involvement with his country in the US. Elsewhere, there was no Jack Rudoni who is continuing his rehabilitation from his shoulder surgery at the back end of last season, and while Oliver Dovin was at Northampton and named on the teamsheet as part of the matchday squad, he sat in the stands throughout, presumably nursing an injury. There was also no visible sign of Luke Woolfenden and Miguel Brau who, again, may have been ill or injured, although with a new centre-back just having been signed and talk of the club trying to get Fikayo Tomori, it wouldn’t be beyond the realms of possibility that the former Ipswich man is being lined up for a move. Brau, meanwhile, is clearly unlikely to make the cut and wasn’t involved in last week’s friendly in Spain either. Frank Lampard opted not to face the press – certainly a first for the local media for a pre-season game on UK soil – so it’s difficult to know who was injured or otherwise of the players mentioned above, or get his thoughts on the game and how his players are shaping up. It’s clear that the high profile City boss was reluctant to be quizzed on a number of issues, not least transfer news, which the club insist on keeping in-house and, understandably, fielding questions about England given his legendary Three Lions’ status and fact that he’s regularly touted by pundits and ex-pros as a future manager of the national team. * The only other occasion over the last 28 years that a Sky Blues manager has declined to be interviewed after a pre-season friendly was Chris Coleman after a particularly bad tempered game against a Greek side while City were on tour in Austria, the exact details of which escape me. But anyway, it all kicked off during the game, which became a bit of a farce with tackles and cards flying about, and Cookie was so angry that he politely declined to offer his thoughts on the game. 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