Dave Bennett

Coventry City 2-0 Monaco (Friendly)

I’m back in the big time. After Tuesday night’s non-league spectacular, I’ve been sent to Coventry, which AI tells me is to deliberately ostracize, ignore, or refuse to speak to someone. So, no chatting in the stands tonight.

Originally a Roman founded fort, Coventry has seen Saxon nunnery’s and Tudor hospitals built upon its land, the town came through the English Civil War and Industrial Age to be bombed by the Germans in both world wars, now it’s never quite had the reputation since, as a town of memorable marvels, but TripAdvisor tells me the Cathedral is worth a visit, as is the Coventry Music Museum and Coventry Transport Museum, which has an open top bus from Coventry City’s 1987 FA Cup win over Tottenham Hotspur, Dave Bennett, Keith Houchen’s diving header, Granada Bingo sponsored shirts, and all that jazz.

That was probably Coventry’s crowning football moment, until last season at least, when under Frank Lampard the club won the Championship to return to the Premier League after a 25 year long wait, which also saw the Sky Blues fall as low as the fourth tier in English football during some dark times of playing home matches as far as Birmingham and Northampton due to rental disputes with their previous stadium owners.

Not hugely comparable with Coventry, the idyllic coastal Principality of Monaco dates down to the Ancient Greeks, with first mentions of the Rock of Monaco going back as far as 30,000 years ago.

Slightly younger are AS Monaco who formed in 1924, they are 8 times winners of Ligue 1 and have long forged a reputation as one of the most attractive clubs in French football, previous players include Emmanuel Petit, Thierry Henry, Fabian Barthez, Youri Djorkaeff, David Trezeguet, Kylian Mbappe and recently Paul Pogba, some serious footballers who have all won the World Cup.

Despite the catwalk years, these days, Monaco are long behind the likes of Paris Saint-Germain when it comes to the champagne stakes of football in France, they finished seventh last season but have a new coach in Felipe Luis highly regarded as one of the best from Brazil, he has seen the likes of Maghnes Akliouche (PSG) and Aladji Bamba (Newcastle) leave for big bucks, but the club have brought in Matthis Abline (from Nantes) and Ansu Fati (from Barcelona) to provide some alternative attacking output.

Coventry have crushed their transfer record four times this summer, that’s the sort of funding promotion to the Premier League gets you. I’m excited by the arrival of Caleb Yirenkyi from Danish side Nordsjaelland, less so about Carl Rushworth who was already here on loan last season, Loum Tchaouna arrives from Burnley and Aurele Amenda joins from Frankfurt both for big money, whilst at £6m a piece it feels that Gustavo Hamer and Frank Onyeka are good bits of business, although it’s quite a shake up from the team that topped the Championship last term.

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The Venue

A soulless bowl on the outskirts of town? I’ve been here before and previously to the old Highfield Road, neither get in my top 100 but I wanted to get a proper feel for the place today whilst sat in with the home support. Rather close to the M6 motorway it has easy access by car at least, I’ve pulled up in Longford and walk a good ten or fifteen minutes down Rowleys Green Lane towards the stadium, past an ugly looking industrial estate where one or two fans are heading in my opposite direction, apparently Dhillon’s Brewery is in one of the units and looks a cracking 'unsung' pre-match meeting spot.

At the top of the hill across the Judds Lane someone pushes a broken-down car towards a breakers yard, there’s a scruffy burger truck and two men in hi vis trying to make a few quid off parking, a bloke with a beard selling scarves stands on the corner, opposite side of the road is the Coventry Building Society Arena, originally the Ricoh Arena, or City of Coventry Stadium as it was known during the Summer Olympics of 2012.

It does look like most other ‘modern’ football grounds from across the dual carriageway with a couple of significant differences, first of all, an extension glued on to the back of the venue houses an indoor facility with 6,000 seats, used for basketball, netball, tennis and live entertainment I’m told. Then there’s a bar called the Anecdote, the Grosvenor Casino and Hilton Hotel all within the stadium complex. There can’t be many other football grounds around the world that have the facility of a public casino to boast about.

It’s a 7:30pm kick off tonight so after walking past a statue of Jimmy Hill, I’m through the doors with an hour to go, inside the concourse is all at street level, no steps until you walk up towards your seats, plenty of eateries offering choice from your traditional burgers and hot dogs to fish and chips, it has a grill kiosk which is closed tonight, so I opt for pie and chips with a bottle of coke, the lady taking my bottle top off so I don’t feel obliged to throw it at someone.

With my food, I’m up my seat at the top of the East Stand, neither stand behind the goal is in use today, the one opposite is part full, mainly with corporates and club officials, this one is packed, so I wander further around behind the goal to free up a little space for myself.

Internally bowl like with a roof high up above, I can’t help feeling it looks just like a big Rotherham, the New York Stadium has a similar but smaller look and layout, I’m sitting on the top row (XX) of the East/North Stand corner and everything feels so much lower down, the spectators crowded into the stand to my left are distant, below, as is the pitch, the place holds 30,000 but from the back you feel really high up and far away. The atmosphere however is on point, as the two teams come out and the volume cranks up, the Enemy ‘We’ll live and die in these towns” is sung by all. For me, it’s one of the best pre-match songs in football.

The Game

The fans are still singing as Monaco in Coventry brown kick off, the sky blue and white stripes of the home side give me retro vibes of 87, the long-haired Caleb Yirenkyi even looks like Dave Bennett from afar, and it’s he who has the first opportunity as he races into the box and shoots at the keeper, he should have scored a debut goal. The Ghanaian international midfielder is a player I’m hugely fond of, a player I’ve kept an eye on since watching him in the Nordsjaelland youth team a couple of seasons ago, a player who I’m surprised that nobody ‘bigger’ in the Premier League had come in for.

Yirenkyi starts really well and slides a pass into Ellis Simms who’s run off the ball is far too easily made unattended, Simms slots home hard and low and Coventry are one up within twelve minutes.

Another player I’m impressed with is Loum Thcaouna who looks strong, quick, busy and technically very good, he sniffs danger on 32 when another slide rule ball is played forward to break the flaky flat Monaco lines, Tchaona races in to score his first Coventry goal, before celebrating with a back flip.

The Score

It’s relatively one sided in a first half where Coventry look more physically stronger and quicker than their opponents, hungrier, they play what at times feels like a 5-2-3 formation, defensively 5-4-1 or when moving forward 3-4-3 as Bobby Thomas sits between Matt Grimes and a decent looking Aurele Amenda at the back. Full backs van Ewick and Dasilva bomb on forward, Yirenkyi and Onyeka dictate centrally whilst Thomas-Asante and Tchaouna are out wide busy, supporting Simms who’s a lone striker occupying opposition centre halves with his size and strength.

Monaco have ex-England international Eric Dier in their defence, I’m disappointed in their highly rated midfield engine Lamine Camara who often gives the ball away, Denis Zakaria stands out with the armband on mixing it in the middle of the park, whilst in attack, the big and blonde Mika Biereth battles hard without much luck.

It’s a bit of a procession, Monaco do have a good chance early in the second half as the lively Belgian winger Stanis Idumbo races through to blaze over, before Yirenkyi gets a standing ovation as he’s substituted for an old fans favourite, Gustavo Hamer played 123 league games for Coventry before joining Sheffield United three years ago, he returns to the biggest cheer of the night, the fans sing to the Oasis tune of She’s Electric “He’s Brazilian, He Only Cost Six Million, We Think He’s F*cking Brilliant, Gustaaaaaavo”.

The Stars

One fan said “If he shifts a bit of timber, he’ll be brilliant for us again” on Gustavo Hamer who has been one of the best players in the Championship over the last couple of seasons. Stocky and creative he’ll get bums off seats. Coventry Manager Frank Lampard said on a similarly exciting midfield signing in Caleb Yirenkyi “He’s going to be a star” whilst I hear fans likening him to Edgar Davids, a resemblance which I was thinking of myself during the game.

A solid goalkeeper (fans chanting England’s number one is usually a sign of trust) and a defence that looks to be bolstered by Swiss international Aurele Amanda who’s a big lad, left side of a three and looks to be very accomplished.

In midfield the athletic Frank Onyeka went quietly about his business, nothing quiet about Loum Tchaouna who is fast, powerful, energetic, enthusiastic, a player who has a bit of ‘X factor’ and without the likes of Sakamoto, Haji Wright, Jack Rudoni, on show, I feel Mr Lampard is building a very good squad with quality in depth.

As for Monaco, this was perhaps proof that their better days are still someway behind them, inferior to Premier League newcomers in all areas, I did enjoy glimpses of Stanis Idumbo, was disappointed largely in Lamine Camara, but they did bring on a number of usual starters in the second half and improved late on, Vanderson at right back pushing forward is powerful and quick, the Brazilian international certainly has Premier League credentials, whilst young Paris Brunner, a 20-year-old German forward, looked combative in attack, he worked hard and shown a bit of quality and zest on the ball, which for the large part was missing in Monaco’s play.

The Verdict

It feels more like a gig when you go to Coventry Stadium which isn’t a bad thing, once inside the ground sat or stood on those steep terraces looking down below under the high bowl-like roof the acoustics are great and the noise the home fans make is brilliant when they all sing together.

On the pitch, Coventry really impressed me and I like what Frank Lampard has built in his short time here, moving on some genuine progress under previous Manager Mark Robins to take the club to that next level. I think his signings have been savvy, and the football they play is effective, pace and power will always prove menace, and I think this will be a tough place to come for many existing Premier League sides not knowing what to expect. Survival? Like Sunderland did last year, I think Coventry might surprise one or two this season.

As for Monaco, tricky to say from a game where they rested a few, and looked so much ‘weaker’ than their big spending Premier League opponents, they are a technical team who won’t often come up against this level of power and brut force in Ligue 1, and because of that, I give them hope.

A young Manager with a smart plan, I think they’ll be better than last season and could push for a top five slot, a Champions League surge perhaps? They do have pace out wide, experience in defence, athleticism in midfield and with Ansu Fati and Folarin Balogun (who were both absent from this game) to come, they should have the firepower needed to be a force?

The Teams

Coventry City: Carl Rushworth, Milan van Elwijk, Aurele Amenda, Bobby Thomas, Matt Grimes, Jay Dasilva, Frank Onyeka (Victor Torp 88), Caleb Yirenkyi (Gustavo Hamer 64), Brandon Thomas-Asante, Loum Tchaouna, Ellis Simms.

Monaco: Lukas Hradecky, Eric Dier, Jordan Teze (Vanderson 59), Denis Zakaria (Pape Cabral 59), Christian Mawisa (Flavio Nazinho 68), Mika Biereth (Mamadou Coulibaly 68), Lamine Camara (Safouane Benzahra 78), Stanis Idumbo (Aleksandr Golovin 59), Matthis Abline (Paris Brunner 68), Anis Soubeir (Oumar Konate 68), Sadibou Sane (Thilo Kehrer 78).

7:30pm Kick Off. Friday 14th August 2026, Coventry Stadium, Coventry (att 14,875).