Who To Pick From Coventry

Drafting from Coventry

Coventry finish eighteenth on a power rating of 76, level with Hull and Ipswich, and the 29 names in the squad make that point rather than soften it. Frank Onyeka at 79 is the best player at the club, and no other squad on the wheel has a ceiling that low. Nobody here is rated 82 or above. Haji Wright is on 78, Ethan Pinnock 77, Jack Rudoni 76, Bobby Thomas and Matt Grimes on 75 apiece — a full complement of bodies without a single card you would spend an early pick on.

The squad is tightly banded rather than deep: the spread across the best eleven is just 5, with Brandon Thomas-Asante at 74 the eleventh man, so your first Coventry pick and your fifth are worth much the same. Newcastle are flatter still on 4 and their band sits at 81 rather than 76, which is the difference between consistency and consistency of the wrong kind. The one department Coventry can genuinely contest is holding midfield, where Onyeka is partnered by Matt Grimes at 75, and Ethan Pinnock at 77 gives the back line a centre-half worth starting. Everywhere else you are buying scarcity: Carl Rushworth at 72 is the best of three keepers, and left-back is two men, Jay Dasilva at 72 and Jake Bidwell at 65, the lowest-rated player in the squad.

So the legend pool matters more here than at any club above them, and it fills the two holes the squad cannot. Dion Dublin at 91 is a centre-forward at a level nobody in the current side approaches, and Steve Ogrizovic at 90 is a better goalkeeper than anything Coventry can put in front of you. 12 of the 29 are English, with three Jamaicans behind them, and only Everton matches that bloc. Draft Dublin and Ogrizovic, take Onyeka and Pinnock if the wheel leaves them, and treat the rest as squad-filler you would rather not have to play.