I watched Coventry vs Middlesbrough – West Brom should fear Tatsuhiro Sakamoto most
West Brom will have a tough time keeping Tatsuhiro Sakamoto in check when they play Coventry on Saturday.
Right when West Brom probably needed it the least, Eric Ramsay‘s side will take on Championship leaders Coventry City at The Hawthorns on Saturday.
With Ramsay winless from his opening seven games in charge of Albion, Coventry won’t be in any mood to end that search this weekend.
On paper, pretty much everything points towards a Sky Blues win in this Midlands derby clash, but football can be and often is a funny old game, and the Baggies have to believe they can get a result.
The key to doing so, however, may well lie in stopping one Coventry player from running the show in particular: Sakamoto.
Tatsuhiro Sakamoto was constant thorn in Boro’s side
Monday night’s table-topping clash between Coventry and Middlesbrough was a thrilling game, and I came away from it with the clear belief that I’d just watched the Championship’s two best sides trade blows.
Despite dominating the possession stats, Middlesbrough were wasteful in front of goal when their chances came, and a battling and spirited Coventry side were quite the opposite.
Haji Wright took the headlines for his hat-trick, and rightly so, the American international was superb on the night, and looked every bit of one of the Championship’s best strikers, and indeed, players.
However, it was a different Sky Blues star that shone bright enough to catch my eye over Wright, and that was Sakamoto.
Matt Targett, who has been a model of consistency and quality for Boro this season, had his worst game of the season at left-back, as Japanese international made the right flank his own.
As per Sofascore, Sakamoto only registered four unsuccessful touches against Middlesbrough, carrying the ball up the pitch 14 times whilst also winning six out of his eight ground duels.
His industrious performance constantly drove the Boro defensive line backwards, committing defenders such as Targett into making cheap fouls, dragging them out of position and opening up space for his comrades to exploit.
It was a proper performance from Sakamoto, who is a player that is just so hard for opposition full-backs to contain due to his relentless motor.
West Brom will need bumper performance from Callum Styles
So, West Brom’s players and staff will no doubt have been watching that heavyweight clash on Monday night, knowing that the Sky Blues come to town on Saturday.
One player who will have been watching Sakamoto tearing Boro’s defence apart is Callum Styles, as it’s he who will be tasked with containing him this weekend.
Styles has been West Brom’s best player this season, in my opinion, so that bodes well for Albion, and certainly lines up a fascinating battle down that side at The Hawthorns.
The Hungarian international can affirm himself as one of the best left-backs in the division if he can do what few of his positional peers have been able to achieve this season: stop Sakamoto.
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