Timmy's Player Ranking LAST Ladder

In this new regular feature, our occasional correspondent Tim Russell briefly stops rambling on about Dele Adebola's alleged obsession with Terry & June and actually focuses on football for a change, with a look at the CCFC power rankings - who’s undroppable, who’s pushing for a first team place, and who’s on the phone to their agent.

Thanks to Alex and Sian at No Score Draws for the their wonky poorly doodled football nonsense. They are on another mission to draw the whole of this seasons Premier League!

1) Bobby Thomas

One of several players who have benefitted from Frank’s heartwarming desire to give last season’s team a chance to prove their Premiership mettle, Bobby has not only beaten off considerable competition for his place in the centre of defence but is now, if several TV pundits are to be believed, drifting into the thoughts of England coach Thomas Tuchel. Jamie Carragher went so far as to compare him to John Terry, hopefully as a footballer.

2) Carl Rushworth

Rushgoalieworth had a baptism of fire in the Premiership, plucking the ball out of the old onion bag no fewer than ten times in City’s first four games. He’s certainly not looked like the penalty box colossus of last season, and has not yet justified being City’s record signing, so why is he so high? Simple - there is absolutely no credible competition for his place, and the only thing stopping him being ever-present again this season is injury or suspension.

3) Jay Dasilva

The wee Welshman continues to confound the doubters, and after coming on leaps and bounds in the Championship, he’s taken to life in the top flight like a duck - a tiny, fluffy, baby duck - to water. Looked right at home even during the drubbing at Arsenal, and cemented his cult status at City by scoring their first Premier League goal in over 25 years with that absolute THRIKER at Forest.

4) Matt Grimes

Grimes is a player who generally needs a bit of time and space on the ball to do what he does, both things that are far rarer in the top flight than they were in the Championship. So far he’s looked a bit lightweight and a bit off the pace, needing a bit of muscle behind him (ooer) in the form of Onyeka or Yirenkyi in order to do his stuff. But there’s clearly a Strachan/Telfer thing going on between Maud and Frank and it’s clear he’s never getting dropped, ever.

5) Milan Van Ewijk

For a player we all thought was Prem-ready, the Ewok has taken his time to acclimatise to top-flight football and has made a few costly errors, notably against Arsenal and Brighton. But like Rushworth, he faces little to no competition for his place so comes in at number 5. Please don’t let him get injured.

6) Jack Rudoni

A smashing fella who clearly loves football, Cov, and life in general, I am delighted that Rudi has proved me wrong and already shown he can hack it in the Prem. By far our best option in the hole (ooer), and also had the balls to take that penalty against Newcastle to score Cov’s first home Premier League goal since 2001. Let’s hope he can banish his injury demons this season.

7) Ethan Pinnock

Pinnockio looks well on his way to being to Cov what Granit Xhaka was to Sunderland last season - an experienced old hand on and off the pitch to teach the youngsters what it’s all about. After a shaky start he’s formed a solid bond with Bobby Thomas and could well turn out to be our signing of the season.

8) Caleb Yirenkyi

Of all the young players currently at City, Yirenkyi looks the one most likely to move to a much richer club in the near future. A proper old-school Gerrard/Viera-esque box-to-box midfielder with boundless energy, he has the versatility to play just about anywhere and, once he matures and starts to read the game better, he has a hell of a career ahead of him. Looks like replacing Frank Onyeka as Grimes’ midfield minder for the foreseeable future.

9) Stephen Mfuni

A late loan signing none of us got overly excited about is rapidly turning out to be a young Beckenbauer. Seriously, what a player. Frank’s love of three at the back (ooer) means he’s going to get plenty of game time and, as that stunning goal against Newcastle showed, we can always stick him up front too. Make the most of him folks as I doubt we’ll have him for more than a season.

10) Ephron Mason-Clark

Nora (rather dated hipster film reference) has had a meteoric rise in recent years, going from League One football with Peterborough just a couple of years ago to being a regular Premiership starter. But whilst Frank’s loyalty to last season’s champions is, as I already said, most touching, it’s starting to look rather misplaced here as EMC looks a little out of his depth thus far. Wouldn’t be surprised to see him replaced by Sakamoto or Tchaouna in the weeks to come.

11) Sidiki Cherif

Apparently recommended to Frank by none other than Jose Mourinho, his former coach at Fenerbahce, Cherif has elbowed his place to the front of a long-ish queue of strikers less through his performances and more through a combination of injury, suspension, and Ellis Simms. His highlights reel had me salivating when we signed him and his wonderfully taken goal against Newcastle suggests we might have a diamond on our hands, though Frank’s apparent refusal to start the same striker two games in a row means it might take him a while to adjust.

12) Ellis Simms

Talk of the devil. Simmaldinho is an odd player. No one’s ever going to get him confused with Erling Haaland, yet bring him on as a sub he nearly always scores. Then starts the next game, and gets substituted on the hour mark. I still don’t really understand him and nor it seems does Frank, for most strikers with Simms’ numbers would be shoo-ins rather than benchwarmers. Can he do it at this level? We may never know.

13) Tatsuhiro Sakamoto

Everyone loves Tats don’t they? Apart, it seems, from Frank, who, six games in and despite some excellent substitute appearances, has yet to name him in the starting XI. He’s definitely knocking on the door and that cameo against Newcastle will definitely have helped - surely he’s got to start against Dr Tottenham?

14) Victor Torp

The first time I saw Torp play for Cov, I was amazed he hadn’t already been snapped up by a Premier League club. He’s quality. But with Grimes and Yirenkyi anchoring the midfield, and Rudi expertly working the hole (behave), it’s probably not surprising that he’s been restricted to the bench. Once winter kicks in and injuries and suspensions mount up, I’m sure the Torpedo will be launched more often - we need to see more of those free kicks, for one.

15) Brandon Thomas-Asante

Another player many fans might have expected to disappear into the depths of the bench this season, BTA has been excellent when given a go - he’s a serial irritant who makes defenders work and opens up a lot of space for others. He may not have Premiership striker quality (yet), but it’s clear that Frank rates him and wants him to learn on the job, so whilst he may not start every game he’ll still see plenty of action, particularly whilst none of his fellow strikers seem to want to nail down the position.

16) Frank Onyeka

Probably the biggest surprise of the season has been the inconsistency of Frank the Tank. One of very few City players with Premier League experience, he’s not (yet) lived up to his billing as our very own N’Golo Kante, and with Caleb Yirenkyi rapidly becoming indispensable, it looks like Onyeka-ka-ka could be warming the bench for a while.

17) Gustavo Hamer

Hamer Time part 2 has not been a roaring success thus far, with Gus’s second go at the Premiership proving as unremarkable as his first. A popular signing with the fans he may have been, but it’s hard to see quite where Gus - a very good player at Championship level, lest we forget - fits into the new Sky Blues. Frank certainly hasn’t quite worked it out yet.

18) Loum Tchaouna

Seemed like a very odd signing at the time, and nothing we’ve seen of Tchaouna so far has made it seem any less strange. He’s OK - better than EMC, not as good as Sakamoto - but for a club like Coventry to spend £20m on a player, they’ve got to be a lot more than OK. Tchaouna is definitely a very odd fish (I’ll get me coat).

19) Taiwo Awoniyi

From an automatic starter to number 18 in a matter of weeks, and all down to the very silly moment of head loss that precipitated that second half collapse against Brighton. Big Taiwo has not, it is fair to say, made much of an impression so far, other than on Maxim De Cuyper’s jaw - had that shot against Manchester City gone in, and had he behaved himself against Brighton, he’d be much higher on this list. As it is, it may be a while before he starts another game.

20) Joel Latibeaudiere

Lati has done absolutely nothing wrong - he’s just got several very, very good players in front of him. A January move beckons.

21) Aurele Amenda

After a promising start to life in Sky Blue, Big Oral tore a calf ligament against Villa and will be out until Christmas or beyond. Given the current form of messrs Thomas, Pinnock and Mfuni, that is not half as big a loss as it may at first have appeared.

22) Dan Bentley

Let’s face it, he’s only going to get a game if Rushworth gets injured and after his performance against Villa in the League Cup, let’s hope Rushworth stays fit.

23) Haji Wright

Injured until December by all accounts, Haji will be watching City’s misfiring strikers with some optimism, as you suspect a fit HWWW would walk, or rather amble halfheartedly, straight into this team.

23) Josh Eccles

Injury has prevented Josh from becoming the first player since Ronnie Farmer to play for the club in all four divisions (according to my research, but I’m no Jim Brown); let’s hope he makes it onto the pitch soon. Frank clearly rates him and I suspect a fit Eccles would really take the cake as far as the manager is concerned (I’ll get me coat again).

24) Kaine Kesler-Hayden

Another long-term injured player who, had he been fit, might well have been given a chance given the Ewok’s early season travails. Now fit again, expect to see him come off the bench at some point in the next few games.

25) Luke Woolfenden

Injured since the start of the season, but would’ve been unlikely to feature anyway - not sure what exactly Wolfie has done to piss on Frank’s chips (apart from, perhaps, literally pissing on Frank’s chips), but the boss clearly doesn’t rate him and with City bulging at the seams with quality centre-backs, it looks like time is up on his disappointing spell in Sky Blue.

26) Yann Gboho

I’d have expected the exciting Frenchman to have seen a bit more league action by now. Maybe he’s not fully match fit or something, but apart from a brief cameo in the League Cup defeat to Villa, Gboho has merely been an observer.

27) Ben Wilson

If Woolfenden pissed on Frank’s chips, the stomach turns when you ponder what Wilson must have done to them. Rather than risk leaving him as the backup to Rushworth, Frank went out and signed Dan Bentley. From Wolves. His Cov career is pretty much over and he’ll be looking forward to the transfer window opening.

Agree or disagree?! Post in the comments below!