What Mark Robins is looking forward to seeing from Coventry City summer signing with ability to ‘destroy’
Coventry City news from CoventryLive as Sky Blues boss Mark Robins assesses slow burning summer signing Tatsuhiro Sakamoto after his third Championship start
Tatsuhiro Sakamoto, the dynamic Coventry City attacker, will ‘destroy’ defenders once he gets up to speed in the Championship, according to Mark Robins.
The Sky Blues’ £1.2 million summer transfer from Belgian club KV Oostende earned only his third league start for the club at the weekend, playing 90 minutes for the second time in the league. And it was certainly an eye-catching performance, with the Japan international being voted man of the match in the 1-1 draw with Norwich City, in which he came agonizingly close to snatching a late winner with a diving header.
The 26-year-old, who has mostly come off the bench this season, started the game at wing-back against the Canaries, going head-to-head with former Sky Blues player Sam McCallum, and later showed his versatility by switching across to cover on the left amid a number of late changes by the manager.
When asked how he thought Sakamoto performed, the City manager remarked, “I think he did OK, but I still think he can be more positive.” He had one-on-one battles with Sam McCallum and chose to return, but he can destroy people. I’m looking forward to seeing it, and once he gains confidence, he’ll do it.”
“He put a couple of pretty good balls in, and Ellis Simms got his head on one of them but didn’t get it on target,” he continued. However, there was some good play. He keeps possession rather effectively, and he frequently finds the spare man. He’s astute as well as versatile, since he can play both flanks and the ten. He’s a pretty lovely lad with a lot of talent.”
