Goal-shy Carlisle United still lack 'focal point' admits manager after Sutton United defeat

The Blues made it back-to-back defeats as they went down 2-0 to the fourth-placed visitors.

Carlisle’s toothless display again highlighted attacking shortcomings which Millen is still trying to address ahead of Monday’s transfer deadline.

He admitted the lack of a focal point was apparent in Saturday’s Brunton Park showing.

“We don’t seem to be able to get hold of the ball enough, as in hitting a target or someone playing it to someone’s feet,” he said.

“If you looked at Sutton they had a 6ft4in centre forward [Richie Bennett] and everything went through him.

“He either held it up or flicked it on, and from that you can pick up the second balls and play.

“We don’t have that type of player. We’ve got a lot of forwards who can run and beat people, and make things happen, but we don’t have that balance of being able to play into someone.

“It’s been like that since I’ve been here, and probably all season, so that’s what we’re looking for.

“We want that type of player who we can play into and the ball sticks. Players like that can make different things happen.

“When we do get the ball down and our full-backs get on, we look ok. But when the ball comes into those dangerous areas, have we really got that belief or that hunger to turn it into a situation where you’re going to score?

“We lack that player who has the instinct to do that. People who score goals are normally selfish and they don’t want to be involved in the build-up play. They want to be on the end of the moves.

“We’ve got a lot of players who get involved in the moves, but nowhere near enough at the end of it.”

United remain League Two’s lowest-scoring team with just 19 goals from 27 games.

They remain eight points above the drop zone in 20th place, but were well beaten by Sutton who scored twice in quick succession in the first half through Isaac Olaofe and David Ajiboye.

Manager Millen added: “We knew what Sutton would do. I wasn’t here for the away game [a 4-0 defeat in September] but we were beaten up on that day. I picked a team that I felt was best acquitted to deal with what they do, but in the first half we didn’t cope with it.

“We didn’t win the first ball and we didn’t get around each other for the second ball. We seemed to slash at our clearances and there seemed to be a panic any time the ball was near our box.

“They punished us for that. They’re very good at what they do. They had a centre-forward missing but they had another one to come in who is even bigger.

“They’re full of confidence and they know what they’re doing, and that is hard to deal with.”

Millen said United had not “earned the right to play” even though their second-half performance was better.

He also admitted that the Blues made poor use of a series of set-pieces as they failed to fight back.

“It’s something we spoke about before the game,” he said. “You can do all the clever movement, and we’ve now got some big players who you think can be quite aggressive at attacking the ball, but if the ball doesn’t get delivered it doesn’t matter.

“That was disappointing. We did get into some good areas and put some good crosses in at times, but set-piece delivery wasn’t good enough.”

Millen said there should still be a balanced assessment after the end of the Blues’ recent winter revival.

“I didn’t get carried away and I don’t think the players got carried away,” he added.

“I think we’ve played the two most effective teams in the league [Sutton and Forest Green Rovers] at what they do. Look at the amount of goals both teams have scored, for a reason.

“We haven’t become a bad team in the last two weeks. Everyone was raving about how good we were before that.

“We’ve got to get back and remember what we did, but also you have to remember the two teams we’ve played against.

“We’re not a top six team and certainly not a top six club. Maybe a little bit of reality needs to kick in and we need to try and put it right now on Tuesday [at Salford City].”