What did we learn from Carlisle United 0-2 Dundee United?

Let’s take a closer look…

1 ATTACKING SHORTFALL

This was, let’s be honest, a day that shone light on the things that were not there, rather than those that were.

In an attacking sense Carlisle’s performance offered very little indeed and left you hoping the players Paul Simpson has very recently brought in can fill the necessary gaps.

Ryan Edmondson jumps for a header (Image: Barbara Abbott)

It serves little purpose thinking wistfully back to players who have left. 2023/24 will be about those who’ve arrived helping Carlisle step up to even higher levels.

But on this first sighting of United at Brunton Park since last season, it was still hard not to notice the absence of, say, a centre-forward with Kristian Dennis’ movement and hold-up link play, or the game-changing quality of pace that Omari Patrick brought.

Ryan Edmondson, as their main spearhead, seldom got down the Dundee United keeper's throat in the first half and then, after the break, was moved further to the left. Joe Garner, a second-half sub, was isolated as a lone central man.  

There were, in effect, not enough dimensions in the different attacking systems Simpson deployed, and the manager’s recruitment of Sean Maguire, as well as his work in the loan market, will have been designed with this in mind.

The need for an effective repertoire was plain in League Two, and the demands will be even more exacting in League One.

2 QUESTION OF STYLE

Dundee United were comfortably the highest calibre of opposition Carlisle have faced in pre-season.

Their sharp and accomplished display made you think their stay in the Scottish Championship after relegation may turn out to be a brief one.

Owen Moxon brings the ball out from defence against a Dundee United side who played the more accomplished football (Image: Barbara Abbott)

As much as anything, they offered a bracing and timely reminder to Carlisle of the levels they’ll need to hit when rival sides hit a good standard of passing, movement and speed of thought.

Above all, they looked a team who knew what they were doing, in terms of their shape and their collective and individual threats.

They looked, naturally, ahead of Carlisle in terms of competitive readiness, as they should be given the Scottish schedule.

In the nature of their game, too, they perhaps offered a useful insight into what the Blues’ can expect: more sides who will play out from the back, and between the lines, with a greater degree of refinement than they saw in League Two.

It was an afternoon that highlighted the reduced margin for error against teams like that.

3 FIN’S WELCOME BACK

Above all it was good to see Fin Back back in a blue shirt and on the right hand side of Carlisle’s team again.

It was a first Brunton Park appearance since last November and, first and foremost, the fact he seemed to come through it unscathed is a first tick in the box for player and manager.

Fin Back on the ball during his Brunton Park return (Image: Barbara Abbott)

Nobody who was at Leyton Orient last season will forget the sad, sinking feeling when Back pulled up on his comeback appearance.

Hopefully this time a more robust return is going to be the case.

It would be foolish to expect an instant resurgence to Back’s highest standards so early. In a first-half spell he did showcase some of those attacking instincts that made him such a catalyst in United’s rise last autumn, but there will be more to come in that department.

Defensively, meanwhile, it was a real workout, Glenn Middleton and his colleagues often doubling up on Dundee United’s left side, stretching Carlisle’s shape on the right and, while Back went hungrily into a 50-50 with Scott McMann, the way the opposition player duly set up their opening goal was a ruthless response too.

The need for Back and Sam Lavelle (or any of the Blues’ other right centre-back options) to develop an understanding, as things go on, goes without saying.

The Nottingham Forest loanee is quite clearly good enough to step back up, and up again, with Carlisle. The more game time he gets quickly, the faster he’ll be right up to the speed we know to be impressive.

4 A DIFFERENT PLAN B?

All being well, Carlisle’s reinforced range of attacking players will see them go into League One battle with a better toolset than they showed on Saturday.

There will always, though, be the need for a total Plan B. Ideally more than one.

Jayden Harris on the attack during the closing stages (Image: Barbara Abbott)

In United’s case last season this often involved Jon Mellish stepping from defence into midfield during a game – frequently to match-changing effect.

The alteration on Saturday did not have the desired effect, for all Mellish’s typical wholeheartedness, though a more fully-stocked Carlisle will surely lean more confidently back on this option at various stages in 2023/24.

Other buttons to push will be required too, though, and during the Blues’ second-half torpor at the weekend there was at least a degree of energy and determination from substitute Jayden Harris.

It did not necessarily come with polish in the final act but some of Harris’ forward runs did get Carlisle into places that had been elusive for the most part.

There is always a challenge in Harris that attracts the referee’s attention – one late clip on the visiting keeper might easily have attracted a booking – and he remains a raw midfielder, a work in patient Simpson progress.

He is, though, a different physical specimen to Carlisle’s other players in that position, offers a different kind of stride and bite. It may not yet be a chip the Blues are ready to play from the start, but unleashing Harris on calculated occasion may have a certain disrupting effect when needed.

5 SIMMO’S SELECTION HINTS

It will be a surprise if Carlisle’s manager deviates greatly from the XI he named here.

Surely the side that will walk out against Fleetwood Town was there, give or take a couple of final variables.

Summer signing Sam Lavelle looks to have a strong chance of starting against Fleetwood (Image: Barbara Abbott)

Tomas Holy, despite attracting some criticism over his handling of the second Dundee United goal, is a sure starter in goal.

In the centre of defence it looks to be a case of Mellish, Huntington and Lavelle, Simpson stressing in his post-match interviews how important it was for the latter pair to have time on Saturday to work on an understanding.

Ben Barclay and Corey Whelan are ready alternatives for the right-sided central defender, but the mood music appears to favour summer signing Lavelle.

Jack Armer at left wing-back is a given as, in midfield, are surely Callum Guy and Owen Moxon.

Beyond that, there are calls to be made. On the right, is Back ready after 45 pre-season minutes or is Jack Ellis, who has had a longer pre-season run, a safer bet to start the season?

Is the bustling Alfie McCalmont the third midfielder, or does Dylan McGeouch’s more poised style get the nod?

Up front, there are Ryan Edmondson and Joe Garner, but also now Sean Maguire. Then there is Jordan Gibson, one of Carlisle’s brightest pre-season performers, often in an auxiliary attacking position?

Do the Blues go with two out-and-out strikers, or do they feed an extra attacking midfielder into the system while such as Maguire bed in, and if so, does that offer Gibson an opportunity?

You can’t quite, then, throw your hat on Simpson’s final XI. But the framework, at least, appears clear.