Paul Simpson admits he needs to look again on the right shape to get Carlisle United out of their losing rut.

The Blues have lost their last seven games with relegation looking all but certain with 14 matches to go.

This weekend they head to Bristol Rovers desperate for an uplift in mood following last weekend’s 4-0 home thrashing by Cambridge United.

Simpson has stressed that he will not stop fighting or looking for solutions in a bid to turn United’s miserable League One fortunes around.

Efforts so far have not paid off and, asked what is left for him to try, the manager said: “We have to try and focus on football. Not get distracted by lots of things.

“I always remember when I first came back in here we had a psychologist working with us, we had a health style coach, we had pilates teachers, and I just scrapped them all and said, ‘let's focus on football’.

“We've tried to do those things as well as focusing on the football. And as a group of players, they come in and they train well, but, nobody wants to see training players everywhere – we’re all judged on [what happens on] the pitch.

News and Star: Carlisle's woes deepened with the 4-0 home defeat to CambridgeCarlisle's woes deepened with the 4-0 home defeat to Cambridge (Image: Barbara Abbott)

“I've changed the shape, because we've been consistent with the back three right throughout, for most of the time I've been here.

“We’ve had in-game changes where we go 4-3-3, or 4-4-2 when we needed to, but I've changed the shape because I felt as though we were a bit short in forward areas.

“We've gone with the front three now, and three in midfield, that hasn't worked. So I'm going to have to have a look again.

“We need to find a group of players and a shape that makes us difficult to play against and able to sustain any sort of attacks that come in against us.”

Simpson admitted United’s showing against Cambridge highlighted their inability to capitalise on good spells – and then their habit to concede avoidable goals.

“At the moment, we have lots of good stuff and start games bright – we did against Portsmouth, we did it again on Saturday – and we don’t finish it,” he added.

“And then we're not strong enough to be able to deal with that disappointment. And we ended up conceding for me really, really weak goals [against Cambridge].

“We can't feel sorry for ourselves. We have to keep driving those standards. And that's what I'm going to do.”