What needs to be resolved at Carlisle United before season?

Here’s a look at some of the main issues.

FINAL JIGSAW PIECES

Clearly, United remain in need of some final reinforcements for their squad.

Predominantly these will be in attacking positions. Paul Simpson wants more creative and attacking options and hopes as many as three new faces could still join the Blues.

Paul Simpson wants up to three more players (Image: Ben Holmes)

One is expected to come from a Premier League club in the form of a young loan player before the end of pre-season.

United’s boss is also continuing to pursue other loan and permanent possibilities in the final weeks of the market.

Carlisle’s manager may not be hunting out-and-out wingers, given United’s preference for a 3-5-2 system, but players who can crank up the supply to frontmen like Charlie Wyke and Luke Armstrong – and inject some pace into a squad still light on that quality – would seem to be the boxes left to tick.

WHO’S THE CAPTAIN?

We await Simpson’s final call on this, given the way the armband has been passed along various players so far in pre-season.

Until now it has been worn by Sam Lavelle, Charlie Wyke, Jon Mellish, Terell Thomas, Josh Vela and Aaron Hayden.

There appears a vacancy following Paul Huntington’s departure, although Lavelle regularly captained the side last season when the big Cumbrian was not involved.

Will Sam Lavelle get the armband again - or will another skipper emerge? (Image: Ben Holmes)

Simpson made it his business to sign more leaders this summer. Thomas captains his country (Saint Lucia) and Hayden was United’s vice-captain in his first spell.

Mellish is the club’s longest-serving player, Vela is the former Fleetwood Town captain, and Wyke is arguably the club’s most prominent player and someone who’d naturally be followed.

Who’s the right man to take ultimate command on the pitch? We ought to find out soon.

STARTING XI CALLS

Certain things appear likely, if not certain, at this stage of pre-season.

Harry Lewis is clearly United’s first-choice keeper. If fit, the wing-backs are Archie Davies and Cameron Harper.

Wyke is surely a starter up front, and Luke Armstrong – ahead of Georgie Kelly right now, fitness-wise – most likely joins him.

Is Harrison Neal a certain midfield starter? (Image: Ben Holmes)

Yet there are variables in other areas and even some of those.

Will Harper’s groin niggle affect his starting chances come August 10? Hopefully not, but Taylor Charters has looked a lively alternative so far in pre-season, with Jack Robinson not fit to start the campaign.

What will be the central defensive three? Thomas, Hayden and Mellish looks the likeliest combination, but Simpson has seldom left out Lavelle in his time at Brunton Park so far. Ben Barclay is a regular alternative, too.

As for central midfield, the jostle for positions focuses on certain key individuals. Harrison Neal, Josh Vela, Ethan Robson and Dylan McGeouch all bring different traits, and getting the right blend there is another managerial challenge – as it will be further when Callum Guy eventually returns.

Other contenders are apparent too. Dan Butterworth, for instance, ended last season as one of United’s brighter players and has looked sharp in pre-season so far.

Carlisle clearly won’t be wedded to a rigid XI every week. But Plan A, when it is presented at Priestfield, will need to push the right buttons.

LOANS IN…AND OUT?

United plainly have to play the loan market better than they did last season, when their temporary signings almost exclusively failed.

Simpson, making permanent signings so far, has kept most of his powder dry in this department.

When he does move – and one young Premier League player is set to be on his way soon – he must do so with more reliable results than Carlisle got from such as Luke Plange, Terry Ablade, Jokull Andresson, Seán Grehan, Joshua Kayode and Fin Back.

Good loan signings can help make or break a campaign. Ideally, United’s growth off the field will also prove an attraction to bigger clubs – while the chance to support high-calibre players like Wyke ought to hold a certain appeal.

Would Breeze benefit from a loan move? (Image: Ben Holmes)

Then there is the matter of what United do on the outgoing front. The goalkeeping department is among the most interesting areas here. If Gabe Breeze is not going to start the season in Carlisle’s nets, then the bright young keeper surely needs a blast of first-team football.

The Blues are dealing with Workington Reds in terms of some of their teenagers, while a first-team squad of good size might also see one or two others requiring “minutes” elsewhere. Anton Dudik, once he’s back fit, will be a prime candidate.