Salford City boss Karl Robinson claims it is far too early to judge Mike Williamson’s work at Carlisle United.
The two clubs meet in Saturday’s televised early kick-off at the Peninsula Stadium.
And home boss Robinson says his opposite number needs time and transfer windows to make his mark on the Blues.
“They’ve got some good players,” said Robinson of Carlisle.
“The manager’s been headhunted by them. It will take time to develop, it [his appointment] being a bit late on, after the window, so I think it’s a bit unfair to judge them without a window.
“I always say three windows is a fair assessment and judgement of any manager.
“I’m sure they’ll be trying to get to January and having that window really impactful on the future of the season.
“We’ve got to make sure we’re aggressive in multiple areas, in and out of possession, and the mentality we want to keep our foot down and be better.
“The respect we’ve got for Carlisle is like any team we play. We focus on ourselves but they’ve got some really good players and it’s going to be a difficult challenge for us.”
Robinson is also eager for Salford’s fans to turn up in numbers and not allow the sell-out away support to dominate at the Peninsula Stadium.
Carlisle are bringing more than 1,300 fans for the 12.30 kick-off. Salford’s average home attendance so far this season is 2,733.
“We know they [Carlisle] are going to sell their allocation, so we don’t want to be outnumbered at our home ground,” added Robinson in a club interview.
“The people who do come along are the be-all and end-all of our industry. Without them we become a nonentity, really. I think some who do come will like the way we play.”
Salford sit 12th in the table but Robinson is not satisfied with that position.
“I think we should be at least five places higher up, minimum – that’s down to our fault, our poor finishing, our stupid mistakes, some wrong team selections,” he added.
“We’ve got to be better and we will not rest until we do become better.”
Robinson, who has former United striker Cole Stockton in his ranks, is without the injured ex-Carlisle defender James Chester along with the sidelined Kevin Berkoe, Stephan Negru, Ryan Watson, Dan Chesters and Hakeeb Adelakun.
Kelly Nmai and Ben Woodburn are both suspended.
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