Rebuilding shattered confidence is Keith Millen’s main task as he looks to lift Carlisle United up the League Two table.
Second-bottom again, after the 3-0 defeat at Northampton, Millen had his first competitive look at the side he has inherited and knows there is much work to be done.
He told the club website: “The goals are poor and the sort of goals you tend to concede when you’re on a bad run.
“Take the goals out of the equation, I look at the team shape and in the first half, I thought we were okay, solid. You could see what we were trying to do.
“We had some half chances where with a bit of luck, maybe a bit more belief, we might have scored the first goal which I think is huge at the moment for this group of players.”
Northampton scored after 41 minutes and during the break, he asked the players to believe they could get the next goal.
“But you can see the longer the game goes on at the moment that the belief and confidence are drained. The second goal is then a mistake from us,” said Millen.
“I’ve seen the third again, and I thought it had to be a clear and definite handball – none of their players appealed, the referee didn’t see it, the fans didn’t appeal, so one person sees it, the assistant, and he gives it. That was harsh.
“But I have to look at the squad now and we have to find a way of being more effective with what we’ve got.
“You can see Northampton’s identity and what they do to win football matches, and they’re good at it.
“At the moment we haven’t got a way of playing that can hurt teams enough. I need to look at that and the good thing is we have a free week now. We’ve got to change something.”
Millen believes that to be a successful team there’s a need to be compact, whatever the shape you play or how a press is used.
He said: “Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been looking at the squad and the games. There’s a problem of creating more chances, and we aren’t set up with the players we’ve got to be a long-ball team.
“We’re not that sort of squad, and that’s fine. So, I have to look at what we do have and at how we’re going to be more effective and dangerous. If you are more dangerous and effective it gives the players more belief.
“At the moment I imagine when they go a goal down and they’re wondering where their goal is going to come from to get back in the game. That’s a tough feeling to have.
“But none of this is a surprise to me. There’s a lot of work to do, but I knew that. It would have been great to get off to a good start but we haven’t, and we have to start again on Monday and start working for Saturday’s game.”
With no midweek game, all of Millen’s focus will be on the FA Cup game at Brunton Park when the Blues host Horsham of the Isthmian League.
The visitors currently sit next to bottom of the table with only six points from their 11 games.
They lost 3-2 at home to Carshalton Athletic yesterday in the third qualifying round of the FA Trophy and on Wednesday lost 1-0 in the league at third-in-the-table Kingstonian.
Millen will certainly be looking at this game as an opportunity to build confidence with a win.
