Carlisle boss Keith Millen is looking for his team to get back to basics for this afternoon’s game with Walsall.
It’s regarded as a must if the Blues are to end their sequence of 12 games without a win.
A closer study of Tuesday’s 2-0 home defeat by Harrogate confirmed for Millen that his side had conceded two poor goals.
He said: “The disappointing thing was the manner of the two goals we conceded. They disappointed me when I saw them again.
“It’s gone against what we’ve been working on since I arrived at the club. We were too open. People make mistakes, give the ball away – I’ve got no problem with that. It’s making sure we have a structure behind it so teams can’t break on us and score a soft, easy goal.
“Both of them were poor. We’ve reminded them of that. That’s one thing we’ve been very good at, looking very solid. Any team can have a solid foundation, as it gives you a good chance of winning the game, or worst case drawing 0-0.
“I made sure they understand we have to get back to those basics.”
Millen also addressed the need to have the crowd behind the team, and a big help in that would be by scoring first.
“That would give everyone a lift,” he said.
But he went on: “I think everyone would know that’s an issue for us at the moment, but we have to look at the best way of creating chances and scoring goals. It’s ok to say we need to score the first goal, but it’s how we’re going to do it that matters.
“It’s creating the chances, what movement we’re going to have in and around the box – those are the sorts of things you have to work on in training and on a day-to-day point of view.”
