1. United are no longer a soft touch. Quite some time has passed when you last watched two teams walk out of the tunnel and fear that the Blues were about to get a physical going-over.

A successful League Two side cannot survive without this quality. On some level you need to know that, if there is a battle, or some aerial conflict to be had, you can stand up to it.

Going unbeaten this far into a campaign suggests Keith Curle has introduced that trait. There is an eagerness for combat in men like Michael Raynes, Luke Joyce, Jason Kennedy, Mike Jones and Jabo Ibehre that past United groups did not necessarily have.

These and more are Curle signings. Every chance they would not have got through the door without a reputation for the right sort of slog.

2. If Carlisle lacked direction in several places when the manager took charge, one was in the area of leadership on the pitch.

Remember the start of 2014/15, when the captain's armband was handed from player to player as if an object in a parlour game?

It suggested a certain vacuum - but now it is plain who United's authority figures are. While they in fact have several, Danny Grainger is the natural skipper of this squad.

The Cumbrian was identified in this role by Curle even at a time of individual and collective struggle. Grainger battled his way through a sustained period of criticism and his determined character remains essential today.

Other organisers are easy to spot. Raynes is the vocal presence Carlisle's back four needed. The likes of Joyce and Jones ensure standards are met further forward. This is now a United team that seems to police itself.

3. While the summer's recruitment has helped shape what looks like a promotion push, Curle has not been too proud to leave out some of his close-season captures.

Existing players have risen to the challenge and United's boss has quite rightly retained them, instead of imposing all his new faces on the starting XI.

Russell Penn, a model pro and good pre-season performer, is on loan at Gateshead, kept at bay by Joyce and Jones. Joe McKee awaits his first proper chance.

Shaun Brisley, too: a quality centre-half who is having to be patient. Reggie Lambe, who started the season at speed, is currently an impact sub.

Longer-servers, like Jason Kennedy, have made their case strongly. It is sensible management to leave this alone for as long as it is working.

4. After Saturday's win at Stevenage, Curle said: "I like a moan and a grumble. I can rub people up the wrong way."

There are those within Brunton Park who would privately nod in agreement. The way the manager ordered changes to United's in-house way of working did not always meet with approval.

Carlisle, before his arrival, was a friendly place. No harm in that. And it still is. But Curle has imposed more divisions, established new boundaries.

It may have led to degrees of separation among some departments. But perhaps it has also helped make Carlisle United a more serious operation.

Whether the wrong-way-rubbing continues, nobody can argue with the results so far.

5. There will always be debate on the first, fractious months of Curle's reign, and those who will never agree with the way certain early issues were handled.

Some ex-players, who were ostracised, will take plenty of convincing they were dealt with in an appropriate manner. A couple of former coaches would say the same.

What cannot be denied, though, is that United's manager did not take very long to pinpoint what he wanted at Brunton Park and what he did not.

An exodus, and a new influx in summer 2015, helped change the tone. It was also perhaps a flushing out of some old ways.

United, two years ago, were dying through neglect. One way or another it needed some radical change. Curle did not waste too much time in carrying it out.

6. The long journeys. The geographical isolation. The inferior resources. The price of a pint down south.

There were all sorts of theories why Carlisle United were no good as an away team, pre-Curle.

How could a side from such an outpost hope to have enough in the tank by the time they disembarked at some southern stadium?

These excuses have been exposed, for Carlisle are now an efficient away side - just as Notts County were for a long time under the same boss.

It comes from having the right players, smart strategy and, most important of all, a mindset that is almost compulsive in its love of spoiling the home team's fun.

On the road now it is 10 unbeaten league games and counting, the second-best sequence in United's history. Because they have stopped seeing themselves as victims on the road.

7. Remember that game when Curle disappeared down the tunnel without so much as a wave to the travelling fans?

Thought not. United's manager has openly embraced Carlisle's supporters and, now that good times are being had, this is becoming a serious source of strength.

Each boss has his own personality. Some past bosses at Brunton Park have not come across brilliantly when communicating with the masses, through the media or directly.

It is normally easy, too, to detect when lip service is being paid. Curle, though, demands a committed, collective show of gratitude from his squad when United travel, whatever the outcome.

In response, a certain cult status is being conferred upon 'Mysterious Curle'. He has done well to foster this connection.

8. In truth, Curle is not so mysterious this season. For one thing, there has been a greater reliability about United's formation in these recent successful weeks.

The days when guessing Carlisle's line-up was an impossible job are not so frequent, either.

Tactical oddities are witnessed less often. Recall those curious corner-kick routines from the first few months of Curle, with players bursting out to all angles before sprinting back in?

No longer used. Instead United follow more orthodox, effective set-piece paths. Even the long throws, often maligned, are starting to deliver results.

It is a while, too, since Curle brought props along to his press conferences: bricks and lipstick, photos of the Lake District. A good team is doing more of the talking, capturing more of the attention.

9. Graham Kavanagh's reign is seldom fondly remembered, but one extremely useful thing Curle's predecessor did was convince United's directors of the need for a fitness coach.

Sports science and conditioning are the actual words in Lee Fearn's job title. And Carlisle are now surely reaping the benefits of his diligent work in the department of keeping players at their peak.

There is now greater method, research and expertise in the preparation and recovery of United's squad. Fearn, along with the long-serving physio Neil Dalton, must take plenty of credit for the way this Carlisle team are capable of playing to the end, every week.

Curle, too, for seeing that their approach worked, and backing it, despite changing the backroom team in other areas.

10. Give me a lucky general, Napoleon said. And Carlisle are enjoying their fair share of that priceless commodity, as well.

One sign of a good side is when the marginal calls go in your favour. For instance: the assistant referee's flag indicating the ball had left play shortly before Billy Paynter scored a third goal for Hartlepool the weekend before last.

Other kisses from Lady Luck include Doncaster's missing of a penalty when 2-1 up on September 27.

Some of these things are impossible to orchestrate. But they do seem to happen to a team when it is doing well and working in the right way: something Curle's Carlisle certainly are today.