Carlisle United's pre-season campaign stepped up a few levels against Blackpool.
After a series of games against non-league sides, it was a Championship test for the Blues on Saturday.
Chris Beech’s side went down 1-0 to Neil Critchley’s men as supporters returned to Brunton Park for the first time in 2021. So what did we learn from it?
1. The game is for fans
Stating the obvious, yes, and it’s a line that has been the subject of a thousand platitudes from big-talking folk in football who then go on to act in the opposite way.
But at this end of the game we can say it with the utmost sincerity: an empty Brunton Park is a shell. A Brunton Park with supporters in is just the way it should be.
It was warmly reassuring to see many familiar faces outside and inside the ground on the latest sunny Saturday of United’s pre-season.
A word, too, about the Blackpool fans who formed the stadium’s first away attendance for 16 months. They brought some welcome normality back, too.
United’s new catering outlets appeared well received and were a sign of the club making some proper offerings to supporters after some frankly below-par efforts of years past.
But above all: thanks to the faithful for returning the absolute essentials to Warwick Road: the shouts, cheers, moans, laughs and all the rest. Here’s to so much more of all that.
2. This was a proper test
Ok, it might not have been the very highest-octane football. No game that sees the visiting side make eight changes midway through the second half can be said to be that.
But this was certainly a good, different and highly credible examination for United than they had received in their previous contests against energetic non-league teams.
For a good spell in the first half, Blackpool dominated possession. Their football from the back was cultured and well-worked, a hallmark of Neil Critchley’s successful management.
It was a test of United’s patience and their ability to grow into a game where they are the inferior side.
After a fashion, they did, eventually finding some good moments through the bustle of Joe Riley and the muscular running of Brennan Dickenson.
Some of Carlisle’s weaknesses were highlighted, too, such as a haste in possession in defence at times (though Morgan Feeney looked good until he went off injured) and a lack of options and angles when Zach Clough and Tristan Abrahams were well marshalled.
More positively, United’s own subs helped shift the game’s direction – along with those of Pool – and all in all the challenges the Blues faced were just the sort you should want in pre-season.
3. United's left-back is right ahead
It is testament to Jack Armer’s progress that Carlisle could part with their senior left-back - and captain - this summer and not feel like that position has been weakened.
Armer pushed past Nick Anderton last season and the confident way he went about most of his duties against Blackpool affirmed that he is the man very firmly in possession of that particular shirt, and has full belief in that status.
Having only recently turned 20, Armer was sharp and cool in many of his defensive duties, showing the benefits of all his early, hardened first-team experience as he dealt with danger from some of Blackpool’s high-end players.
United were opened up down the middle for the visitors’ winner, where Demetri Mitchell showed Armer his own alertness and pace, though that was a counter-attack which found Carlisle’s general structure wobbly rather than it being the fault of one of their last defenders.
By and large, anyway, Armer already looks the least of United’s problems and quite possibly their young asset who may, given a little more time, end up being worth the most.
4. Learning curve for Lewis
It is credit to Lewis Bell and his evident potential that he was picked to start this game, and then asked to occupy more than one position against United’s Championship visitors.
The Cumbrian teenager is very highly thought-of both at Carlisle and by scouts seeking talented prospects in the lower divisions.
There were some very good flashes from Bell and also spells which will have steepened his learning curve.
One flicked pass in the first half was a little moment of ingenuity, and Bell also showed the awareness to get himself on the end of the resulting move and chance.
After starting in a more attacking position, the wide player moved into a wing-back role once Carlisle readjusted after Morgan Feeney's withdrawal.
Bell put plenty of effort into the contest and was also shown, at close defensive quarters, how persistent and dangerous second-tier players must regularly be. The likes of CJ Hamilton and Keshi Anderson were ideal men for the youngster to watch and emulate, as they turned and eluded him and his team-mates.
It was a good and hard environment which ought to benefit Bell.
5. How sharp is the tip?
This will be the question, if United again come up against defenders as forbidding as Blackpool’s were here.
Unlikely, perhaps, given that Pool are preparing for second-tier life and Carlisle fourth.
But if the Blues’ main threats of Clough and Abrahams ever find themselves becalmed as on Saturday, do they have alternatives when it comes to the old-fashioned job of leading the line?
United certainly have attacking variety. Manny Mampala has potential, Gime Toure his box of tricks, Lewis Alessandra (absent here) a well-honed football brain, Brennan Dickenson a degree of running force. Sam Fishburn is a young player on his early steps of development. Clough’s quality is undeniable and will surely turn League Two games, while Abrahams has been positive so far, and can be deployed centrally or further wide.
One wonders, though, if Carlisle, on occasion will also need a bit of gristle up top, someone to needle or bully centre-halves when the situation demands; a player who can go old-school at times.
Maybe United don’t wish to play that way. Maybe they can’t afford such a man. Maybe they will simply make the most of what they have, and also hope for goalscoring productivity from midfield.
Yet if there’s still room in the budget, and the right man in the market, an extra jigsaw piece might, ideally, be a bulwark of a No9.
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