Those of us in the media drew the same conclusion as John Sheridan after Carlisle’s defeat to MK Dons: that it was a game where United could easily have taken something had they been on their game.

They didn’t, and the frustration only grows when you think that these results boil down to many of the things we have seen before.

Although you feel Carlisle have players with the quality to do it to a certain degree, it isn’t proving enough, and again you find yourself harking back to the point about players demanding of each other.

Sheridan has said he doesn’t see enough of it. He isn’t criticising in this; he is making a firm point about how the players can be better.

If you get hold of your mate, and demand more from them, they will demand more from the next man and it filters through.

In his post-match interviews on Saturday, Sheridan made the point that he never shut up as a player. I was the same. It was just my nature and I would often do more work with my mouth than with anything else.

I was constantly shouting, talking, getting people into position. The other lads didn’t take it to heart. They accepted it for what it was.

There are little traits you see in players when you know they are on top of their game. If, at Carlisle, I saw Simon Hackney drifting past someone down the left early on, I knew he was on it.

If, in the first minute, Karl Hawley was spinning into the channels, I knew he was on it.

My signal was that I would be shouting at people from the start, making sure they were doing their jobs. If I wasn’t doing that, team-mates would fear that I wasn’t on my game and when you sense that in a player, your collective performance can drop.

More recently, Carlisle have had Nicky Adams – someone who could go past players with great quality, but also someone who never shut up on the pitch.

His body language and his emotions were always crystal clear. If he wanted better, his arms would be thrown up. If United conceded, he would be the one urging them back.

I don’t see enough of that at present. After the two goals at Stadium MK it was a case of heads down and walk back to the centre circle.

You can’t put it into someone if it’s not in their nature. That’s where a manager has to look for characters to add to a squad.

In January, Sheridan might not look for ability first. He might go for people who can lead.

When Carlisle were fighting to stay in the Football League in Keith Curle’s first season, an obvious case of this was midfielder Anthony Griffith.

Curle needed someone for a few games, just to get someone in there who was a bit nastier than the rest. When the others started following suit, Griffith was eased out of things.

Technically he wasn’t as good as some of the other players. But he brought some of that character they needed in the short term.

I don’t even think it is a generational thing, the lack of talking. I think it more boils down to who you were brought up with, who you learned from in your dressing room.

I was fortunate to be at Sunderland with Kevin Ball – an out-and-out shouter and motivator, and also the likes of Niall Quinn and Lee Clark.

They were great footballers but also demanded from you in different ways.

That said, the game today is more about technical ability, and that’s maybe why some players aren’t as vocal.

If you said to a lot of academy kids that they have to earn the right to play, I don’t think they would know what it meant. They might assume it means getting on the ball and passing it around, rather than what you have to do to get a foothold in a League Two game, when challenges are flying in.

You see some that are shellshocked when they are exposed to that for the first time. You see them do well for 10 minutes, then disappear from the game, coming back into it when it has calmed down again.

Looking to January at Brunton Park, it is obvious that there won’t be much money to spend and there will have to be wheeling and dealing to free up wages.

Whoever they bring in, it is going to be a case of hoping they do well, rather than expecting. This isn’t a criticism of anyone on the football side – it is simply the position they are in.

The hope will be for one of those loan moves that really comes off, while there could also be some experienced free agents out there who didn’t get the move they wanted at the start of the season but are desperate to play.

Sheridan has managed for hundreds of games and alongside him you have director of football David Holdsworth, who has managed at the lower leagues and will have his contacts.

Between them, they should be experienced enough to pinpoint a player or two that, even in the current circumstances, could come in and give a boost.

The striker situation is key, and there might be someone out there who is on loan elsewhere until January, perhaps pulling up trees in the National League, who needs the next step up.

Maybe Carlisle have to be ready do to someone else what is going to be done to them with Ashley Nadesan.

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Reports that Salford City are interested in Ashley Nadesan have sparked a debate about whether he would be right to drop down to the National League.

Why, apart from money, would he trade in Carlisle, or another club at this level, for non-league?

There are some strong reasons why he might.

I was in the same situation when I left Barnsley in 2004. I could have moved to Bradford in League One, up to Motherwell or Hibs in the Scottish Premier, or even seen out my remaining year at Barnsley, even though I knew I was out of the manager’s plans.

I didn’t, though, want a season of playing 20-25 games. I wanted a full season of 46 games - and then Paul Simpson invited me in to Carlisle for pre-season training.

They had just gone into the Conference and I was honest with Simmo – I said the only reason I’d come up was so that I could move back to Newcastle for a few weeks while I trained, played in friendlies and weighed things up.

After a few minutes of training on my first day, Simmo sat me down and asked what it would take to keep me. I said we would see how pre-season went and I had to admit that I wasn’t massively impressed with the first few friendlies.

Simmo, though, said he had people like Andy Preece, Chris Billy and Peter Murphy waiting to come back, and then I would see how much stronger our best XI would be.

In the first game of that 2004/5 season we ran out against Canvey Island in front of a 7,000 crowd, which was a real statement. I found the level quite easy in some ways and Simmo was right – with those lads back in, the team was completely different.

I signed a month’s deal quickly, and that flew by. I was enjoying everything about it. Taking big followings to Northwich Victoria and Forest Green in those early weeks said a lot about the size of the club and its support.

We also had lads like Karl Hawley, who had real potential, and I could see lots of reasons to stay. In negotiations I asked for a couple of things and Simmo said they would be there on Monday morning, which they were.

It all felt right. Nadesan could stay in League One or League Two, and having fought his way up from non-league it would be understandable if he didn’t want to drop back into it.

But it might not be that simple. Let’s say a club like Port Vale found the money to buy him, and Salford also came in. Personally I would choose Salford because you would be walking through the door to somewhere on the up.

Crowds are rising, the club is getting lots of exposure, they have some Premier League heroes in charge and it is somewhere going places.

That’s what I felt about Carlisle, under Fred Story and Simmo, even though they were two divisions below Bradford, who were in financial difficulties.

United were backing up their ambitions to climb the leagues with the players they were signing back then and Nadesan may see that in Salford.

When you look back on your career, you remember most of all what you won, whatever the level. He could go to Salford and join them on a journey up the leagues.

As a 24-year-old lad who will never have been on big money, he could also see the financial security that a club like Salford could offer. And why not?

Chris Lumsdon's column is sponsored by Safe & Sound Security Solutions (UK) Limited. Enquiries@safeandsoundsecurityltd.co.uk, Tel 01228 543800, www.safeandsoundsecurityltd.co.uk