Carlisle United boss Paul Simpson says he is surprised his former club Rochdale are struggling at the bottom of the table.

And he feels tomorrow’s opponents have quality in their side that the Blues must respect.

Dale are at the foot of League Two and deep in relegation trouble.

Ahead of a weekend when Carlisle could climb into the top three, Simpson highlighted the home side’s strikeforce as a reason United cannot take anything for granted.

“I would imagine they’re going to scrap for everything – you don’t come up against a Jim Bentley side that doesn’t scrap for their lives,” said Simpson.

“It’s going to be a tough game. They’re not going to be helped by the fact they’ve got two suspensions carried over from last weekend [Ethan Ebanks-Landell and Sam Graham].

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“But I’m quite surprised about it, about the fact they’re down there. I look through the group they’ve got and think they’ve got some good footballers in there. They’ve got goalscorers in there.

“It obviously just hasn’t worked for them so far. We’ve got to make sure it doesn’t work for them on Saturday.

“I don’t know the ins and outs of what their issues are. If I’m being honest - and I’m not being disrespectful - I don’t care what their issues are. We’ve just got to make sure they have loads more issues on Saturday afternoon.”

Rochdale drew 3-3 at Brunton Park earlier in the season in former Morecambe and AFC Fylde boss Bentley’s first game in charge after replacing Robbie Stockdale.

The 46-year-old has a good record against United in league football from his time with Morecambe.

And Simpson says a forward line that includes veteran Ian Henderson, former Barrow star Scott Quigley and Devante Rodney can cause danger.

Dale also today signed Wycombe Wanderers' former Manchester United forward D'Mani Mellor on loan.

“[Henderson] is a threat, he’s got a fantastic goalscoring record,” said Simpson, who started his managerial career at Spotland.

“I think the two strikers are [threats] – or three if you add Quigley, who showed here that he can cause problems when he got a couple of goals.

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“So it’s a game we’ve got to be right for. We’ve got to show the same energy and determination we did against Hartlepool, start with the same intensity, if we do that we’ll give ourselves a real good chance of getting a good result.

“You can’t say [to the players] ‘forget about the table’ because they’re not stupid, they know Rochdale are bottom and we’re sat fourth in the table. You have to go and treat it properly.

“You just have to look at our results last season, when we went to Orient and picked up a win, and how that can change the whole complexion of the club.

“We’ve got to make sure this weekend, Rochdale don’t get a positive result that gives them a lift. We have to do our job properly. I’m a big believer if you do your own job properly the rest takes care of itself.”