Paul Simpson says he will not deviate from his principles of how he picks his Carlisle United team.

The Blues manager says he always looks to select players who “go about their business” the right way at all times.

United have lost 12 of their last 13 games with relegation from League One inevitable.

Among the decisions to cause debate in recent weeks has been top scorer Jordan Gibson’s role as a substitute rather than a starter for the last five games.

Some fans have asked why the attacking midfielder is not in the XI more often.

Simpson did not address debate that specifically when asked by the News & Star but, speaking generally about his selections, said: “I pick teams on how players go about their business day in, day out. And I'm going to keep doing that.

News and Star: Top scorer Jordan Gibson has been out of the starting XI recentlyTop scorer Jordan Gibson has been out of the starting XI recently (Image: Richard Parkes)

“I don't want to go into talking about individual players.

“But I have to pick teams that I think are going to win games, I pick teams and players because of the way they go about it and do things properly.

“And I'll carry on doing that.”

Simpson made four changes to his side on Saturday, with Paul Huntington and Josh Emmanuel dropping out of the 18-man squad completely.

He said neither of those calls were fitness issues, but simply selection decisions.

“I wanted us to be nice and compact, and get higher up the pitch,” he said.

“The two wing-backs [Emmanuel and Jack Robinson], I don’t think they had bad games [against Barnsley in the previous game], it was just a case of bringing some freshness to it.

“Putting three forward players on was to see if we could get some positivity going forward. I thought the two midfield players, Harrison [Neal] and Dylan [McGeouch] did well and showed good control, especially considering they were both booked in the first half – they showed discipline.

“There were some good bits of football, but it’s both boxes where you’ve got to be clinical.”

Simpson, meanwhile, has confirmed that Sean Grehan will miss United’s game against Stevenage on Saturday following his Republic of Ireland Under-21 call-up.

The Crystal Palace defender came off the bench for his third Blues appearance at Shrewsbury but will be away for the next game.

“They've got a game against San Marino on Friday night, so he's not available for Saturday, which we knew about and it's a great opportunity for Sean to go away with Ireland and hopefully get some game time and come back to us in a good place,” said Simpson.