Carlisle resigned to a mid-table finish as they continue to slump

What a shame. Even the most steadfast optimist would find it difficult to argue there’s anything left in this season for Carlisle. The Blues are languishing in mid-table, enduring a torrid run of form which has seen them win just one game in their last 12, watching from the background as the league’s promotion contenders charge off in search of glory.

This is a Carlisle squad that provided us with hope in the early parts of the season, as we adjusted to a new way of watching our team. By Christmas, Chris Beech’s style of play had propelled us towards the higher echelons of the division and as Christmas came round, expectations grew.

COVID derailed the league leaders in January, before frost, waterlogging and power failures combined to call off 10 games out of a scheduled 13. The Cumbrians slid down the table, but with games in hand there remained a caveat – an ‘if’. That caveat though, when the team resumed from their mid-season lay-off, became more of a burden. As they failed to match the intensity and dynamism of the early season and found themselves unable to continue the rich vein of form that earned them their standing, it became clear they were out of sorts.

Still, in just mid-February, I maintained Carlisle were the best team in League Two. Few would have disagreed when I still tipped us to win promotion from the division automatically. But a month is a long time in the EFL, and that prediction seems barely believable now as the Cumbrians dropped yet more points at the hands of Leyton Orient on Tuesday night, a 1-0 defeat this time. The wheels have come off – perhaps they’re somewhere on the A1 towards Harrogate, where twice the team bus turned around without completing a game.

But to continue on about the hardships the Blues have faced would be to shirk from addressing issues on the pitch. In 2021, by and large, Carlisle have scrapped their style of high-energy, high-pressing, counter-attacking football. They’ve been pinned back, conceding two more shots per game than prior to their break according to Fox Analytics, @f_analytics.

No more was that shift in momentum evident than when bottom of the league Grimsby Town left Brunton Park with a point earlier this season. It’s no disservice to the Mariners to say that Carlisle of November 2020 would have dispatched them with relative ease, but the current side found them difficult to break down, allowing them free possession to gain a foothold, and they were good value for their draw in the end.

Grimsby were only denied all three that night by a late Offrande Zanzala strike, perhaps the only player that can come out of this period with more positives than negatives.

This week’s defeat against Leyton Orient was a tougher watch. At no point did the home side dominate, at no point did they look confident and at no point did they look to be the likely winners. They lacked imagination, creativity and desire. Their manager, who didn’t make a single substitution on Tuesday night, looks out of ideas. The Beech ball has burst.

They now face an all too familiar run-in, a season coming to a meek conclusion. An anti-climax like this would usually see home crowds dwindle, and it seems a tough ask for fans at home to log on to iFollow and spend a tenner twice a week to watch a team that themselves look spent.

So, what next? The manager, with another year on his contract will take many of his squad forward into the 21/22 campaign, and fans must feel that valuable lessons have been learned this year. Particularly for the likes of Josh Kayode, Gime Toure and Omari Patrick, players experiencing their first season as regulars in the EFL, will have developed a great deal of knowledge about themselves and, most importantly for Carlisle, what it takes to be successful at this level.

Rhys Bennett, who fans pleaded to extend his stay at the turn of the year, could be one to depart, whilst Aaron Hayden and Callum Guy remain of interest to clubs at a higher level. Given the proposition, the club will have little room to manoeuvre if it came to turning down offers.

There are silver linings to this predicament, though. Youngsters Taylor Charters, Josh Dixon and Lewis Bell have all featured this year and fans will hope to see them blooded further as the campaign concludes. Nothing fires Carlisle fans up more than seeing local talent breakthrough into the first team, and come August it would be tremendous to see those players on the team sheet in front of a crowd at Brunton Park.

That in itself is something we can all look forward to after a season which, for more ways than one, has been a bit of a dummy run. Carlisle will go again next year, perhaps more equipped for the fight and they, like all teams, will be boosted by the return of those of us just desperate to get to the match again. It will be another season in League Two in 2021/22.

In a season of uncertainties, there remains one certainty in football: there’s always next season.

words Lewis Ridley, Carlisle United fan