By Chris
What goes up must come down, and following Notts County's incredible spell between mid-August and late September, things have taken a bit of a downturn.
The Magpies still remain in the upper reaches of the League Two table, but following three poor performances from the last four games, alarm bells have started ringing just a little.
Up next is the long trip to Cumbria on Saturday, where Carlisle United await us.
Here is Chris's Scouting Report for the game at Brunton Park.
History
Carlisle United and Notts County have met 32 times since their first clash back in October 1959, a Fourth Division clash that was won 2-0 by the Cumbrians.
Out of those, the Magpies have won 17 and lost 12, with just 3 draws.
Our last meeting was on 8 April this year in League Two, a 2-1 win at Brunton Park.
Run-down of their last six features
Saturday 23rd September – Crewe Alexandra 0 Carlisle United 5
Tuesday 26th September – Carlisle United 0 Stevenage 2
Saturday 30th September – Crawley Town 0 Carlisle United 1
Saturday 7th October – Carlisle United 0 Exeter City 1
Saturday 14th October – Colchester United 0 Carlisle United 1
Tuesday 17th October – Carlisle United 3 Wycombe Wanderers 3
The Players – Fact Sheet
Highest Goal Scorers; Reggie Lamb 6, Hallam Hope 4, Danny Grainger 3 and Shaun Miller 2.
Persistent Foulers; Tom Parkes 2 red cards and 2 yellow cards, Richard Bennett 1 red card and 2 yellow cards, Danny Grainger 4 yellow cards and Luke Joyce 3 yellow cards.
The Key Players
Luke Joyce is a player capable of taking any game hands on, and has the ability to instantly turn things around – the midfielder does have a temper but as a creative outlet he offers Carlisle a lot going forward and in terms of defending.
Reggie Lamb is another stand-out player who offers the Cumbrians bags of energy and is menacing in front of goal.
At the back Danny Grainger is an experienced defender who leads by example, yet also has an eye for goal.
Style of Play, Strengths, and Weaknesses
Carlisle United like to play the game in the right way, their movement at times can be a joy to watch and it’s certainly very clever when it pays off.
They tend to put men behind the ball even when going forward, whilst ensuring space is created - this means the opposition have to both get tighter but also more zonally aware which plays to the Cumbrians' advantage when space opens up at the back.
In procession they’re a very hard working team not afraid to take on teams, however they can be slow in their build-up play which means more time is created to use the ball wisely.
Defensively they can lose focus, whilst allowing teams too much time of their own on the ball.
They tend to mark loosely, inviting teams to continue playing rather than dealing with the threat at the right time – almost eerily similar to Notts.
Likewise, they can show complete control of games expressing some very entertaining football, only to completely allow their hard work to be undone very poorly.
Yet for the most part they are a consistent outlet, and also a noticeable team within League Two who on their day can impress.
Quite rightly so Carlisle manager Keith Curle as pointed out one of his side's biggest weaknesses with his comment on the Magpies' free-kicks: ‘Notts are inventive with set pieces and comfortable in their style’.
Their inability to deal with the opposition with key areas can result in chances coming from set pieces, and as a result is something Notts can take advantage of.
However, provided we pass wisely and match Carlisle United in terms of desire and effort chances will come, it will be down to the strongest team to take them and to kill off the game.
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