Alarm bells should not be ringing at Carlisle United after 4-1 defeat v Gillingham: View | OneFootball

The Blues took a heavy defeat against Gillingham on Saturday.

Highlights

Carlisle United's 2024/25 season didn't start how they would have hoped, with a 4-1 loss to Gillingham on the opening day of the new League Two campaign.

Two sides that are hoping to have achieved promotion by the end of May faced off at Priestfield on Saturday. Both had disappointing seasons last time out, to varying degrees, but the bar had been set high for what's to come in the next nine months of football.

The result alone would suggest that Carlisle's freefall is continuing, while the Gills have fixed their problems over the summer and look set for an entertaining campaign.

That latter point can certainly be argued, although there would be counters to it, but what transpired in Kent did not suggest that the former is, and will continue to be, the case.

Carlisle shouldn't be too worried by 4-1 loss to Gillingham

In this contest, the Cumbrian side were the makers of their own downfall. Shooting themselves in the foot and quite inopportune moments made the gradient that they had to climb to overcome their opposition even steeper.

An early, and frustratingly common, mistake from Carlisle goalkeeper Harry Lewis, where he dropped the ball when trying to claim a high cross, put the Blues behind within the first three minutes.

Mark Bonner's side went two ahead in similarly quick fashion at the start of the second half. Terell Thomas' loose pass - the target of which still isn't crystal clear - allowed Jacob Wakeling to go in one-on-one and slot the ball into United's net.

The third and fourth net-finders all went past Lewis due to good strikes, but there were certainly things Carlisle could have done beforehand to have prevented Jack Nolan and Jonny Williams from getting their efforts off in the first place.

It is hard to look past these moments, but Carlisle were the dominant team for the majority of the game. This is reflected by the momentum bar from the contest.

Gillingham - Carlisle United Live Score

After Gillingham opened the scoring, they barely threatened until their second of the day was hand-wrapped for them.

Carlisle suffocated their opposition, forced them to go long, won the ball back and got themselves up the other end of the pitch quickly.

Star striker Charlie Wyke had a couple of good chances to get United level, especially with an effort from inside the box that cannoned off the bar.

Paul Simpson's side manufactured good opportunities. Unfortunately they also did the same for Gillingham who, despite their quadruple of goals, didn't create one big chance.

The hosts became threatening again once the Blues changed their shape and started to push for a second goal.

It's a tough loss to take, and one that wouldn't have been so agonising had the fourth goal not been the coarse salt that was applied to Carlisle's open wounds.

On the other hand, it's not hard to see a way in which Simpson and his players win that game, or at least take a point back home.

Patience is needed. The first game in a 46-game campaign should not be enough to cause real panic when the team looked better than they did for a majority of last season, even in a loss.

Positive signs were there and, therefore, the alarm should not be sounded. This is a team that is still coming together and forming bonds; expecting them to immediately hit the ground running and be firing on all cylinders is a lot to ask.

Give them time, see what comes of it, and then we will know truly what can be expected of this side going forward.

Gillingham loss further highlighted weak point for Carlisle

Because of the pre-season injuries that were suffered, the midfield was always going to be an issue for Simpson. Ethan Robson, Dylan McGeouch and Callum Guy aren't returning anytime soon, and United had to piece together a central unit for their clash with the Gills.

The boss chose central defender Ben Barclay to play as the holding midfielder after his solid performance against Stockport County the week prior.

It didn't work well. He, among others like Harrison Neal, was caught on the ball too often or gave it away cheaply with less than crisp passing.

Adding another body to the options in the centre of the park was a well-known area that needed to be addressed. Had Barclay performed well, the need to go and get someone may have been reduced, but it now feels like a necessity for Carlisle after a less-than-ideal start to the campaign.

Failure to address this need soon increases the likelihood that alarms will be raised.