League Two manager explains decision to haul off Newcastle United youngster just 45 minutes into full professional debut

NANJING, CHINA - JULY 17: Elias Sorensen #47 of Newcastle United controls the ball during the Premier League Asia Trophy 2019 fixture between Newcastle United and Wolverhampton Wanderers at Nanjing Olympic Sports Centre on July 17, 2019 in Nanjing, China.(Photo by Fred Lee/Getty Images for Premier League)

And Carlisle United boss Steven Pressley has explained the thinking behind his call to remove the Denmark youth international after just 45 minutes.

“They played a 4-1-4-1 formation. The tried to flood the middle and not allow us to get our fluency. To be fair, they did it to good effect. We couldn’t find those areas, and we had to go a little more direct to try and break their press,” he said.

“We have to win more of those types of contacts and link the game better. That was the reason for my substitution at half-time. We couldn’t get a foothold in the game. We were getting forced to play a little longer at times, and we needed to get and win first contacts more.

ROCHDALE, ENGLAND - AUGUST 27: Steven Pressley, Manager of Carlisle United gives his team instructions during the Carabao Cup Second Round match between Rochdale AFC and Carlisle United at Spotland Stadium on August 27, 2019 in Rochdale, England. (Photo by Charlotte Tattersall/Getty Images)

“You’ve got to understand the reason I’ve brought in the different types of strikers is that I think strikers will suit certain games. Our opinion was in this game, we had watched quite a lot of footage, and we felt that one of their deficiencies was the movement and speed of a striker in behind the two centre-backs.

“We never got in the 10 position where we could really exploit that movement. So it became a game where we had to make a change based on how it was panning out, and Loft gave us a different type of option.”

Ryan Loft, who replaced Sorensen, scored the winner as Carlisle beat Scunthorpe 1-0.