Tranmere Rovers manager Micky Mellon says his side must work on their “principles” after suffering a 3-0 defeat away at Carlisle United on Tuesday night in a pre-season friendly.
Strikes from Kwame Thomas (2) and Lewis Bell saw Rovers slip to a Brunton Park loss against Steven Pressley’s Sky Bet League Two outfit.
TRFC host Walsall on Saturday at Prenton Park in their final pre-season fixture before welcoming Rochdale to the Wirral in their Sky Bet League One opener on Saturday 3rd August.
And Scotsman Mellon says work must still be done as preparations continue for the start of the 2019/20 term.
Mellon said: “We need to do a lot of more work on our principles on what we are doing and on our defensive side, we know we are better at that.
“There are areas that we know that we have to get better at and I’m disappointed to lose games but it’s a look at fitness and running around, but we need to organise them differently on and off the ball.
“The important thing is that people get time under their belts and we know that we probably need more of a dynamic in the top third of the pitch, so it is about working on that and looking to the Walsall and Rochdale games.
“In the first 20 minutes I thought we were passing it around really well, we had our chances, hit the bar three times and if we’d have taken one of those chances it may have given them a lift and with their only two chances of the first half, they (Carlisle) scored twice.
“It is all about fitness and giving people chances in these games. Me and Jacko will have them organised, they will know their roles all the way through the whole team.
“We will learn from tonight, but it won’t be until the first game of the season against Rochdale that we will get into the nitty-gritty of what we are doing moving forward.
“It was important that all of the lads got match time as we have a squad and they all need to be ready to come in when you need them, so you try and work on things and balance things out.
“What we work on going towards Rochdale, that will come in a couple of weeks.”