Blackburn Rovers 4 Hartlepool United 0: What did we learn from Pools' heavy Carabao Cup defeat

Paul Hartley’s side conceded four unanswered goals for the second successive away game as Pools crashed out of the Carabao Cup at the first hurdle.

Hartley made several changes to his starting line-up, with Rovers also making 10 changes from their Championship success over Swansea City at the weekend.

But it was a tame performance from Pools as goals from Scott Wharton, Bradley Dack, Tyrhys Dolan and Dilan Markanday ensured there was a gulf between the two sides to move into the second round.

But what did we learn from Pools’ defeat?

Strength in depth

As is the case for many teams, the early stages of cup competitions give manager’s the opportunity to rotate their squads amid the early season flurry of fixtures, and this was no different.

Hartley had hinted there would be changes to the Pools XI following the goalless draw with AFC Wimbledon and there were seven in total with Ben Killip, Euan Murray, Rollin Menayese and Mouhamed Niang the survivors from the weekend.

In came Reghan Tumilty, Brody Paterson, Mohamad Sylla, Mark Shelton, Tom Crawford, Ellis Taylor and Jack Hamilton.

And despite the two teams facing off with one another in pre-season just weeks ago, only five players from each side featured in that game.

But if this was an opportunity for those who have yet to feature this season then it was an opportunity missed as Pools failed to lay a glove on a much-changed Rovers side.

While there can be context in that they were up against a Championship side, Jon Dahl Tomasson included several fringe players who Pools might have fancied their chances against.

Hartley will undoubtedly rotate his squad again for the trip to Northampton Town this weekend, reverting back to something like we saw against Wimbledon, but on this evidence the strength in depth for Pools seems lacking if Hartley is forced into wholesale changes.

Lack of creative spark

Of the starting line-up, you could argue just three were attack-minded players in Crawford, Taylor and Hamilton – with Paterson and Tumilty tasked to get forward from the wing-back areas.

And while those numbers are low, there was very little, if anything, in the way of an attacking threat for three quarters of the game until Josh Umerah and Jake Hastie came off the bench.

Hamilton in particular struggled on his debut to hold things up and bring others into play as former Middlesbrough goalkeeper Aynsley Pears pretty much enjoyed an evening off for the most part.

And the biggest worry with that will have been the opportunity Pools might have had to test an inexperienced Rovers side.

While there were some seasoned pros in the starting XI like Dack and Wharton, Tomasson named plenty of fringe players including 17-year-old Ash Phillips in defence for his debut and Pools did not put him under any pressure throughout the evening.

In midfield, 19-year-old Tyler Morton, on loan from Liverpool, was another who looked at ease against the more experienced midfield of Pools.

Those two, in particular, are perhaps the kinds of players Pools would maybe be looking to bring in on loan as an example over the coming weeks, and therefore are players those within the current squad should be looking to put in a performance against.

Instead, Pools lacked any real creative spark to put some of the more inexperienced Blackburn players under threat.

Lack of goal threat

Naturally, if there is a lack of creativity then there will be a lack of goal threat.

But the chant heard by Pools supporters of ‘We had a shot,’ in the 75th minute after Umerah fired one narrowly over the bar kind of sums up how the evening went.

Pools have now failed to score in each of their opening three games of the season having registered just four attempts in each of their away fixtures at Walsall and Blackburn.

Hartley continues to stress his desire to bring in further recruits to bolster the attacking options which already looks as though it will be essential.

Umerah and Hastie positive

Although the game had long-since gone from Pools’ grasp, the introduction of Umerah and Hastie at least produced something of a threat in the final third.

Umerah had Pools’ first effort at goal 15 minutes from time before bringing a fine stop from Pears on the whistle, while Hastie was direct in running at Harry Pickering to win a number of set pieces.

Despite both being limited to a cameo at Ewood Park, with Hartley’s focus aimed towards the trip to Sixfields at the weekend, both demonstrated how important they are to Pools moving forward.

A free hit

No team wants to lose football matches, certainly not by four goals.

And while the concerns in the manner of the defeats so far can be justified, this remained a cup game - something which Hartley had suggested was a free hit.

On the face of it, Pools were not expected to get anything from a tricky fixture in Lancashire, which means it may be acceptable to brush some of those concerns under the carpet.

Conversely, we saw last season just how significant the cup runs were in Pools’ campaign, albeit not the Carabao Cup, and with Pools still searching for their first goal heading into the game, it might have been an opportunity to generate some excitement for the travelling 550 supporters – even more so when you consider the number of upsets caused by lower league teams across the first round.

But despite where this fixture was prioritised in terms of its significance, now the focus will be on the trip to Northampton in the hope there is no lingering hangover from another heavy defeat on the road.