Goals from Phil Foden, Jadon Sancho, Lukas Nmecha and Demeaco Duhaney saw City safely through to the quarter-finals of the traditional competition.
Despite the impressive margin of victory, Carsley feels his side can still improve.
He said: “With the individuals we’ve got we’re always going to create chances and score goals but that’s not going to be enough for us. It’s important that we understand the way we’re trying to play and what we’re trying to do and I’m sure as the competition goes on we’ll get stronger and stronger.
“I don’t think we played as well as we have done. We’ve have to give Southampton a lot of credit for that. I think their game plan stifled us at times and it was a really tough game.
“Part of their education is dealing with teams that are going to try and be physical and matching them. I didn’t think we coped with that too well. When we got our heads around that and settled down, I think we were in control from that point. That was a real learning curve for us.”
Having finished as runners-up in both of the last two seasons, many consider City to be one of the favourites for this year’s competition. Carsley, however, insists the focus must remain game-to-game.
“It’s really important that we’re in the next round and there’s a lot of really strong teams left in the competition,” he said.
“I’m sure a lot of people will have been hoping tonight that we will have been knocked out as Southampton have knocked out Manchester United so they’re by no means a weaker side so I’m buzzing we’re in the next round.”
With a squad filled with so much talent, Carsley had to make some tough decisions when choosing his starting eleven but insists the whole group can play their part.
“The players that didn’t get in the sixteen played for Simon last night so in some ways it’s a kick in the teeth but it was brilliant for them to get the experience of playing against older players.
“We’re hoping to do well in this competition so there’s potentially a lot more nights like this that they can be involved with.”
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