The two men shared comparable concerns about early-season form which, before last night, was conspicuous by its mediocrity at both Leeds United and Crystal Palace, but a Carling Cup tie that deepened Warnock's scowl brought a smile instead to the face of McAllister.

Bothered though he is by United's present inconsistency, the defeat that McAllister's team inflicted on Palace at Elland Road last night gave perspective to the issue of their fluctuating results.

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United, for all their ambitions and range of professionals, are still to settle into their second season in League One, but there are no underlying problems at Elland Road beyond the question of which 11 players will combine to provide the most coherent team.

Palace, by comparison, looked deeply troubled last night, to the extent that Warnock moved to confess that the situation will take all of his managerial skill to improve.

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His club were ravaged by Leeds in a manner which Warnock is not known to accept from players under his wing and the fact that the 4-0 rout was inflicted on an individual who won so much acclaim as manager of Sheffield United merely increased the satisfaction for the 10,000 supporters who embraced last night's second-round match.

There was no doubt that McAllister vacated the touchline the more content manager.

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Palace, it transpired, were perfect opponents for Leeds – drawn from a division above United's but bereft of form in their own league and harnessed with a meagre appetite for last night's tie.

Their inability to score a goal in 270 minutes of league football is as concerning a statistic for Warnock as their failure to win any of their three Championship matches this season and Palace's attack was as impotent last night as the club's statistics suggested it might be.

David Lucas, Leeds' goalkeeper for the evening, was the one player who struggled to enhance his prospects of a regular start for United, but only because Palace did so little to involve him.

A free-kick from Ben Watson aside, Lucas reached half-time with gloves which were virtually clean and spoke in glowing terms of United's dominance. Leeds were two goals to the good and already anticipating the Carling Cup's third-round draw by the time the first half concluded.

Warnock's hands were restricted slightly by the untimely suspensions of Shaun Derry and James Scowcroft, two players who would have brought crucial qualities to the table at Elland Road, but there were few ways of explaining the timid nature of Palace's capitulation.

This, Warnock had stated openly before kick-off, was a competition he tentatively aimed to win and elimination before the end of August does not reflect well on a club who are taking slow strides through the first month of the season.

Last night's win will help to tackle McAllister's feeling that Leeds are doing the same.

Beaten by Oldham Athletic 10 days ago and held to a draw at Yeovil Town on Saturday, the visit of Palace was not a game for Leeds to treat dismissively.

Eight changes to United's starting team raised obvious questions of how important McAllister considered the Carling Cup to be, but the heavily revised line-up worked to refresh a club who were not exactly bursting with inspiration at Huish Park.

Their display against Palace was so convincing that McAllister will find a queue outside the door of his office if certain individuals are not allowed to retain their shirts against Bristol Rovers this weekend.

As an added bonus, McAllister was able to watch 16-year-old left-back Aidan White complete his senior debut with all the poise and natural ability that United's academy staff have spotted in him and Fabian Delph's performance in the centre of midfield was beyond his teenage years, as it so often seems to be.

The complication for McAllister, as demonstrated by Oldham and Yeovil, is not a shortage of talented players but deciding how best to fit those players into his regular line-up.

There are nine midfielders effective enough to warrant a start – perhaps too many for McAllister to keep happy – and it will take patience and good judgment on the part of United's boss to find the most suitable blend.

But anyone who doubted that Leeds have the beating of League One could not have failed to have that opinion shifted by the rout of Palace last night.

A goal in the 11th minute put Warnock's players under immediate pressure, but Leeds did not rely on a slender lead to see them home as they had to their cost at Yeovil.

A second effort followed before the end of the first half and the remainder of the game already had an academic feel when Luciano Becchio scored 10 minutes after the break to increase United's lead to three goals.

It was not a game McAllister wanted to lose, nor one he can have expected to after the first 45 minutes.

Jonathan Douglas opened the scoring with what was United's first shot on goal, reacting more quickly than Palace's defence to a bouncing ball which asked to be stabbed beyond Darryl Flahavan and the failure of Warnock's backline was to become a familiar theme to the evening.

Delph brought a low parry from Flahavan after waltzing through two markers in the 27th minute and Palace's keeper produced a better save four minutes later when he palmed a low shot from Beckford away from his goalline. The reprieve was so brief as to be meaningless.

From the resulting corner, Jermaine Beckford timed his jump perfectly to nod Neil Kilkenny's corner back across Flahavan and beyond the keeper.

There was nothing for Palace's manager to cling to at half-time, other than Watson's free-kick and a header from Clint Hill which Lucas swallowed up.

Ten minutes into the second half, Becchio met a cross from Frazer Richardson and directed a header at Flahavan who got a hand to the ball but diverted it against the post and over the line.

From there, the only question was how painfully Palace would suffer.

Flahavan kept out a shot from Enoch Showunmi on 72 minutes, though the substitute should not have given him the chance to reach the ball and Showunmi soon made amends with a fourth goal, squeezing a shot through a defender's legs and into the corner of the net.

Palace almost forced a consolation when Bradley Johnson appeared on the goalline to head away Calvin Andrew's shot, but while McAllister expressed delight at United's clean sheet, a goal at that late juncture would not have mattered.

Warnock departed Elland Road with much to contemplate and a squad to repair, a task which no manager would envy with the transfer window open for just five more days.

McAllister, meanwhile, has players to disappoint when he names his team on Saturday, the sign of a club in good health. Not for him is the Carling Cup without value.