Robbie Neilson was disappointed his MK Dons side couldn’t pick up an opening-day victory on Saturday but the Scotsman isn’t too downhearted.
The men from MK1 were beaten 1-0 by the Latics at Stadium MK on Saturday - the Club’s first loss in their opening league match since 2008.
However, with nine months of football still to be played, Neilson believes his side will only get better as the season progresses and continue to challenge alongside Wigan - a side expected to be at the top end of the table - this season.
“We're obviously disappointed not to get three points at the start of the season,” the 37-year-old told iFollow MK Dons. “But the season isn't won or lost in the first game - there’s a long way to go and I'm very excited for the season ahead.
“(Wigan) were a Championship team last season and they retained a lot of their Championship players. I expect them to be one of the top teams in the league but I expect us to be there or thereabouts with teams like that.
“We showed, when the game was at 10v10, that we were the dominant team. I felt there were aspects of the game where we did really well.”
Here’s what else we learnt from Neilson’s post-match press conference…
Relationship between the players
“The relationship with the players will get better as they play and train more together. They’ll get a better understanding of how everyone plays and those little details come - it takes time because we've changed a lot.”
Red card decisions
“I think the first one, for me, is a yellow card. A disappointing thing for me is that we let ourselves get into the position (for the second red card) when we were 11v10 and they countered on us.”
Wigan’s goal
“Their goal was a counter, which is disappointing but it's something we can work on.”
Still working on adding a ‘number 9’
“We're still working on it and hopefully this week we can get it over the line. It's one we've been working on for a long time. We're still looking to recruit and there's plenty of time to do it.”
