Paul Tisdale believes now is the time for MK Dons to show their ‘personality and togetherness’, in order to reverse the current run of form.
Tisdale’s side were beaten 3-0 by Burton Albion at Stadium MK on Saturday, with a brace from Liam Boyce and a second-half strike from Oliver Sarkic doing the damage for the Derbyshire club.
It was the Dons’ fourth straight league defeat and it leaves them 17th in the Sky Bet League One table after 10 games, but manager Tisdale remains fully behind his group of players and is backing them to find a way through their recent stretch.
“Everyone is disappointed with our current form,” Tisdale said in his post-match press conference.
“We won’t be the first team or the last team this season to have a dodgy run. Life has not been made easy by our circumstances but I still go into every match believing that we’re good enough.
“The players on the pitch are good enough, we’ve just got to find a way to come together as a team. We have to march through this and show personality and togetherness – all those things that are intangible but do make up a team.”
He continued: “The players are trying so hard that I’m asking them to take a deep breath and relax a little bit – I think I need to take a deep breath myself.
“They look, at the moment, as if they are trying too hard and are losing a bit of confidence. It’s certainly not the right time for me to being too critical with them.
“We have plenty of players missing, which doesn’t help, but we’ve got enough good players on the pitch and we’ve got to get them playing to their strengths and believing in themselves.”
For only the second time this season, the Dons have a clear week to prepare for their trip to Bristol Rovers and Tisdale hopes to benefit from the extended time on the training ground.
“We’re looking forward to a free week” he admitted. “We’ll have a few days to get ourselves going again.
“I’ve done this a long time and I know that every week, there a number of different things we could discuss and coach. We can’t do all of them, so we have to pick one or two. Sometimes less is more.
“The biggest job I have now is to pick the one or two topics which I feel are most important to get us some wins and some clean sheets and go from there. Maybe it’s a time to go back to basics.”
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Paul Tisdale's MK Dons will look to bounce back on Saturday when they travel to the Memorial Stadium to take on Bristol Rovers in their latest Sky Bet League One encounter.
Tickets are available in standing and seated areas, with prices starting from £19 adults, £15 seniors/under-21s, £10 under-16s and £5 under-11s.
Official Away Travel is available for this fixture, with coach spaces priced at £20 Season Ticket holders/members and £21 all other supporters. Coaches will depart Stadium MK at 10.30am.
To book tickets/travel click HERE, visit the Box Office at Stadium MK or call 0333 200 5343.
