Every spare second going towards Charlton prep for Dons head coach

With precious little time to work with his team, Liam Manning admitted every spare second he has had on preparing Dons for the visit of Charlton Athletic tonight (Tuesday).

The new head coach has barely had a training session with MK Dons, but has been thrust into the heat of the action with three games in a week, with a trip to Ipswich Town coming up on Saturday.

After casting his eye over the team on Saturday in the 2-1 defeat to Sunderland, Manning said he has been doing as much as he can to be aware of what Charlton can bring to the table, while picking the mind of skipper Dean Lewington, who took charge of training for the two weeks before his arrival, about his own side.

Manning said: “We met on Sunday to watch Charlton's games and then watch our game back again. It was a long day, and I'm sure our analyst David was delighted!

“We will work as hard as we can to get as much information to the players, but there's a big emphasis on us. It's just a case of showing the players what to expect and how we'll implement our plan to get some success.

“I'm still getting up to speed, I'm talking to players. Dean has been terrific for me, talking to him, his history with the club, his knowledge of the group has been great for me. It has fast-tracked things I'm now aware of.”