Holden wants to see Charlton respond to Ipswich thrashing at MK Dons

Charlton boss Dean Holden says his side have to show an immediate response after their thumping by Ipswich Town at the weekend.

The Addicks were beaten 6-0 by Ipswich Town at Portman Road on Saturday, with the scoreline unacceptable to Holden.

Taking on MK Dons at Stadium MK tonight, the manager said he wants his side to respond at the first opportunity.

“We have to re-focus really quickly,” Holden said. “My job as a manager is to reset the focus and bring the energy.

“There was a lot of anger after the game and a lot of frustration, both from within the dressing room and obviously from the supporters. We have to make sure that we turn up tomorrow night and we show a response. That’s the challenge I’ve set to the players - we have to respond in the next game.

“There’s a big demand to play for this football club and rightly so. It’s important that we all show exactly what it means to play for the shirt tomorrow night because we didn’t do that on Saturday and it was unacceptable.”

Back in December, both Dons and Charlton were in the hunt for new managers, with Holden a fringe candidate to take over from Liam Manning before opting for The Valley.

With Dons on a seven-match unbeaten run heading into tonight’s game, Holden praised his counterpart for turning the ship around at Stadium MK.

“Mark’s a fantastic young coach,” he said. “He’s got his first opportunity in management and they’re playing a similar style to what they were prior to the old manager leaving - they’re a really expansive team.

“For a number of years now they’ve been a possession-based team who want to get the ball out from the back. They play a back-three system so it gives us different challenges. They’ve certainly got some good players; they’ve got good young players in that midfield area and Mo Eisa up front who I’ve worked with previously so we know where their threats are.

“It’s about going back to basics for us. It’s about making sure we outrun, outfight and outplay the opposition and keep the back door shut because we always look like we’ll score goals.”