Warne expected Dons to gel faster than they have done so far
The MK Dons head coach spoke ahead of Saturday’s game with Shrewsbury Town
It has taken MK Dons longer to gel and become a cohesive unit than Paul Warne had expected.
The former Derby County and Rotherham United boss was charged with a wholesale shake-up over the summer to help the club recover from a 19th place finish last season, and brought in ten new faces to the squad to help him do that.
After a solid start to the season, Dons have stumbled through September, picking up just a point this month with some particularly poor performances at home during this stint, something which the head coach has said has been partly down to the team gelling slower than he anticipated.
“I thought it would have moulded quicker than it has,” he admitted. “That might be arrogant from me, but I thought if we added across the front line, we’d been good defensively, everything should be OK. I think it will come together, I don’t think there’s anything necessarily to work about.
“We’re all in it to be successful, and I have full confidence in where we’re going but at the moment, we’re in sticky waters.
“You can have one bad run if you want to get promoted, maybe another little hiccup but we’ve dropped too many points too soon, especially at home. Our away form is fine, our home form is hugely disappointing. I’d rather it be the other way around, fortunately our away form has hung in there for us.”
While Dons are in something of a slump, Shrewsbury too have had a miserable time of it since being relegated back to League Two. With just one win to their name this season, Michael Appleton’s side sit 23rd but while Dons are the favourites heading to Croud Meadow, Warne is not anticipating a straight-forward win on Saturday.
He said: “If we win there, we can be right back up there again, and that’s how crazy this league is. Apart from maybe two games, I think we could’ve won all the games this season. The way results are going, everyone is beating everyone barring a couple of clubs. Gillingham seem to be beating everyone, but they were a goal down at Newport, who then missed a penalty to go 2-0 up, ended up losing 3-1.
“Shrewsbury beat Barnet 3-1, Barnet then beat Grimsby 3-0 so the results don’t add up, there isn’t any consistency.
“They’ve got a young team and they will grow into the season. They’ve got a good manager, experienced, and they’ve got a force going forwards. They create chances but they just haven’t taken them. Sooner or later it will turn for them, hopefully not this weekend.
“It will be a difficult game. If you don’t match the opposition’s physical output of enthusiasm, it doesn’t matter what talent you have, you won’t win. They’ll be desperate to win, as will we.”