Players are not fit enough for Lindsey’s liking yet
Scott Lindsey admitted the MK Dons squad are not fit enough for his liking.
With just three training sessions and two games under his belt in his first week in charge, the new head coach has picked up four points thus far and has helped lift the team to 14th in League Two.
But after seeing an increase in the players’ distance covered in the games against Bromley and Harrogate Town, the former Crawley boss said his squad is not currently at a fitness level he is happy with.
“They’re not where I want them to be, I’ll be honest,” he said. “I’m not going to lie or hide anything, but they’re a little way off where I want them to be. My teams are really high in numbers in terms of their running stats.
“It’s nothing to do with the staff, it’s the nature of how they played previously. They weren’t a high-pressing team before, but they will be now because that’s what I want. I want them to press high up the pitch, really hard and fast and aggressively which makes their numbers jump.
“They’re not conditioned for that yet, which isn’t anyone’s fault, but as they get more conditioned for that, the intensity of how we train will change and eventually we’ll see the fruits of that.”
In both games, the work-rate has been noticeably higher from Linsdey’s side, particularly when out of possession, something which the head coach said he has concentrated on in his brief time on the training ground.
He continued: “We’ve worked a lot out of possession. I don’t think they had a press or a way of pressing before. They were good with the ball, so I’ve not needed to do a lot on it, but we’ve done a lot off-the-ball and with the press and I think you can see a lot of the fruits of those labours.
“When I get more time on the training ground, you’ll see more in-possession stuff I want.”
The departure of Mike Williamson as head coach of MK Dons threatened to throw a spanner in the works for Joe White.
The 22-year-old joined on deadline day in August on loan from Newcastle United, where former boss Williamson played 169 times. Keen to play under the watch of the ex-Magpies defender, White made two outings for his new coach until Williamson walked away from Stadium MK, opting to take on Carlisle United instead.
With the hiring of Scott Lindsey, White admitted he was concerned for what his loan move could now entail.
