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After a summer of ambitious recruitment and hopes of back-to-back promotions, Milton Keynes Dons find themselves in crisis. With results failing to materialise, defensive errors mounting and questions growing over Paul Warne’s tactics, where do the Dons go from here?
When the summer recruitment concluded at Stadium MK, optimism was running high. Milton Keynes Dons had assembled a squad capable of mounting another promotion challenge, with ambitions bordering on following in Wrexham’s footsteps and securing successive promotions.
The arrivals of 2025/26 League One Player of the Year Ryan Wintle, Stevenage’s Player of the Year Charlie Goode, and a host of players with proven Championship experience — Sam Nombe, Will Dennis, Ibrahim Fullah, Sam Silvera and Daniel Barlaser — added significant quality to an already strong squad.
On paper, the Dons looked formidable. Supporters had every reason to be excited, and confidence around MK1 was sky-high.
But football is not played on paper. And, in a matter of weeks, those lofty ambitions have come crashing back to earth.
A season unravelling before our eyes
By the middle of October, MK Dons find themselves in an alarming position: 23rd in the table after eight games, still without a win.
The club’s longest winless run in league football stands at 12 matches, stretching from September to December 2019. Given the challenges ahead, the prospect of that unwanted record being threatened is far from unthinkable.
The 5–1 home defeat to Reading was a particularly painful low point. It was not simply the scoreline that hurt; it was the manner in which the goals were conceded. Defensive confusion, individual errors and a worrying lack of organisation turned an already difficult afternoon into a humiliation.
For Reading’s Paddy Lane, the breakthrough was almost a gift. A low cross was allowed to drift across the penalty area as three defenders and the goalkeeper appeared to leave the ball to one another. The result was a goal that summed up the Dons’ defensive fragility.
Worse followed immediately after the restart. From the second-half kick-off, Wing back Cohen Bramall somehow turned the ball into his own net, doubling the home side’s misery before they had even had a chance to regroup.
Defender Marvin Ekpiteta then compounded the problems further by diverting the ball past an advancing goalkeeper Will Dennis, before the defensive chaos continued. As players collided and the Dons struggled to recover their shape, visiting forward Kyreece Lisbie was presented with the opportunity to walk the ball into an effectively unguarded net.
By the time Lisbie struck again to collect his brace, the defending had become increasingly difficult to explain. The visitors were taking full advantage of a side that looked bereft of confidence, organisation and belief.
There was still time for Reading to add a fifth, giving their travelling support of 3,000 Royals fans another reason to celebrate.
In truth, the scoreline could have been even more damaging. Reading passed up several further opportunities, and six, seven or even eight goals would not have been beyond the realms of possibility.
Aaron Collins did provide a consolation between Reading’s fourth and fifth goals, but it offered little more than a sticking plaster over much deeper wounds.
For a club that entered the campaign dreaming of another promotion, this was a sobering reality check.
The investment was there. So what has gone wrong?
Despite the positivity, nobody at MK Dons could realistically have expected League One to be an easy ride. The step up in quality was always going to bring tougher opponents, greater tactical challenges and less room for error, but, the challenge looked surmountable.
Indeed, preparations for the higher level had begun well before the end of the 2025/26 campaign, with the club’s dominance in League Two providing an opportunity to plan ahead.
Nor can there be many complaints about the backing given to the coaching staff in the transfer market. MK Dons possess one of the division’s stronger budgets, enabling them to compete with clubs recently relegated from the Championship and established League One sides.
The resources were available. The recruitment was ambitious. The expectations were clear.
That leaves some uncomfortable questions: why are the results so poor, where are the tactical adjustments, and how can a squad assembled with such promise look so vulnerable?
A defensive system in need of repair
Head coach Paul Warne has favoured a system built around three tall, powerful centre-backs, supported by two wing-backs.
With Goode, Curtis Nelson — a Championship recruit — and Ekpiteta, who arrived from the Scottish Premiership, forming the defensive trio, the Dons have considerable physical presence and experience at the back. That quality also leaves Jack Sanders, a member of the League Two Team of the Year, competing for a place.
On paper, there is plenty to like about that defensive personnel. On the pitch, however, the results tell a very different story.
The system has too often left opponents enjoying either feast or famine in front of goal, with the balance tipping far too frequently towards the former. MK Dons have conceded 15 goals in their opening eight matches, despite two goalless draws.
For a side whose success last season was built on defensive solidity, those numbers are deeply concerning.
The problem is not necessarily the formation itself. A back three can provide strength, protection and flexibility, but only when the players understand their responsibilities and maintain the distances between them. When communication breaks down, wing-backs are caught out of position or centre-backs fail to cover one another, the system can quickly become a liability rather than an asset.
The Reading defeat exposed precisely those weaknesses. The Dons looked vulnerable to basic attacking situations, and individual mistakes only made matters worse.
Warne now faces the challenge of restoring confidence and organisation to a defence that, on current evidence, is nowhere near the standards required to challenge at the top end of League One.
Nombe’s struggles highlight the attacking problem
If the defence cannot provide a reliable foundation, greater pressure inevitably falls on the attacking players to compensate. Unfortunately for MK Dons, the goals have not been arriving consistently enough to make up for those shortcomings.
Sam Nombe, recruited after two successful goalscoring campaigns over the previous 24 months, is still waiting to open his account this season. His frustration was evident in the midweek Jersey Mike’s Cup tie against Brentford Under-21s, when he missed a penalty, before another difficult afternoon against Reading.
Against the Royals, Nombe squandered a glaring opportunity from virtually on the goal line, somehow directing his effort away from the target.
Those misses are becoming increasingly costly. Across the opening eight matches, the striker has registered 18 shots on target but is yet to convert, while five big chances — opportunities from which a player would reasonably be expected to score — have gone begging.
Yet it would be unfair to question his commitment.
Nombe’s work rate has remained impressive, with an average distance covered of 9.6 kilometres per 90 minutes, compared with a reported league average of 7.7 kilometres for strikers. He continues to work tirelessly, press defenders and put himself in promising positions.
The issue is the end product.
His performances illustrate a wider problem within the team. Attacking moves are not consistently coming together, promising positions are going unrewarded, and the confidence that once accompanied the Dons’ forward play appears to be slipping away.
Nombe is certainly not the sole reason for the club’s struggles. However, as the recognised centre-forward, his inability to find the net is adding to the pressure on a team already short of confidence.
Collins cannot carry the burden alone
There has, at least, been one encouraging constant amid the gloom: Aaron Collins.
The forward has emerged as MK Dons’ most reliable attacking threat, scoring six goals so far this campaign and providing a much-needed source of hope.
His contribution deserves considerable credit. While others have struggled to find consistency, Collins has continued to deliver in front of goal, shouldering a significant share of the attacking responsibility.
But even the most dependable forward cannot paper over every crack.
Football is a collective game, and Collins cannot be expected to compensate indefinitely for defensive errors, missed opportunities and a lack of cohesion elsewhere on the pitch. If the Dons are to turn their season around, the responsibility must be shared.
They need greater support for Collins, more clinical finishing from Nombe and a more consistent attacking contribution from the wider team.
At present, too much is resting on too few shoulders.
Are the players underperforming, or is the system holding them back?
With Collins scoring freely, attention inevitably turns towards the wider squad and the coaching setup. Are the players failing to deliver, or are the tactics preventing them from performing at their best?
There is an argument that the summer recruitment should have made the transition to League One relatively straightforward. Most of the new arrivals are being deployed in familiar positions, and many have experience of comparable systems at their previous clubs.
Barlaser is an interesting example. Having joined from Middlesbrough after spending the entirety of the 2025/26 campaign on loan at Hibernian, he arrived with experience of a more structured midfield featuring two holding players.
At MK Dons, he has operated in a deeper role within a midfield that provides greater scope for attacking players to push forward around him. Although the precise demands differ, he has not been required to abandon the fundamentals of his game.
His performances have remained relatively consistent, with an assist to his name and an average of around four ball recoveries per game — a reasonable return for a player operating in that area of the pitch.
Barlaser’s example suggests that the new recruits are not necessarily struggling simply because they have been asked to play unfamiliar roles. Instead, the wider issue may lie in how the individual pieces fit together.
A squad can be full of talented players and still fail to function as a team. Cohesion, balance and tactical clarity are just as important as individual ability, and those qualities have been conspicuously absent during the Dons’ difficult start.
What can Warne change?
There are no easy answers, but the options facing the club are becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.
One possibility is a tactical adjustment. Moving away from a back three and adopting a more conventional back four, with deeper-lying full-backs, could provide greater defensive stability and reduce the space opponents have been exploiting.
However, such a change would not be without its drawbacks. The wing-backs have offered an important attacking outlet, and sacrificing their advanced positioning could reduce the team’s threat going forward.
Warne would therefore need to find a new balance: greater defensive security without blunting the attacking potential that the summer recruitment was intended to provide.
It is important not to forget the players were recruited for the current formation in place, so any change may throw the players brought in out of their desired positions and setup.
The other, far more drastic option would be a change in head coach.
Dismissing Warne could give the club an opportunity to introduce a fresh tactical approach and attempt to reverse the team’s fortunes. But it would also come at a cost, both financially and in terms of disruption.
Many of the summer signings arrived with Warne’s plans in mind. A new head coach could ask them to adapt to different tactics, different responsibilities and a different style of football, all while the pressure to start winning intensifies.
Changing the manager would not automatically solve the underlying problems. Equally, persisting with the current approach without meaningful improvement would leave the club exposed to the risk of allowing a difficult start to become a full-blown crisis.
The owners must weigh those competing risks carefully.
Time is running out for the Dons to find answers
The contrast between the optimism of the summer and the reality of October could hardly be starker.
MK Dons invested in quality, assembled a squad with considerable experience and entered the season believing they could compete at the top end of League One. Eight matches later, they are searching for their first win, leaking goals and facing increasingly uncomfortable questions about the direction of the campaign.
There is still time to turn things around. Collins has shown that goals are available, the squad possesses individual quality, and a few positive results could help rebuild confidence.
But potential counts for little without performances to match it.
Warne must find a way to tighten the defence, restore Nombe’s confidence and make the team’s attacking pieces work together. The players, meanwhile, must take responsibility for the individual errors and missed opportunities that have contributed to this miserable start.
The season is not lost, but the warning signs are impossible to ignore.
The question is no longer whether MK Dons have the talent to compete in League One. It is whether they can find the organisation, confidence and consistency to make that talent count.
For a club that began the summer dreaming of back-to-back promotions, the immediate priority is now far more basic: stop the slide, rediscover a winning formula and give supporters something to believe in again.
Time will tell whether Warne can deliver those answers — but at Stadium MK, time is becoming a precious commodity.
