MK Dons boss Karl Robinson spoke to his club's official website ahead of his side's League One game against Carlisle at stadium:mk on Saturday afternoon, Robinson expecting another high scoring encounter between the two sides:
“There are always goals in the games, so it is a very, very tough challenge for us. They beat us here last year and we were very, very poor on the evening, and we obviously let their football club down with the frozen pitch which happened last year as well. But, we enjoy playing Carlisle, I think Greg (Abbott) and Kav (Graham Kavanagh) are doing a wonderful job there and we know that we have got to be at our best to play any Carlisle team.
“They have had a decent start, they had a good result in the week against Ipswich so it is going to be a very, very difficult afternoon for us. They have a lot of travelling to do but they are used to it because they do it every week. So, we have got to make sure that we can conduct ourselves in a way now that when Carlisle turn up here on Saturday afternoon that we are ready to project ourselves into the game and to perform in the right way, if we do that then we know that we won’t be far away.
“Winning at home brings fans in and the more fans come in the more hostile it becomes, and the more that we turn this place into a place that when teams come here they don’t like playing here. That is our aim, is that when people come walking through the doors they know they are going to be chasing the ball around for a very long time. Ultimately the more they chase it the more gaps will appear, but I know Carlisle are very, very fit, full of legs, full of energy and full of good players as well, so this is going to be an interesting afternoon and one that we are looking forward to.
“But, we are in a very strong place at the moment and we have almost got everyone fit and everyone raring to go. We are one or two short still through suspensions, but once those two come back for the Walsall game we are ready, and we have not had a bad start really have we. Three victories, one draw and a defeat, the draw and the defeat have come with ten men so we have not had a bad start to the season, we have had a very, very good start and hopefully we can continue that on Saturday afternoon."
“They are a very strong group of boys, they are very close, but they know how hard it is to get into the starting eleven, and my job is becoming harder. I am a little bit disliked on a Friday morning when we pick the team, but they understand that it is a job that I have got to do and it is what I get paid for. We are just really excited now, we have got a very, very strong team and we are looking to start the season and finish the season strongly.
“My phone is off so no-one will be going out today, I can’t afford to bring anybody in but I dropped my phone in the bin this morning so no agent or manager can get hold of me for 24 hours. I am very happy with the fact that I can relax and we can sit back and watch everyone scurrying and hopefully spending money that they don’t have that may push them over the edge.
“But, we are OK, we are fine, we are ready to go, and we are just so happy that we are getting our players back slowly and that we have kept all of our players. We are happy with the business we have done, we have brought in five, my problem was after the performance that we put in here on Tuesday was the phone calls coming to me about taking some of our players.
“We thought some of them were magnificent against a very, very strong Blackburn team. But, there have been days when we have been sat here until midnight trying to get things done and over the line, but some windows pass you by as if you have not got a care in the world, and this one is going to be the same because we can’t afford to do anything else and we don’t want to get rid of any of ours.”