AFTER being rumbled at the Riverside, Neil Lennon says Wanderers will go back to basics at MK Dons tonight.

The Whites boss accepted responsibility for deploying the wrong set-up that contributed to a nightmare first half at Middlesbrough that saw his 3-5-2 formation ship three goals without reply.

He has suggested they will revert to a more orthodox back four against the Dons as Wanderers look to break their Championship duck at the third attempt.

However, he refuses to completely dismiss a return to three at the back when he feels he has the right personnel available.

Lennon told The Bolton News: "I will imagine we will go back to four at the back tonight.

"In the meantime when we have no midweek games we can work on playing a three or five at the back and the tactical side of doing that.

"It was clear after 20 minutes it didn’t work. We changed it and still conceded anyway.

"You can talk about formations all you like but the players still have to do the basics of the game better than what they did on Saturday and they know that.

"We did play against a very good side.

"It’s an away defeat at Middlesbrough – one that probably in all expectation might of happened anyway but we are certainly better than that.

"It was the manner of the defeat that was annoying more than anything.

"Like I said after the game, I’ll take the responsibility for that because of the way the team was set up.

"Looking at them in the first 20 minutes, it was wrong the set-up and they didn’t understand what we were asking them to do.

"We possibly didn’t work on it for long enough.

"That’s something we will work on going forward.

"There is a lot of debate about playing three at the back.

"The reason you play three at the back is that you can have three in midfield as well.

"It can become a five defensively when you need it to be and you are flooding that central area.

"We felt that was the right thing to do against Middlesbrough."

Lennon cites success on the road last season utilising that very same formation with three central defenders.

And he believes it does have its positives when deployed well – particularly away from home.

He said: "It has worked for us before away from home – we had away wins at Sheffield Wednesday and Cardiff and used back three in both.

"So it can work but maybe I got the personnel wrong on Saturday.

"It was evident some of the players like Prince and Rob (Holding) just weren’t comfortable with it.

"With Gary (Madine) and Zach (Clough) not being able to start, Emile was the main option up front and I couldn’t leave him there on his own because we would have never got out.

"We needed a partner with him.

"It is all great in hindsight but at the time we felt it was the right way to go.

"We debated it long and hard – it was last hour stuff because we had to wait and see if Gary passed a fitness test.

"We had a long chat with him and decided to put him on the bench in case we may be needed him late on to give Emile a rest but at 3-0 at half time it was pointless taking that chance.

"Having said all that, some players should have done better on the day as well."