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Southampton's Van Dijk calls for response against MK Dons

Football - Celtic v St Johnstone - Ladbrokes Scottish Premiership - Celtic Park - 29/8/15 Celtic's Virgil van Dijk applauds fans after victory Action Images via Reuters/ Graham Stuart Livepic

(Reuters) - Virgil van Dijk has called on his Southampton team mates to bounce back after their 3-2 Premier League defeat by Manchester United at the weekend when they take on MK Dons in the third round of the League Cup on Wednesday night. Southampton were outfoxed by Louis Van Gaal's team at St Mary's Stadium on Sunday, as two goals from Anthony Martial and one from Juan Mata sent United up to second in the table and the Saints down to 16th, despite the home side getting on the scoresheet through a brace from Graziano Pelle. Dutch defender Van Dijk, who joined from Celtic on transfer deadline day and made his home debut during the game, spoke of how disappointed he was to lose the tie, but insisted both he and his team would learn from the defeat. "Losing is always a terrible feeling," the 24-year-old was quoted as saying by the club's website (www.sainstsfc.co.uk). "I think from defeats you learn the most and that's what we're going to do as well. "We're going to talk about it, we're going to discuss what we need to do better and we're going to bounce back -- that's what's going to happen," he added. "A couple of moments were disappointing for myself, and I'm very critical of myself as well, so I want to do a lot better. I'm going to bounce back from this. "It starts on Wednesday (against MK Dons), so we're going to bounce back." (Reporting by Simon Jennings in Bengaluru; editing by Amlan Chakraborty)