Karl Robinson felt his MK Dons team made a "statement of intent" after hammering Crewe to go top of League One.
Karl Robinson: Happy with his players
The Dons eased to a 5-0 win at Gresty Road, a result which hardly flattered them after their almost complete control of the game.
Crewe struggled to cope with on-loan Manchester City forward Devante Cole, who netted twice on his first start for the club, and Carl Baker, who also got his name on the scoresheet in the second-half.
Dean Bowditch and Daniel Powell were the other scorers for the Milton Keynes side.
"I'm a big admirer of Crewe's philosophy and they are a good team, so to come here and perform like that is brilliant," said Robinson.
"I told the players this was a test of character and their attitude was magnificent. To score the amount of goals we did was amazing, but equally for me was keeping a clean sheet.
"We lost Will Grigg in training which was a blow to us, but the two first goals were great. There is so much to come from Coley as there's things he can improve on, but he is a goalscorer. He reminds me of Mark Wright who scored goals for us from out wide and I am sure he can make a big difference.
"The players are a tremendous learning group as they want to take things in on board. This is a real statement of intent from us."
Crewe were in good form previously with four wins from six matches, but Alex boss Steve Davis accepted his team could not live with the Dons.
He said: "It wasn't massively one-sided but they are a good team. The goals changed the game.
"They were very good in both boxes and they were very clinical, particularly in the first-half. But the goals were poor from our point of view, little clips over in behind with three centre-halves shouldn't get in so easily, so we're disappointed with the goals.
"We'd have liked to have done better, but in the second-half we tried to have a go. But they got another couple of goals with things that dropped for them to in the box, which showed why they are top of the league."