Mark Robinson said that Wimbledon must show more conviction from the outset after watching his side pull off another admirable fightback today.
With a season so far that’s been characterised by impressive comebacks and second-half goals, Robbo is rightly encouraged by the fighting spirit shown, but our Head Coach wants the Dons to show more belief right from the kick-off.
“We’ve just chatted in there and at 2-0 down you have seen what we are capable of,” said Robbo. “The shackles came off and we started to play and it had nothing to do with the changes. We’ve got to have that belief from the start of the game. We let the players talk and Darius was in there. The fans were incredible again and you show your appreciation, but we’ve got to realise why we found ourselves in that position of being 2-0 down. It was a mad five minutes and through some poor detail we left ourselves with a mountain to climb.
“I could see that the fans were excited, but we just want to excite them more. We are a work in progress – we know that – but we are only going to get better. Some of it is down to our youthfulness, but we’ve got to stamp our authority on games from the word ‘go’. After we went 2-0 down there was only one team in it, but every single one of our players has got to have that belief from the start.
“Some of the detail isn’t good enough, so we’ve had a great chat in there, and that’s what we’ve got to improve upon. Ipswich have obviously got some really good players, but a lot of their attacks came from our basic errors, and they are the things we have to work on. That detail has cost us in a lot of games this season.”
Robbo added that there are plenty of positive signs for the rest of this season.
“It’s all a learning curve, but what I see is that they really care. There is loads of character in the squad and a lot of talent. We have an average age of 21 or 22, so we can only get better.
“We’ve got to grow up really quickly if we want to achieve something. We’ve shown that we’ve got that ability, but it’s about the consistency. They are all really good players, but I’m trying to get an 11 that is going to be on it right from the start and to stamp our authority on the game. You are looking at other players that are going to come in and fight for their places with games on successive Saturdays and Tuesdays, but it’s not about a lack of cohesion, and it’s just about eradicating those basic errors. We showed good character, so we are going to be fine.”
Pic credit: Ian Stephen, Pro Sports Images.
Click on the link below to watch Rob Cornell's full post-match interview with Robbo.