Mark Robinson summed up his disappointment with the manner of today’s defeat at the hands of a Hull City side that controlled the game for long spells.
Our Head Coach refused to use two debatable penalty awards as contributory factors for the 3-0 loss at Plough Lane.
“It was not good enough for various reasons,” said Robbo. “We didn’t carry a threat and we didn’t have good structure behind the ball. A lot of that was caused by what they did in terms of their shape behind the ball. They had obviously looked at our movement and they denied us in any space. We ended up just passing for the sake of it. We didn’t offer any threat and they broke out of their shape very well. They were very quick to break out of their shape and we didn’t have good structure behind the ball. That’s what has opened us up and caused us problems.
“We were not particularly good in the first-half, but at 1-0 down at half-time you can start to address things and then you can come out looking to put in a performance during the second-half, but the manner in which we conceded the second goal in the 43rd minute was naive. We have thrown the ball back to them from a dead ball situation for their free-kick. It’s that sort of thing. They seemed very experienced with the way they talked and other aspects. These are the things we have to find really quickly. The slight disappointment is that against Gillingham I was pleased with the way we managed their 20-minute onslaught. I thought ‘this is better’, but today there was so much stuff that I don’t want to see in a Wimbledon performance.”
Robbo felt there was no point in analysing the referee’s decisions on the day, in particular the penalty awards, and he was more concerned that his side allowed Hull to create so many opportunities.
“Everyone is telling me that the first penalty is soft, but that’s irrelevant. You give away the kind of penalties that we have given away because you get played through and you are out of shape. There is no point worrying about whether they were penalties or not. There is a reason we have given those penalties away and that’s more important because that is what happens when you get played through and you are recovering on the wrong side of your opponents.
"I have learned that they care, they genuinely do, and they want to make things better, but we can’t be naïve like we were today. They had excellent structure in what they did, they were very manly, and on the front foot, and you have to step up to that. I am not happy that we’ve been opened up in the way that we have today, as easy as that. There was a spell when it could have been more, if I’m honest. We had a little spell in the last five or six minutes, but it was irrelevant as the game was over.”