Four takeaways as AFC Wimbledon lost 3-0 at Rotherham – Assal needs to keep his cool and time to cut down on the changes

BY DAVE HUNT-JACKSON

AFC Wimbledon dropped into the bottom half of the League One table after a 3-0 defeat at Rotherham on Tuesday night.

Will Grigg put the Millers ahead on 36 minutes before Michael Smith added a second goal in the first minute of stoppage time. Smith rounded off the scoring in the 89th minute.

Here are Dave Hunt-Jackson’s four takeaways from the match.

ASSAL NEEDS TO CALM DOWN A LITTLE

September is, to say the least, a little early to be facing a suspension for five bookings but the Dons were without their influential midfielder Ayoub Assal due in no small part to his lack of maturity. He has an extraordinary footballing brain for a player so young but to be booked for kicking the ball away and over-excessive celebration – not to mention a stupid petulant foul against Shrewsbury – is really disappointing and hopefully he can learn his lesson quickly and avoid a further suspension for 10 cautions.

FOUR HEADED GOALS CONCEDED IN JUST TWO GAMES

Although Rotherham had to work a little bit harder for their brace of headed goals, their two strikers were given way too much time and space, as Shrewsbury’s scorers had been on Saturday. On each occasions the Dons both failed to cut out the delivery and then to pick up the recipients meaning each scorer had too much time and space to be able to pick their spot. This should not be difficult to fix, but it needs fixing quickly.

TIME TO RING FEWER CHANGES

Dons head coach Mark Robinson made five changes to the side that lost at the weekend and that showed in a performance that was often disjointed with the slick passing movement misfiring far too often. Some of the young Wimbledon players would surely benefit from more regular game time and from playing with the same personnel game by game. Robinson surely now knows what his best side is, notwithstanding he is right to say he has a strong squad at his disposal. After three consecutive league defeats, surely the time had come to pick his best 11 and stick to it to allow more consistency and cohesion before the current blip becomes a slump?

A LONG WAY TO GO, BUT A LOT OF WORK TO DO

If Wimbledon learned anything tonight, other than how to finish off a game when in front, it was how far off the best sides in the league they are. Rotherham won this game at a canter and made a good footballing side look decidedly ordinary. After 10 games the Dons find themselves 12 points below the leaders and four above the drop zone and that table does not lie. They could and should have beaten the likes of Gillingham and Shrewsbury but they have seen on Tuesday night, and previously at Sunderland, what is needed to compete at the top of this division.

Wimbledon are young and will improve but they are beginning to see just how much improvement they need to find.