The Guardian, citing an anonymous source close to the England setup, is reporting that Steve McClaren will drop goalkeeper Paul Robinson in favor of Scott Carson for tomorrow’s crucial qualifying match against Croatia.
The impetus for the change was apparently “a series of mistakes” in training, and had nothing to do with his palpably painful performances for both club and country the past 18 months.
Robinson is unfit mentally. He has lost all confidence whatsoever in his ability to make a correct judgement. He handles crosses with the aplomb of an acne covered 13 year-old trying to chat up a beautiful woman. He is, quite simply, playing merely not to make a mistake.
He is also unfit physically. He’s fat. As John Nicholson once described, his knees have their own beer bellies. He looks more like someone who would unclog your toilet rather than a world class athlete.
He could also do with a little bit of work on his technique. Why does he do that pointless hop before he actually jumps after a ball?
The fact is that Carson has, for quite a while, been the best goalkeeper in England. He impressed on loan at Charlton last season and has been impressive so far this season with Aston Villa. England were not winning because of Robinson, but in spite of him. The move has made complete sense for quite some time and, with his back to the wall, McClaren has finally made the correct decision.
Better late than never.
23 November 2007 at 5:18 am
Oh dear. At least McClaren can take heart from the fact he wasn’t the only person thinking this was a good idea…