Managers always go on about what happens in training and how it influences who they pick, Emile Heskey being a partiularly good example of someone who is ‘always banging them in’ when the eyes of a nation aren’t on him. But for once we have got some information that isn’t banging them in related, more ‘letting them in’. Has Juande Ramos new and intensive training regime improved Paul Robinson one iota? The Guardian is reporting that a glut of absolute howlers in England training by the Spurs ‘keeper has left Sh*tbreak McClaren seriously considering cashing him in for Scott Carson for the “just don’t bloody lose it you clowns” game against Croatia.
The Guardian’s Dominic Fifield reports that:
“Robinson’s slack handling at London Colney suggested he is still suffering from the crisis in confidence that has blighted his campaign. McClaren is now considering playing either Aston Villa’s Scott Carson, who won his first cap in Friday’s friendly win in Austria, or the experienced Portsmouth goalkeeper David James against the group leaders in the game from which England must take at least a point to guarantee their place at Euro 2008.”
Poor Steve, just as it looks like it is going right and he is being forced to make a decision, we know how bad he is at them. So is Robinson having flashbacks of the bobble assisted super-gaffe 13 months ago against Croatia? And who will McClaren go for – Scott Carson, who is in top form but is very green internationally, or the godfather of gaffes – David James? Robbo’s problems leave the door open for Mr Carson and Mr James, and the Guardian would seem to be tending towards the first of these:
McClaren has a further training session this morning to assess his options and will consider Carson. The debutant was rarely tested against a weak Austrian side and there are believed to be understandable concerns about flinging the 22-year-old Aston Villa goalkeeper, despite his encouraging form, into competitive action in such a critical fixture. For his part, James may have 35 caps but he has made only one appearance for England – as a second-half substitute in the friendly with Germany in August – since the last warm-up match before the 2006 World Cup.
Ourselves? We think it has to be Carson if England were managed in an Ebbsfleet United manner. As they aren’t, Steve will stick with his boy Robbo.