In Defense of Robbo

I can't believe how the press have lambasted Paul Robinson for the comical own goal England managed to engineer from nothing yesterday in their dismal defeat to Croatia. Forget the fact that England were atrocious in all aspects. Forget the fact that 3-5-2 was rubbish and every player looked out of place and mediocre. Forget the fact that Robbo had kept Croatia at bay almost single handedly with a string of fine saves. And forget the fact that Robbo's worst error was conceding the first goal by being caught terribly out of position and on his heels. This was compounded by atrocious defending as usual.

Anyway - the error was caused by a nasty bobble - there was nothing he could have done. Even if he had tried to trap it the striker would have been on him too quickly to kick. It was just one of those things, but by slamming the only decent English keeper - who still has a fair few years to go before he hits his peak - is utter tripe.

As a keeper myself, I feel for him and have had the same thing happen myself of several occasions. No matter how much extra concentration you apply to a dodgy pitch, there will always be one or two moments where it will make you look like a fool.