Another match, another goal conceded for England because of dodgy defending from their two “world class” centre backs and, unsurprisingly, the pundits just can’t wait to stick the boot into Paul Robinson and blame him for the goal.

Am I spotting a trend here with everytime England play a game now that the goalkeeper gets the blame for the ball going in the back of the net no matter whether it’s directly his fault or not? Surely we can all say that Robinson should come off his line with a little more confidence these days but having been on the receiving end of so many press batterings over the course of the summer and this season I’m not at all surprised that he isn’t working at the very peak of his powers and when you get idiots like Mark Lawrenson putting the blame on him again last night for not clearing the throw in which led to Holland’s goal then it’s only going to make things worse.

Why do the untouchables like Rio Ferdinand and John Terry get absolved from blame every time a goal is conceded even when they fail to perform the duties of any self respecting centrehalf in taking up a good position and clearing corners and long throw ins as far as possible at the first attempt? Simply put, they are media darlings and just as Sven had his loyal band of “special soldiers”, so do the press.

Is it any coincidence that England haven’t had a goalkeeper in living memory that they haven’t completely slaughtered at regular intervals for conceding goals and now have to go to untried youngsters as the backup to the England goalkeeper as there just aren’t enough quality goalkeepers to choose from?

Goalkeepers play on their confidence as much, and probably more, than any outfield player and I really don’t think it’s fair to keep pointing the finger of blame for every eventuality from divots on the pitch to lazy defenders at Paul Robinson. Someone needs to stand up for goalkeepers.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 16th, 2006 at 7:47 am and is filed under International Football - England. You can subscribe via RSS 2.0 feed to this post's comments. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.