'I'm close to my best', says Robinson
Paul Robinson believes he is close to regaining his best form after overcoming the “hurt” of being dropped for England’s crunch Euro 2008 qualifier with Croatia.
The Tottenham keeper was axed by the then England coach Steve McClaren after being number one for the previous three years, with unproven Scott Carson given his competitive debut.
It proved to be a disastrous move with Carson’s blunder gifting Niko Kranjcar the opening goal in Croatia’s 3-2 win which ended England’s hopes of qualifying for the finals in Austria and Switzerland.
Robinson admits he lost confidence for a spell but feels he has put his troubled times behind him and he looked confident and assured despite Spurs being beaten 2-1 at Aston Villa on New Year’s Day.
Now he wants to continue in that vein as a new England era gets under way with Fabio Capello at the helm.
Robinson told PA Sport: “I had a dip in confidence. When you get criticised, it is not nice and you have a dip in confidence but I feel in the last few weeks that I’ve been getting back to my best.
“I’m feeling confident now going into games and really confident playing games now and hopefully my form is showing that.
“Of course, it hurt at the time when I was left out by England – but sometimes you look at the game and become a better player by not playing.
“Now there is a new England manager and everyone starts with a clean slate.
“There are only a couple of England games during the rest of this season and I’m really looking forward to building on my confidence and maintaining my form for Tottenham.”
Robinson believes Tottenham can climb the Barclays Premier League table during the second half of the campaign but stressed the importance of holding onto in-demand striker Dimitar Berbatov.
He said: “Obviously you see the speculation, but until there is any substance we just laugh it off and wind him up at the moment. If there is any substance to it, we will have to wait and see.
“Dimitar is a fantastic player and a top talent and, if we want to be going the right way, we need to keep players such as Berbatov.
“I think Tottenham is a big club. Hopefully we can get to the Carling Cup final this year and hopefully with a new manager we can build on results and start climbing the table as well.
“We are making progress, it is slow progress but we are going the right way up the table. You look where we were when the manager first took over and it was disappointing for everybody but we are moving in the right direction.
“There is still a long way to go in the season. I feel the team’s performance have picked up and hopefully, with a little bit of luck, and a little bit of organisation, cutting out silly mistakes, we will get results.”
Villa central defender Martin Laursen, who scored the winner against Spurs, is planning further talks over his future after Saturday’s FA Cup clash with Manchester United.
Laursen’s current deal expires in the summer but he has proved his worth this season after lengthy injury spells with Villa manager Martin O’Neill describing him as a “colossus”.
Laursen said: “I think both parties have talked. I have just concentrated on playing football and I think the manager has as well. It has been a hard period.
“When we have got the Manchester United game out of the way, then we will meet up again. I told my agent to take care of everything. I trust him, I just want to concentrate on my football.”
In contrast Villa keeper Thomas Sorensen, who will also become a free agent in the summer, is resigned to a future away from the club after becoming third choice this season.
He said: “As much as I like Aston Villa, I need to be playing and that’s the key for me. How it is going to be done, we will see what happens.
“It depends what the manager wants as well. At the end of the day, he has got the last say. But he also knows that I have got ambitions and I’m not happy being left out.
“I know my agent is speaking to him, probably in the next couple of days, and then we will see what kind of solution we can come up with and then I’ll take it from there.”
