Spurs keeper Robinson left devastated by axe for England's Croatia clash

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The England coach is understood to be so concerned about the Tottenham player's confidence that David James will be used as back-up keeper behind Scott Carson.

England sources suggest he was left devastated by the decision to replace him with Carson and that his confidence is at an all-time low.

Robinson was criticised for several high-profile mistakes

The move comes at the end of a miserable week for Robinson, who was left out of last Friday's friendly in Austria and struggled in training before being dropped from the England team last night.

Robinson has been error-prone in recent England games and had been hoping to make amends.

The decision to axe him was today condemned by a host of former international keepers. But Robinson's omission provides a huge opportunity for Carson to stake a claim as his long-term successor in only his second match for England.

The 22-year-old Aston Villa player insists he can handle the pressure and is not fearful of the kind of criticism which has clearly affected Robinson.

Carson said: "Does the threat of criticism scare me? Not really. You've got to take the good with the bad. It's all right everyone talking about you if you do well, but everyone is going to have a bad game at some point and then you've got to say 'I've done that wrong'. You've got to be big enough to take the criticism."

Carson made his full England debut against Austria last Friday, but had little to do in a 1-0 victory.

His chances of recording a second clean sheet and staying out of the limelight may depend on how the Wembley pitch plays.

Croatia boss Slaven Bilic believes the game could be a lottery because he said it is "very slippery, like ice" and substandard.