Ghosts of goalkeepers past don't scare Robinson

England football goalkeeper Paul Robinson makes a save during a training session at Liverpool's Melwood training ground, in northwest England. The danger of becoming a national scapegoat is part of the job description for an England goalkeeper, but Robinson is not losing sleep worrying about the possibility of a World Cup blunder along the lines of the David Seaman error that led to England's exit from the last finals in Japan and South Korea

The danger of becoming a national scapegoat is part of the job description for an England goalkeeper.

But Tottenham's Paul Robinson is not losing any sleep worrying about the possibility of a World Cup blunder along the lines of the David Seaman error that led to England's exit from the last finals in Japan and South Korea.

A distraught Seaman broke down in tears after he had been beaten by Ronaldinho's long-range free-kick in England's 2-1 quarter-final defeat by Brazil.

But Robinson insisted the only way to avoid such a fate was to believe that it would never happen.

"You've got to relish the sort of challenge presented by a World Cup," the 26-year-old said.

"If you go into games thinking what people are going to say about you afterwards, you are on a loser before you start.

"You've got to be very confident. You are in an unfortunate position in that if you do make a mistake, it gets highlighted if you are a goalkeeper. But you can't worry about that before a game.

"There is a lot of pressure and we all know that doing well in the World Cup will mean a hell of a lot to so many people. People think sometimes that we don't care - but we do."

It was a blunder -- by David James against Austria -- which resulted in Robinson being installed as England's number one shortly after the start of the qualifying campaign for Germany, and he has no intention of giving up his now firmly established status.

"I don't intend losing the shirt," he declared. "I've been number one for almost a couple of years now. Provided my form stays good and I stay free of injury I can be there for a lot of years to come.

"But I know my form has got to be right for England to keep me there. In fact, my form has got to be right all the time.

"You've got to play every single game as if it is your last game. Consistency is a major part of goalkeeping and limiting the errors you make."