Clemence: Green can reclaim jersey

07 October 2010 07:55
Ray Clemence believes West Ham goalkeeper Rob Green has the mental strength to regain the England number one spot.[LNB] Green was axed by Fabio Capello after his blunder gifted United States midfielder Clint Dempsey an equaliser in the World Cup opener in Rustenburg and he was replaced by David James.[LNB]Joe Hart is Capello's current first choice and is expected to start the Euro 2012 qualifier with Montenegro at Wembley on Tuesday.[LNB]But Clemence has been impressed with Green's form in recent games after a difficult start to the Premier League campaign and he has been included in the England squad for the first time since South Africa.[LNB]England goalkeeping coach Clemence said: "Robert is obviously a good keeper otherwise he wouldn't have gone to the World Cup in the first place.[LNB]"I have seen the last two games and he has played very well.[LNB]"It was a difficult summer for him and a difficult start to the season which you could understand because there was an awful lot of pressure on him.[LNB]"But he looks to be getting back to where he was before the World Cup."[LNB]Clemence added: "Only Robert can say how much affect it had on him being dropped after the United States game. But he is a strong character.[LNB]"Only a strong character would have done what he did after the game in facing up to all of the media.[LNB]"A lot of people would have skulked away and not wanted to speak to anyone but he was strong enough to come out and say I've made a mistake and we get on with it.[LNB]"Three or four days later Fabio decided to go with David James but Robert is a strong lad and he will come back from that.[LNB]"Robert is one of those lads who will do everything they can to be the best they can."[LNB]When asked if Green could be England's number one again, Clemence said: "He didn't let England down in all the games he played going up to the World Cup.[LNB]"There is no reason why he can't be number one.[LNB]"The problem he has got now is that Joe Hart has come into the squad, Ben Foster is playing regularly and playing well at Birmingham, and Scott Carson is also playing well for West Brom.[LNB]"All of a sudden, from not having a lot, we've got four keepers who are going to be battling it out and Joe is the one at the moment who is in possession.[LNB]"Having been there myself, possession is nine tenths of the law.[LNB]"But Rob is only 29. Good keepers play to nearly 40. Lots of things can happen."[LNB]Clemence had confidence in Green not to go to pieces after his first-half error against the USA after speaking to him at half-time.[LNB]He said: "The first thing I do is look at the player in the dressing room at half-time and see whether I think he is in control of everything.[LNB]"What I didn't want to do is walk across a dressing room of 23 players and make a big fuss of him.[LNB]"He knows what he has done. I looked at him. I could see the disappointment on his face but he wasn't in a mess.[LNB]"I just had a quiet word with him when he went to the loo on his own basically. I got the response I expected from him and in the second half he did well.[LNB]"He made a save at the end which no-one ever speaks about. We could have lost the game 2-1."[LNB]Clemence added: "Was I surprised Capello dropped Green? It is Fabio's decision and we had to win the next game and he felt it was the right thing to do.[LNB]"There was so much pressure on the boy that, god forbid, if he had made another mistake his life would have been in tatters."

Source: Team_Talk