Having dropped to the bench for last Friday's meaningless friendly against Austria, it appears that McClaren may well have finally lost patience with Tottenham's error prone goalkeeper. Despite some solid performances for his club of late it appears the crisis in confidence is far from over, leaving the door open for Portsmouth's David James or Liverpool's Scott Carson, who is currently on loan to Aston Villa.
If selected for the starting XI Robinson will face team who benefited from his first glaring mistake and perhaps the incident that has led to his alarming drop in form. Last year, in Zagreb, with the help of ridiculously nasty bobble, Croatia saw Robinson implode. His performance led to a tirade of vitriol and mockery from the press and one could argue he hasn't been the same player since. He will no doubt be determined to face the Croats and prove his doubters wrong. Whether McClaren, who has remained steadfastly loyal to Paul - playing him in every single qualifier despite his form - will give him the chance is another question.