Robinson makes confident return

The Blackburn goalkeeper Paul Robinson holds no grudges against his old club Tottenham Hotspur.

Paul Robinson could be forgiven for enjoying the worrying plight of his former club Tottenham Hotspur. But as he returns to White Hart Lane for the first time since his summer move to Blackburn, he has nothing but sympathy. The goalkeeper was dumped by former Spurs boss Juande Ramos after a confidence crisis led to high-profile errors for club and country last season. But Robinson said: "I had four years there and three-and-a-half of them were probably the happiest times of my career so far.

"It was a difficult time towards the end. I was not playing as well as I wanted to play, my confidence was low and that's the time you need the support of the people around you. You need the manager and the coaches to believe in you and I didn't get that. Confidence is the biggest part of the game for a goalkeeper." Another player facing his old club is Tottenham's David Bentley. And Spurs boss Harry Redknapp is backing the former Blackburn winger to win back his England place. Despite all the absences for the mid-week friendly with Germany, Bentley was ignored, with suggestions the coach Fabio Capello did not like his attitude.

But Redknapp said: "You don't have to like players to pick them. Some lads you wouldn't want to spend time with but you pick them every week. "I think Capello would pick anyone if they were good enough. It's up to David, he has to work hard and get in the squad." [e-mail]