McClaren to Drop Robinson for Carson

The Aston Villa goalkeeper Scott Carson has been given the nod to start in England's crucial Euro 2008 qualifier against Croatia tomorrow, a source close to the camp has told Guardian Unlimited.

Carson, who only made his full international debut against Austria last Friday, will replace Paul Robinson, whose error-strewn performances for Spurs and England this season seem to have robbed him of both his confidence and his judgment. Steve McClaren has consistently backed Robinson in public, but it is understood that he decided to go with Carson following a series of mistakes by the Spurs keeper in training yesterday.

Despite Robinson's recent poor form, the decision to go with Carson - which won't be confirmed until an hour before kick-off - still ranks as a minor surprise, with Robinson having played every minute of the qualifying campaign. At a press conference earlier today, McClaren refused to give any clue as to the composition of his line-up, but when asked if he understood the concern around Robinson, he replied with a curt "yep".

McClaren, who has named Steven Gerrard as his captain, revealed that he had already picked his team, but would not inform the players until later this evening. "The players may think they have an idea, but they won't know the team until it goes up on the board at 6.30pm tonight," he insisted.

John Terry, who has been sidelined since damaging his knee in training on the day before England's defeat in Russia, took part in training with the squad this morning but won't be considered for tomorrow's match. With Rio Ferdinand also out injured, Sol Campbell and Joleon Lescott are likely to continue as a makeshift partnership in the center of defense.

McClaren also spoke of his determination to take full advantage of the reprieve granted to England by Israel's shock win over Russia on Saturday. A draw would be enough for England to progress, though a 2-0 victory would enable them to leapfrog Croatia to the top of the group. "It will be results-orientated, of course," said McClaren, "but results only come from performances so we're concentrating on putting in a big performance.

"The campaign is over 12 games and those game are not over yet. It's not done and dusted, we know we have a difficult job to do because Croatia are a good tea, but we were always confident it would come down to the 12th game, it has done. Now we have to finish the job and I'm know we have the players to do that. They've big players, who play in big games week in, week out, and now is the time to deliver."

Gerrard struck a similar note. "It was difficult at the weekend watching other teams and hoping results would go our way," he admitted. "But as soon as we knew it was back in our hands, we were 100% focused on doing the match against Croatia. We've got a lot of big players in this time. I've played in some majestic games for Liverpool and a lot of the other players have played in big games too, so we need to bring out the spirit from past big performances to beat Croatia, who are a quality side."

Gerrard claimed that if England do reach the finals, England could mount a strong challenge for the trophy. "I certainly feel we could make a big impact," he said. "That's why it was so frustrating when it was out of our hands, because I knew we could be sitting at home watching the tournament while knowing we had the players to do well there."

McClaren echoed that sentiment, adding: "Tomorrow night is a big game but our aim is to qualify and then expand beyond that. We want to be playing in more and more big games. The first six months were difficult for various reasons but I think that during the second half of the campaign, game we've really stepped forward - myself, the staff, the players and a squad, and I think performances have shown that, except for a 10-minute spell against Russia. We're a strong team."