Former England keeper Ray Clemence says under-fire Scott Carson needs to rediscover his confidence.Carson, currently on loan to Aston Villa from Liverpool, has looked out of sorts since he gifted Niko Krancjar the opening goal in Croatia's 3-2 win at Wembley in November which resulted in England being eliminated from Euro 2008.

But ex-England goalkeeping coach Clemence has faith in the 22-year-old to bounce back in the same way as he has seen encouraging signs regarding Paul Robinson's recent form after his blunder in the first meeting with Croatia 18 month ago.

Clemence, now the FA's head of national teams, said: "Carson has had a little bit of a downturn since the Croatia game and looks to be lacking a little bit of confidence at the moment.

"He is only 22 and, the younger you are, the more criticism hurts and he did take a lot for that game against Croatia when there were other people on the field that night who didn't play that well either.

"Unfortunately he has taken the brunt of it since and I've been at a couple of grounds to watch Villa where the fans haven't been the kindest to him.

"It is difficult at the moment for him but I know him, he is a strong character, he is young and he will bounce back and the ability will not leave him.

"I know that he will come back because he has great ability."

Clemence, who was capped 67 times for his country, added: "Criticism is just part of growing up as a goalkeeper. We all have to accept if you are going to be a goalkeeper you need to be very thick skinned because you will get more criticism than anyone else.

"You have to be able to take that criticism. There was a famous quote 'it is not being knocked down that matters, it is how you get up' and that is what you have to learn as a keeper.

"You have to keep picking yourself up, keep dusting yourself down. It is just having the confidence to show those abilities and the mental strength."

Clemence has seen Tottenham keeper Robinson slowly but surely pick himself up off the floor after being much maligned for his 'air shot' when he failed to connect with a Gary Neville back pass in Croatia.

He said: "Paul is rebuilding things. It has been a difficult year for him through one thing or another and he got left out of the team and that was a blow to him as well.

"But I've seen signs since Juande Ramos brought him back into the team that he is getting to where he was when (he was) the England keeper.

"Paul is now picking himself up. Maybe he is too harsh on himself but that's the way he is and, if that's how he gets the best out of himself, then that's fine.

"I can see that confidence returning and next season, everyone starts with a clean sheet and we will see what happens."

Clemence was speaking in Lesotho after travelling with England head coach Fabio Capello to witness at first hand the Football Association's moves in Africa to develop the game at grass roots level.

He said: "This programme is very important. There are two aspects to it. One is to encourage African footballers. There are quite a number in the game at the moment. There is a lot of talent out here but the coaching they get is limited.

"It gives us a chance to give something back to the game. We have been involved in projects like this for 10 years in Lesotho, Malawi and Botswana.

"We are trying to provide as many level one coaches as we can so they can go out in the communities and coach the youngsters and make them better players. We want them to become self sufficient.

"It is lovely to have the players at the top end but you have to have some grass roots

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