Nigel: Carry On, David

Nigel Winterburn says that David Seaman should put his mistake against Brazil behind him - and carry on playing for club and country.

Amidst speculation that he will retire from international football, his former Arsenal compadre Nigel, who played hundreds of games at left back in front of him for the Gunners, says: "Only David will know what he is going to do. If he decides not to carry on I would say that the way David James played last season would make him England's number one.

"But I am sure, as David Seaman is a very proud man, he knows he is still at the top in goalkeeping terms.

"It takes a big and brave man to come back - and I am sure he will."

Talking of the error that led to England's exit from the World Cup, he adds: "I think you have to look at it as a whole. Because you are a goalkeeper, you are going to be the villain.

"But you have examine the whole picture - he was fantastic throughout the tournament and you can't query him being in the team.

"He had a great tournament and made one mistake. That mistake was vital, but as David will tell you, you know the consequences if you make that mistake.

"But he has certainly saved England more than he has let them down, and if I was him I wouldn't be too disappointed.

"I think already you can see from what the newspapers are saying, what the people in the street are saying, what esteem David Seaman has been held in throughout his career.

"David has already admitted it was just an error of judgment. I'm not a goalkeeper, but it looked to me that he was anticipating the cross, he misjudged the flight of the ball, and it just kept flying.

"It was too late to adjust then, but these things just keep happening. If you are an outfield player and you make a mistake 99.9% of the time, nothing happens.

"0.1% of the time you get punished but as a keeper your mistakes are always very costly because they end up with goals.

"It is one of those things that happens and there were a lot of things that led up to that goal and others that no one has even looked at.

"But it is being very picky. As a nation we look too much at the negative things and we should look at the positives.

"We should look forward to hopefully a good campaign for the European championships now."