Joe Hart, England and Manchester City’s No.1, has been a source of controversies of late. After a recent blunder against Chelsea, which gifted Fernando Torres the winner, Joe Hart has found himself in a penalty shootout against public opinion. He’s a large figure in English football, with his current standing as England’s first choice keeper, but his fans at City are starting to feel Hartbroken.
Joe Hart moved to Manchester City from Shrewsbury Town in May 2006 for an initial transfer fee of £100,000. He later made his debut that October against Sheffield United in which he kept a clean sheet. Since then he has played 173 games for his club and also has 37 caps for England. So, what’s gone wrong?
The 26-year-old keeper has been inconsistent for his club and country in recent months and it’s been a worry to Manchester City and England supporters.
Some would argue that the rot began in February this year when City lost 3-1 away at Southampton. It was blindingly obvious to see Hart’s mistake when he dropped a catch from a Rickie Lambert shot which ended up being poked into the back of the net by Steven Davies. Early this season Hart fumbled a relatively straightforward shot from Scotland’s James Morrison which resulted in a goal during the 3-2 thriller against the auld enemy at Wembley in August. However, critics really began to pile on the pressure when City lost to newly promoted Cardiff City when Hart flapped at a corner, like small kids would during a playground fight. A month later, Hart and City were also on the wrong end of another 3-2 scoreline as he again failed to protect his goal from a clinical Aston Villa side.
A man who won the title for the most clean sheets during the 2011-12 campaign when City won the league has now seemingly lost the full backing of his manager with Manuel Pellegrini refusing to publicly back Hart after his late gaffe gifted Chelsea the victory on Sunday. It’s no real surprise that Pellegrini should be angry with Hart after a below par individual display against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, in which City lost 3-1, also left Pellegrini fuming. In his annoyance, Pelligrini admitted to being disappointed with ‘dropping stupid points’ away at Cardiff and Aston Villa. But what is the cure to Pelligrini’s Hart failure?
Yet Hart still remains to be the first choice keeper for both his club and country. Is this trust being misplaced? Roy Hodgson, who recently got England through to the World Cup Finals by the skin of his teeth, has put all his confidence on Hart. After Hart’s questionable performance against the European Champions in the Champions League, Hodgson said in an interview: “As far as I am concerned he has never let me or the team down during the time I have been working with him so I have every confidence, every faith in him that he will have the confidence to put this behind him.”
It is sure to be a turbulent remainder of the season for Manchester City fans as they aim to regain the title from their cross-city neighbours and it’ll be interesting to see if Hart can deliver and regain his form from the past. If not, I would expect Pellegrini and his staff, not to mention Roy and his, to be taking a look around for alternatives.
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