Why Joe Hart deserves to be dropped for Manchester City and England

The highest-profile European game, reigning Champions League holders Bayern Munich facing a partly rejuvenated Manchester City side, ended as another dismal evening for Joe Hart. He was arguably at fault for all of Bayern Munichs goals in their 3-1 win, and it has not been the first time that Joe Hart has let down his team. Despite having only played eleven games in all competitions this season, he has made notable mistakes against Scotland, Cardiff, Aston Villa and Bayern Munich. Against Scotland, he fumbled a low 30-yard shot from James Morrison into the net at his near post. He did not get down quickly enough to stop this shot nor did he use his body well enough to get nearly enough force on the direction of the ball. England narrowly beat their fierce rivals 3-2. Against Cardiff, Manchester City were under a lot of pressure. They were still level, despite Cardiff working very hard to commit men forward and expose Citys lack of mobility or authority in defence. Two corners later, two goals. Hart was in no mans land for the first goal, providing a very meek physical challenge to Aron Gunnarson and not being proactive enough to move swiftly upon realisation that he was not going to get the ball and Fraizer Campbell was going to get a free header. Manchester City lost the game 3-2. Against Aston Villa, Hart was again caught in no-mans land. It was route-one football from Aston Villa; starting with a long punt from their goalkeeper, Brad Guzan, then swiftly moving into grasp of the movement on Andreas Weimann. The Villa forwards task was made a lot easier by Hart inexplicably running 40 yards out of goal and not making a convincing attempt to get the ball or put off the Villa striker. The Manchester City defenders could have tracked Weimann back until this point, but when he has got a cheap goal-bound shot away, the yards were simply too difficult to make up. Goalkeepers need to remember that

they have defenders in front of them who are extremely competent and fit. Manchester City lost this game by the same score line, 3-2. Against Bayern Munich, Joe Harts display was the worst I have ever seen of him as a player. He provided no leadership or influence on the Manchester City defenders, who were increasingly outnumbered and outthought by Bayern Munich attackers. He was also arguably at fault for all three goals. The first was a 30-yard shot from Franck Ribery, which caught Hart at his near post. Soon after, in the aftermath to Gael Clichys dawdling, Hart was arguably caught out of position for the incoming ball during Bayerns second. Later Hart was caught out again at his near post for Bayerns third. Manchester City lost the game 3-1. These constant mistakes form a trend. Joe Harts team have only won one of the games in which he has made these mistakes; Manchester City have lost all three and have conceded three goals in each of their aforementioned games. In describing this mistakes, it is clear that Hart is presently lacking all of the skills required for a top class goalkeeper. Rob Pollard summed this up perfectly (via B/R). Two years ago he was not afraid of shouting at Vincent Kompany; now he is afraid to look anywhere but down. Recently he has not shown anything like the reflexes, anticipation, agility or consistency that he has shown in the past. This just sums up what is most worrying about his game; at the moment, he is really lacking in technical features of his game, which are by far his best attributes as a goalkeeper. Both Manchester City and England have extremely capable backup, despite Ben Fosters injury. Costel Pantilimon has never disappointed when given a chance and was a key figure in Manchester Citys FA Cup run last season. If you have seen any of Fraser Forsters recent Champions League outings, you would not be able to reputably claim this Harts current attributes bypass his. So what that none of these are tested on the big stage? Until they are given a chance, we will never know how they can perform on the big stage. Football is a team game, and every member of the squad is there to play and contribute, so it makes no sense to dismiss either on the tried and tested basis. In making this sentiment, I am not suggesting that Joe Hart is a bad goalkeeper. In fact, I totally agree with Sir Alex Fergusons heaped praise on the England goalkeeper (via The Telegraph). I think that he is, in terms of talent, the best English goalkeeper in the last 20 years. I have mentioned his outstanding attributes earlier in this article, and I think that its easy to forget the countless outstanding saves that he has made in the past for Manchester City. After dislodging Shay Given as the No.1 goalkeeper for club, he was virtually impeccable for his first two years. The contribution he made to Manchester City winning their first Premier League title was unforgettable. Back then, he had competition. He should do now. If Costel Pantilimon fails to deceive, gets injured, is unavailable for any reason, or Joe Hart shows that he is the far superior goalkeeper in training, then he should win his place back. But as a manager, you continuously adapt to the current situation, and in this current situation, it would be a very difficult task indeed for Pantilimon to play any worse than Hart is at the moment.