After watching England`s latest debacle in being unable to beat Scotland we must be asking ourselves whether not only is Joe Hart`s City career at the end of the line, but also his England career, too.
And on the back of that, was Pep Guardiola right? The Catalan chief has long been critical of Hart`s footwork and clearly doesn`t view him as the ball playing net-minder he has in mind. But with those 2 free kicks yesterday – Joe looked like his feet were in buckets of cement.
He said that they were good free kicks. Who agrees with that? They weren`t in the corner, they weren`t just inside the post, both of them were in saveable places and if you think you are an international goalkeeper, you have got to keep those shots out. “Joe is a great shot stopper” we hear screaming from the seating decks at the Etihad, well this proves he is not.
Without being unkind to Leigh Griffiths, Lionel Messi he is not, Cristiano Ronaldo he is not, Yaya Toure he is not. Hart can have no excuses for letting in these free kicks. It displayed a lack of concentration and a lack of sharpness no doubt fuelled by the laid back life in Serie A where he visited the back of his net regularly all season.
Joe Hart will have done his forward career no favours at all based upon that display and he was lucky that Harry Kane kept himself alive, moving to slot home a well-taken equaliser to partially save the English blushes.
Having said that, if Smalling, Livermore and Dier are the best that Southgate can think of to protect his goal then the prospects for England are suitably dire. Quite how Dier thinks he can be England`s leader for the next 10 years escapes me.
Another awkward-looking prospect is that Walker and Bertrand were the full backs and we know where supposed to be destined before too long!
Southgate also made the wrong call with Rashford. He doesn`t fit in a wider position and is unlikely to take over from Kane. And why play a lad out of position just because he`s a Stretford when Sterling a natural wide speedster would have been likely to cause the Jimmies a bit more discomfort. Answers on a postcard?England managers are consistent in one thing. They think that if a footballer plays for Stretford and is breathing he is international material. Here is living proof to the contrary. Smalling could have been replaced by an empty wheelie bin and been more robust and secure and as for Rashord – well his day might arrive, but in term of forward capability and awareness, Harry leaves him for dead.
On this form one hopes that if Hart is to move on, maybe Sold Trafford is a good destination for him! I know we didn`t like Butterfingers Bravo and that it was left to Caballero, once again to save our grace, but although many fans wanted Joe Hart back, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and Senor Guardiola will be having a little chuckle to himself right now as new boy Ederson warms his gloves.
And what of Otamendi levelling Gabriel Jesus? What`s that about? If Otamendi is retained in the cabinet reshuffle at the Etihad he ought to be fined a summer of wages for attacking his own man.
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