- Home >
- Soccer >
- Premier League >
- Art Of Goalkeeping Has Left Joe Hart Behind And Out Of Pep Guardiola's Picture
Art Of Goalkeeping Has Left Joe Hart Behind And Out Of Pep Guardiola's Picture
Pep Guardiola was expected to make sweeping changes at Manchester City and their goalkeeper is the most high profile victim.
beIN SPORTS
By Graham Ruthven (@grahamruthven)
Pep Guardiola was always likely to make changes at Manchester City. That’s why he was hired. The Etihad Stadium club are depending on the Catalan coach bringing about change as they strive to become a truly elite force of the European game. Collateral damage was to be expected.
There should, therefore, be little surprise at the way Joe Hart has been dropped as City’s first-choice goalkeeper. Guardiola demands certain things and qualities from his shot-stoppers and the England international simply cannot provide them. It now likely that Hart will leave the club before the summer transfer window shuts.
This isn’t to say that Hart is necessarily a bad goalkeeper, though. Sure, he has made a number of high-profile mistakes over the past season or so, losing his place on occasion to Willy Caballero under Manuel Pellegrini’s charge. It’s just that his natural traits - particularly, his ball-playing traits - aren’t what Guardiola wants or needs.
Hart’s ability is often overstated, generally by English soccer fans who desperately want him to be the latest in a string of goalkeeping legends produced by the country, but his lack of comfortability with the ball at his feet is why Guardiola has benched him. He cannot play the sweeper-keeper role that is so important to the Catalan’s identity as a coach.
If we are to believe Guardiola at his word, he wants Hart to stay at Man City. He believes the England number one will improve under his stewardship, although conflicting reports claim that any understanding has broken down between the two men.
"I don't want players to stay if they don't want," Guardiola explained on Friday when asked whether Hart would be sold before the end of the transfer window. "If they want to stay, stay and we will fight together. If he stays he will improve. He understands what we want from our goalkeeper.
"I spoke with Joe from the first moment we met in China. I try to be clear with my players and I was clear with him. I have a lot of respect for him. Maybe Joe will stay here and be a player who will fight with the other goalkeepers to convince me to play him. That is the way it is - nothing has changed.”
Would Hart really get an opportunity to improve, and demonstrate his improvement, were he to remain at the Etihad Stadium beyond the end of the month? With Claudio Bravo expected to arrive from Barcelona as City’s new number one, it’s likely that Hart would be Guardiola’s third-choice goalkeeper behind Caballero. He wouldn’t even get a run-out in the League Cup.
Guardiola is a stubborn character, very rarely changing his mind from first impression. He has decided that Hart is not suitable as City’s first-choice goalkeeper under his control and he will not go back on that. The Englishman should cut his losses and make a move as soon as possible for the good of his own career.
The clash between Guardiola and Hart is illustrative of how the role of the goalkeeper has changed over the past few years. Not so long ago, Hart’s natural skill-set would have been sufficient for him to hold down a place at an elite club. Now, goalkeepers are expected to be just as good with the ball at their feet as they are with their hands. The art of being the number one has changed and Guardiola is as responsible for that as anyone.
Bravo is of the mould Guardiola likes his goalkeepers to be forged from. The Chilean will become an important outfield figure for Man City, with his tendency for a howler offset by his ability in possession. Actual goalkeeping is somewhat secondary when Guardiola comes to picking his goalkeeper.