A goalkeeper is a man apart in the strip he wears and the laws of the game that apply to him. In Joe Hart's case there is a further distinguishing feature. He is the one goalkeeper in the England squad who plays in the Premier League. The issue troubles Fabio Capello and his coaches, but there is no obvious way in which the problem can be solved.
Hart, Ben Foster, Paul Robinson and John Ruddy all started matches in the top flight last weekend. Foster and Robinson, however, do not now wish to be considered for the international scene and Norwich's Ruddy is thought unsuitable by Capello. Should anything untoward happen to Hart in Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier in Bulgaria, and with Rob Green injured, he will be replaced by David Stockdale, who is on loan at Ipswich from Fulham, or Frank Fielding, Derby County's England Under-21 goalkeeper.
Capello will be glad that Hart's circumstances are markedly different. The 24-year-old features for Manchester City, who will give him further experience at the highest level. This is a shot-stopper who can be seen, too, as a saving grace for his country, yet such a depiction is unsettling to him. "There are plenty of English keepers," Hart says, "who could hold down a position at a Premier League club and could be in the England squad. It is just [about] getting that opportunity."
Even so, Hart operates in a special environment that puts him to the test, with practice sessions at City likely to be as much or more of a trial than the games themselves now that he faces David Silva, Sergio Agüero, and Edin Dzeko. "It messes with your head sometimes," Hart says. "You go for one ball and the next minute it's gone through three other people and it's in the other side of the net before you've even dived. But that's the exciting thing. It's going to help me improve, playing [against] these good strikers and the passing football that goes on."
Thank goodness that we have Joe Hart.
Gavin Wilson
MINDSi SPORTS PERFORMANCE
www.MindsiOnline.com
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