Joe Hart (joined Torino on season long loan - Official)

[mosssideblue]

Why would Pep publicly state his admiration for Joe's qualities, and then not play him, or even worse, bring in a new keeper without giving him the chance to adapt ?
As Urban Genie just commented, Joe had Mangala/ Otomendi in front of him last season, and we all had our head in our hands whenever Mangala had the ball at his feet!
Surely Pep can improve Hart's game? And with Stones, and hopefully Vinny at some point in front of him, his confidence at playing out from the back will increase considerably.
Ditching one of our longest serving players wouldn't go down well with the fans either.

Would you rather he came out and said I don't think he's any good, so I have dropped him?

 

[moenchengladbach blau]

Joe Hart is a quality keeper who's having a bad run of form, behind a shambles of a defence for both club and country. This obsession about being poor with the ball at his feet doesn't wash with me, I want my keeper to be good with his hands because that's the advantage a keeper has, he can use 'em, I don't care if my keeper can't spray 50yard diagonal passes around the pitch, most of our outfield players can't either, Delph struggles to pass it accurately from 10 yards

Exactly passing out to defenders just seems to put the responsibility onto them to make a decent pass and they can easily be closed down by a pressing forward team.

The hoof to half way line by a goalie who is somewhat protected to some extent and even if it is not pretty or always effective, does put the ball 50 yards from the goal and not the edge of the penalty area.

On the official website the part of the training match shown on video did not have Hart playing in either goal, although he was around at the end.

Hart is not perfect but to drop an established player in this first game and play Willie would concern me whether Pep has won dozens of trophies or none.

Eight hours to kick off and counting.........

 

[mosssideblue]

This could be our Ronaldinho moment, who was dropped when pep joined despite being a back bone for the previous year s... Ofcourse the big difference is Joe's attitude is spot on and is a positive role model for the dressing room

I want him to stay and hope this situation is more comparable to when he came back when pellegrini dropped him and he came back strong

That is something we can only speculate on. For what we see on camera, he does look like you are correct. Once that dressing room door is closed, who knows

 

[1894southstander]

I think Hart will start, he should have players moving in front of him for once, giving him options to pass to so i think he will be just fine. For as good as willy did in the league cup final, i do worry for the start of the season if he is in net.

 

[itsnevereasy]

I think Hart will be dropped today.

Pep wants players who follow his instructions, against Arsenal he clearly instructed Willy to play from the back. I can't see him telling Hart at half time "Joe, you now just hoof it up the pitch". So did Hart just disobey Pep? If so I'd be willing to put money on Joe being sold.

 

[mosssideblue]

Let's just enjoy the first match on the season and witness the start of a new era where mistakes will inevitably be made without thinking about whether Joe or Willy were the right choice

 

[razman]

That is something we can only speculate on. For what we see on camera, he does look like you are correct. Once that dressing room door is closed, who knows

Ofcourse, we don't know what's goes on behind dressing rooms... But it has been widely reported before

I do hope Joe adapts... And want him to stay... Lets see how it goes..

 

[Rolee]

I recall when City released all that statistical data a few years back the keeper with the best stats in the league for short passing was Hart, what happened since?

 

[The Light Was Yellow Sir]

Joe Hart is a quality keeper who's having a bad run of form, behind a shambles of a defence for both club and country. This obsession about being poor with the ball at his feet doesn't wash with me, I want my keeper to be good with his hands because that's the advantage a keeper has, he can use 'em, I don't care if my keeper can't spray 50yard diagonal passes around the pitch, most of our outfield players can't either, Delph struggles to pass it accurately from 10 yards

I don't think it's anything to do with being good with his feet or passing accuracy, it's about what's between his ears. For better or worse Guardiola does not want the opposition to have the ball, ever. By kicking it to the opponents centre half, full back or into touch, they have the ball back and cheaply. All his goalkeeper needs to do is be able to understand what is going on, on the pitch, and to receive the ball from, or give the ball to, a player in space. Joe is merely symptomatic of the English game, as is 'kicking it into row z', another aspect of the game that will be consigned to history, at least at City, for the next three years.
High risk, high reward football. Can't wait.

 

[bondsman]

Hope he plays today and proves a few people wrong. Caballero just is not as good a keeper.

 

[Hart of the Matter]

I think Hart will be dropped today.

Pep wants players who follow his instructions, against Arsenal he clearly instructed Willy to play from the back. I can't see him telling Hart at half time "Joe, you now just hoof it up the pitch". So did Hart just disobey Pep? If so I'd be willing to put money on Joe being sold.

I also think this is the case. Cannot imagine Pep gave Joe different instructions given he was wanting to embed the system with very little time to do it. If this was the case then Joe (legend) can have no complaints.

 

[TonyM]

Harts our best keeper by a long distance, but Pep likes his sweeper keepers, Joe needs to addapt simple as that.

I recall Bobby used to have us play out the back at times and Joe managed to do it, but then he had Vinny and Joleon to give it to who were comfy on the ball, passing to nando , mangala and otter has seen goals given away last year, so understand harts hesitance to do it but maybe having stones there will help.

I have only ever been gutted to see a keeper go when Coton did, but unlike then I expect a better quality keeper to arrive than Eike Immel

I was gutted when James left.

 

[davymcfc]

I can't understand all this about joe. Really happy pep is here but you would think that he would understand that joe is one of the best goalkeepers in the world, knows the club inside out and is a born leader. I think it's really sad what seems to be happening.

 

[Pepup]

There appears to be a witch hunt started by sports pundits and newspapers after his display in thr Euros (they had to have someone to blame), why have so many blue's jumped on the bandwagon. Joe is an excellent keeper that's had a wobble, he has saved our team a lot more than he has lets us down, time to get behind him no matter what happens.

 

[Lancet Fluke]

I think Hart will be dropped today.

Pep wants players who follow his instructions, against Arsenal he clearly instructed Willy to play from the back. I can't see him telling Hart at half time "Joe, you now just hoof it up the pitch". So did Hart just disobey Pep? If so I'd be willing to put money on Joe being sold.

I will be disappointed if Pep doesn't give Joe a crack at keeping hold of his place in the team but I'm not expecting him to. Something looked wrong with what happened in the second half of that match. It was so odd to see Joe make virtually no effort to pass it out and his body language didn't look right. I assumed he had already been told that he's either not in Pep's plans or that he is in a real fight to save his City career and he hadn't responded well to what he was told. I'm old fashioned, it baffles me that any manager would be more bothered about a keeper's distribution than his ability to stop the ball going into the net but clearly it's Pep's way and he will be trusted by the club to do whatever he wants. It'll help if he's winning matches because if we are losing and he has replaced Joe with someone who is perceived to be costing us matches, I think he will find patience, in the stands at least, will wear pretty thin pretty quickly and that will be no good for anyone. Personally I think he would be better bringing in a better option than Willy this window if possible, giving Joe a chance and then if it doesn't work out at least supporters will have seen that he gave him a chance and that there is a need to replace him and he will have someone ready to come in.

 

[urban genie]

There appears to be a witch hunt started by sports pundits and newspapers after his display in thr Euros (they had to have someone to blame), why have so many blue's jumped on the bandwagon. Joe is an excellent keeper that's had a wobble, he has saved our team a lot more than he has lets us down, time to get behind him no matter what happens.

Tbf there is a number critical of Joe on here each season so hardly a witch hunt from blues (the media are full of shite about every england keeper last 20yrs), and I doubt Pep is basing his choices on the euros

 

[TonyM]

Hart attack?

 

[pudge]

I was gutted when James left.

Now there's someone Pep would have flogged within an hour.

Long, high ball out wide to Trevor Sinclair all day, every day.

 

[razman]

Exactly passing out to defenders just seems to put the responsibility onto them to make a decent pass and they can easily be closed down by a pressing forward team.

The hoof to half way line by a goalie who is somewhat protected to some extent and even if it is not pretty or always effective, does put the ball 50 yards from the goal and not the edge of the penalty area.

On the official website the part of the training match shown on video did not have Hart playing in either goal, although he was around at the end.

Hart is not perfect but to drop an established player in this first game and play Willie would concern me whether Pep has won dozens of trophies or none.

Eight hours to kick off and counting.........

All perfectly fine points, but Pep's method is that he wants players to trust him and follow his instructions... So that would require Joe to pass out from the back and build up play... That's the way it is.. Joe has to adapt

I remember watching a video on sky where Thiery Henry was explaining that pep asked him that play in a certain area of the pitch .. right wing if I am remember . During the match in the 1st half ... All the action was happening was going on the other side of the pitch to where Henry was playing... So Henry went to the other wing... Despite Pep's clear instruction .. And scored a goal.

He was subbed off at half time!

My point is Pep needs his players trust.. And in Hart's case, he needs to adapt and it seems by pep's comment...quickly

 

[itsnevereasy]

I will be disappointed if Pep doesn't give Joe a crack at keeping hold of his place in the team but I'm not expecting him to. Something looked wrong with what happened in the second half of that match. It was so odd to see Joe make virtually no effort to pass it out and his body language didn't look right. I assumed he had already been told that he's either not in Pep's plans or that he is in a real fight to save his City career and he hadn't responded well to what he was told. I'm old fashioned, it baffles me that any manager would be more bothered about a keeper's distribution than his ability to stop the ball going into the net but clearly it's Pep's way and he will be trusted by the club to do whatever he wants. It'll help if he's winning matches because if we are losing and he has replaced Joe with someone who is perceived to be costing us matches, I think he will find patience, in the stands at least, will wear pretty thin pretty quickly and that will be no good for anyone. Personally I think he would be better bringing in a better option than Willy this window if possible, giving Joe a chance and then if it doesn't work out at least supporters will have seen that he gave him a chance and that there is a need to replace him and he will have someone ready to come in.

I agree that Hart should be given a chance, for us he has been the keeper who has been in place during all our recent success. But does Pep have to show the fans that he is making the correct decision by playing Joe if he can't / won't follow instructions?

I would guess Pep doesn't feel that he has to justify any decision that he makes and will be ruthless.