MC ID said:
I think we have to except that having Given as a second option is extremely luckily and whoever we would replace them with would be almost certainly a step down. This is what happens when you have a fantastic yet very young keeper :p
This.
When will people realize that we're not going to get the likes of Craig Gordon, Hahnemann, Cuddicini, they're all "too good" to sit on the bench, in their minds anyway. All of them could find first team football, and no one with an sort of ambition, or who is really any good at all, will come here. If Mancini doesn't give Given a fair go at getting the no.1 spot, they all know that they wont have a chance.
In reality, the best we can hope for is good enough, and pray that Hart doesn't get injured. And that's what you get for Mancini's inability to rotate his squad when it comes to the keepers spot. For me I don't think Given ever had a fair shot, and Hart's age won it for him. And no, it's not about not being able to do it, that it messes up the squad. Baconface did it and does it well. And his no.2 isn't anywhere as good as our lad. It was bad management.
No decent keeper in their right mind will come here. Simple as. And we'll have to accept that.
They will either be too young and inexperienced, but any decent young lad isn't going to come here because Hart's only 24.
And any half decent experienced keeper wont come here for the same reason, nobody wants to come and sit on the bench.
And it's obvious from Mancini's behavior that he's not going to give any one else a chance at winning the no.1 spot.
I think we either need to aim high and actually buy a player to COMPETE with Hart, who has a realistic chance of winning the no.1 spot, (or convince Given that he has a real chance) or accept the fact that we will be settling for a shit cover, or one who has no ambition.
So I guess it comes down to how much we want Hart as no.1. Do we buy to keep him happy and risk having a poor cover if he's injured or drops his for again. Or do we buy high, and actually let them compete, or let Shay genuinely compete with him. But I doubt that'll happen, Shay's clearly had enough, and is leaving, though it's a bit of a waste because he doesn't seem to want to.
Given sat on the bench and acted like a pro for the season, he didn't moan, he kept his head down. There'd be no harm if Hart had to do the same this season if it meant that we had to buy a top class keeper. Because I'm really not liking the alternative option.