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

[jamesha]

I do not think that any fan (or press) knows what has gone on with Joe to reach this point but if Pep planned to get rid of him from the start I would have thought that he would have had a new keeper in place a lot earlier. Joe is a fairly strong character and maybe his attitude was not that good when he came back after the Euros? Pep would get reports from his goalkeeping coach so the fact that it is reported he has not spoken to Joe does not worry me.

Joe needs to knuckle down, train hard and try to adapt to what is being asked of goalkeepers in Pep's system. He has done well for City in the past but he should remember that he is a (very) well paid employee and needs to do his best whilst he is still here.

I do not think that Pep would have expected this level of angst to be whipped up by the English media. The "discussion" on TalkSport after the game last night was sub rag-cafe/rawk in its stupidity.

 

[meeesh]

Good luck to him in the future. Appreciate and thanks for all he's done but this needs to happen sooner rather than later. The longer it drags the longer we are open to pot shots from all and sundry who frankly it has fuck all to do with. I can accept blues being sad to see him go but you either buy into what Pep is trying to do or sulk and pick faults with any new keeper. The second option seems pretty petty.

I agree,it can't drag on much longer,but it should have been sorted weeks ago,if Pep realised he was surplus,they not back till later today,so nothing will be sorted today no matter what the media try and say

 

[GaudinoMotors]

Watching Caballero last night tells me that Hart's exclusion isn't based on his footballing ability. It's a statement.

Pep has taken over a squad which has been known to down tools and even pressurise senior management into removing a coach. He had to assert his authority and seems to believe the best way to do that was to remove one of the "untouchables".

Over the past few years our key players have been our spine of Hart, Kompany, Yaya, Silva and Aguero. Dropping/selling Yaya wouldn't have worked as everyone knows he's on the wane and not really suited to Premier League football anymore, never mind Pep football. Similarly, Silva is getting on, isn't the fittest and so it wouldn't have been a huge statement if he'd have been cast out. Kompany's injury record has led many to question his long term future and so again, that wouldn't have had the desired effect.

That leaves us with Hart vs Aguero. From this point it's an easy choice really, the only way to make the desired statement was to oust Hart. I feel sorry for Joe as I like him, he's been brilliant for us and it looks like he's not even getting a chance. But ultimately it's not about the football and I begrudgingly agree it's a good tactic from Pep to gain control of the dressing room and will work out well in the long term.

I just pray we've sealed the Bravo deal as I don't fancy Caballero in goal all season.

If making it a non footballing matter helps you come to terms with it, good for you.
I'd say it's a combination of football and non football - more the football, but hey it's all about opinions.

 

[grim up north]

Helping a big rival is not a great idea.

Helping? are we giving him away.

 

[Neville Kneville]

Fair enough mate, each to their own and all that. I thought most kids would want the chance to meet their heroes though?

I'm not bothered about meeting players these days, but when I was a kid I loved it. Autograph book, the works! Mind you I suppose the modern equivalent is a phone gallery full of selfies with disinterested looking players!

Haha yeah.

 

[Andy Morrisons jock strap]

Seems a strange thing to do selling a keeper in his prime but I guess you have to trust the manager after all he has delivered time and time again so you can't really question his judgement.

I'll miss Joe though he has been a standout performer in the last 5 years and been a great keeper and personality for the team , I'll especially miss the shouting in the tunnel as the team prepares to come out

 

[meeesh]

Helping? are we giving him away.

You know what he means,it's not about the money

 

[Tevez City]

Why are you comparing hart to Valdez

Pep accepted Valdes as his #1 GK, so why not Hart who is much better !

 

[supercity88]

We see this a lot on here, in recent seasons.

People who seem to put their love and respect of personalities above the best interests of the club?

I suspect outside of the emotion, there are also plenty who are just fearful of what might now come with change.

The bedrock of a team which has won trophies, but needs to evolve for the first time.

The fact we have Pep overseeing that change, we should consider ourselves the luckiest fans in world football.

He's not been here long enough to let emotion get in the way, he is making informed decisions based on what he has no doubt observed from afar for a good while.

It's also cemented by an approach which can be backed up with numerous trophies at the highest level.

We've still yet to experience operating at the highest of levels, barring a virtual bystander in last season's Champions League semi final, devoid of tactics or belief.

Mancini didn't fancy Hart, even Pellegrini showed his uncertainty.

Now Pep.

Good post. It's true that many will be fearful of change. Sometimes you make mistakes and players leave that go on to show they should have remained. There aren't many cases of this at City. Chelsea have done it - De Bruyne under Mourinho being a prime example. Matic as well. The rags have done it - Pogba being the headline case.

The Pogba scenario is evidence of what can happen if a club/manager is scared to change. Ferguson has his methods and a new kid on the block with attitude and confidence wasn't something he liked. He was old school and didn't like that footballers were becoming so famous. He was happy to see Beckham go because of it and though Scholes had left preferred to go back to what he knew and bring him out of retirement, than try a youngster who he thought needed his head shrinking a bit.

Mourinho has similar issues. He has a core of players and he gets them all on side. But anyone outside of that rarely gets a look in. There's a small window of time when that squad is fine and things work. But inevitably a crack appears and then the small core gets a bit smaller and then you've a majority of players on the outside of the circle and things crumble. Mourinho has twice left Chelsea in such circumstances and I'm sure he'll leave the rags in the same way. He'll probably win things (though he's a harder job doing this than ever before) but he'll leave them in the shit still.

Pep doesn't really mind about names too much. He's all about tactics, style and workrate. If you understand his tactics and the style of play he wants and you work hard on the pitch you're fine. If a keeper makes mistakes trying to play the right way he's okay with it. Same for any player out there. You just work hard to atone for that error. You can't have a single player in the starting 11 that plays differently to the rest of the team tactically or stylistically. One player dropping off when the rest press and it falls apart - this is what happened time and time again under Pellegrini. We all saw it, yet he did nothing. Pep will change things and unfortunately the goalkeeper is as much an outfield player as a shot stopper. He can launch attacks from quick throws/passing and can control things defensively by offering himself to receive the ball and play it on.

Last night we saw this in action (though not too often). Caballero picked up the ball, played out to a centre back/Ferny and the Steaua players were easily bypassed and we were at them again.

 

[grim up north]

You know what he means,it's not about the money

Its a bit of a daft post you could say the same about any transfer between clubs in the same league