It'd be great to see for sure, again can't remember where I heard/read (possibly dreamt it) but Pep has free reign for three years, then a one year extension with Paddy V as an assistant for the fourth and final year to train in the ways of the Pep.I concur mate. Be great to see home grown players breaking through at the expense of the ' ready made' players that most managers choose to buy.
That'd be the most disappointing thing for me to be honest, Joe accepting his fate without a fight, if in fact he was ever given a choice in the matter that is.This is my feeling too. I've not seen anything so far to suggest that Willy has better passing skills than Joe, in fact in my view, he turned the ball over (by putting it out of play) more than Joe does. I'll be very disappointed to see Joe go, not only for what he has done for us, and for being the second "big Joe" in goal in my City-supporting life, and for being proud to genuinely have England's number one in goal for us, but also because it suggests to me that he is not up for the fight to adapt to Pep's system to win his place back
No I didn't miss anything. You've just been woefully inconsistent and slagged De Gea and Neuer and held them to a completely different standard to Joe in your critique.I made my original comment in the context of some of the mindless slagging off of Hart on Talksport etc - a witch hunt - so I set out a few facts/stats. You missed that point. I didn't say anything about Pep initially. Of course his job is to shape the team as he thinks fit. No-one is challenging that.
When you refer to Willy's 'inability to catch' I assume you mean ' hold on to shots'. ( his catching ability on crosses is better than Joe's).
I agree that the incident you mention against Sunderland was not the best of saves but he did not push into an immediate central danger area as you imply.He got it wide but not wide enough and so we then had to defend against their winger picking up possession on our right side of defense.
It is true that not not all goalie mistakes lead to goals. Joe made a number of errors on crosses last season (either losing the flight of the ball or punching when he should have caught) which did not end up with the ball in the back of the net. It is therefore unfair to single out Willy in this respect.
Thanks - sounds like a pretty idiotic thing to do.A couple of times he had the ball at his feet, under no pressure, with defenders available, but hoofed it up field. They did seem like small acts of defiance.
By "OK" I mean he's done well filling in while we find a long term solution at the back - he hasn't made any errors directly leading to goals by the opposition. And he's followed Pep's instructions to play it out from the back when possible. In other words, he's done about as well as I expected.Rubbish. His hands are harder than diamonds. He hasn't had much to do - let's not focus on distribution but on ability to save the ball. Against Sunderland they had a shot to his right which he pushed out into open play. At the time it reached his hands he hadn't left the ground making a catch easy but if not, then st least push it wide not back into open play. Just cos nothing came of it doesn't make it ok. He has an inability to catch and he too regularly pushes it back into play that is because his reaction time is slower than Joes meaning he can still get his hands to the shot but he can't position them properly to deflect it in the right way if not catch. The fact that none of the goals we have let in were directly attributable to his error doesn't mean he has done ok. If I jump out of a plane without a parachute and land in a huge bail of hay and survive in tact it doesn't mean I did the right thing. Not all mistakes result in goals
Christ, that's shocking. Surprised that anyone would have listened to Richards, but Hart, Silva and Toure would certainly have been an issue.And Silva, Toure and Richards.
We'd have lost our entire spine at the time.
I'm not particularly arsed Mancini was sacked but I brought it up as one nobber was moaning about Hart being replaced and Mancini being sacked.
Thanks - sounds like a pretty idiotic thing to do.
For what it's worth I'm a Joe Hart fan and the theory that makes most sense to me is that he has been judged as falling short in the attitude, not ability, stakes.
Let's just hope it's all concluded very rapidly from here.