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

[Abattoir Blue]

One wonders why you follow football, listen to music, watch TV....or interact with people at all, if all people are to you is what they earn.

Football teams print money. Should that money go to the people who make the club what it is and put bums in seats and success on the field? Or, should it just all flow back into the pockets of Sheikh Mansour, who these players have helped turn a few hundred million into two billion?

Only sad muppets with no life shake their fist at anyone who has made something of themselves. Some people actually work their way to the top in a very competitive field, as has Joe Hart. Does he get very well paid? Absolutely! Should he? Absolutely! Are some wages seemingly obscene? Absolutely! Does he earn it by being one of the best at what he does in a field that generates billions of pounds? Absolutely. Does ANY of that require him to be a class act during this upheaval? Absolutely NOT...but he has been.

Don't cry for Joe Hart, he will be fine. However, to try to distill him down to his paycheck is disrespectful in the extreme for a player that has represented our club as well as anyone over the years of service he has provided.

Perfectly put. Hart can't control how much he and other footballers get paid. All he can do is control his own performances and behaviour.

Opinions will always differ on his performances - my opinion is that in the system he has been asked to perform for almost a decade he has been mostly excellent.

Behaviour wise I think there can be little dissent - he has always been a magnificent ambassador for City. His interviews have been thoughtful and showed he cared, he is always the first over to away fans at the end of the game and reminding the other players to do so. And that celebration when Aguero scored...

Finally, if you don't invest emotionally in players at all then what's the point? Don't get me wrong, players more than ever come and go. But not to recognise Joe's contribution and berating/laughing at others for having the temerity to feel a bit sad seems odd to me. Yes, no one has died - but loving a football team is wildly irrational anyway, liking and caring about individual players is no more strange.

 

[Marvin]

Perfectly put. Hart can't control how much he and other footballers get paid. All he can do is control his own performances and behaviour.

Opinions will always differ on his performances - my opinion is that in the system he has been asked to perform for almost a decade he has been mostly excellent.

Behaviour wise I think there can be little dissent - he has always been a magnificent ambassador for City. His interviews have been thoughtful and showed he cared, he is always the first over to away fans at the end of the game and reminding the other players to do so. And that celebration when Aguero scored...

Finally, if you don't invest emotionally in players at all then what's the point? Don't get me wrong, players more than ever come and go. But not to recognise Joe's contribution and berating/laughing at others for having the temerity to feel a bit sad seems odd to me. Yes, no one has died - but loving a football team is wildly irrational anyway, liking and caring about individual players is no more strange.

Spot on. Joe is a very easy player to like. Fans, player, and MCFC all did themselves credit last night. If you've been watching City for the last decade, then you have a feeling for club and player. Guardiola could well be spot on. You see how he reacts to a difficult situation - with class and he'll probably become a better keeper and work on whatever the weakness is.

The usual suspects on here tried to rubbish him quite unnecessarily. Noticed that both the Joe and Guardiola songs got sung last night.

 

[manchester blue]

I thought it was noticeable how Joe looked for the short pass, or throw, whereas in past seasons he has been looking to play long diagonals higher up the pitch. I have no doubts Joe could be the sweeper keeper it just looks like it is too late for him to show it, why oh why was he not trying to do this last season and in training perhaps with extra sessions and joining in passing drills, I know I would if I wanted to develop my game and play at City with Pep.

The opposition made no attempt whatsoever to press defenders when the goalkeeper had the ball so it was easy to follow the instruction last night. I think he did try it last season but if defenders were pressed they did not want the ball so it had to go long. Now the instruction is to play out and draw attackers forward and play past them.

 

[Marvin]

The opposition made no attempt whatsoever to press defenders when the goalkeeper had the ball so it was easy to follow the instruction last night. I think he did try it last season but if defenders were pressed they did not want the ball so it had to go long. Now the instruction is to play out and draw attackers forward and play past them.

Correct. You can see he isn't comfortable controlling the ball and then moving it on. I'm sure its something that can be worked on. He can strike a ball very well. Do all the ball tricks etc so I reckon in time he could sort it out, but as Pep says we are here now.

 

[BlueAnorak]

Great words from the big man post match. Good luck Joe in whatever you decide to do.

Pretty certain he would be a good sweeper keeper within 6 months with his performance last night,and what I've seen in training, which would probably annoy the Joe Haters on here...
But hey, that ain't going to happen unless he goes on loan and comes back next summer. Only a move abroad would do that though.

 

[True_Blue69]

Said it earlier in this thread and I'll say it again. I think Pep has got this one wrong. There has never been anything wrong with Joe's distribution and his general ball control. His long rang kicking is actually very accurate and people keep referring to stats over the past 3 seasons showing amount of short passes etc. as if this is proof that he cannot do it. The team has never been set up to play this way in the past. Look at what happened v PSG last season when he tried giving it short, Fernando gave a goal away. No wonder he tended to look long.

I'm sure Bravo will do a good job, can't say I've seen a huge amount of him but you don't get to be Barcas keeper unless you've got something about you. Just think that there are other areas in the team we could spend that money on, namely full backs and a striker.

 

[Chipmeister]

In joes defence it needed the defenders to play to the system as well Joe couldn't just start playing sweeper keeper without them being drilled in it.

Good point, if Joe has got players looking to receive the ball in positions where the coach wants it played then everyone has a chance to play and the keeper has the confidence to take a touch and knows he has options. Rather than just go long to clear the ball, it is a mindset and one I'm sure Joe could become a part of.

 

[mrtwiceaseason]

Good point, if Joe has got players looking to receive the ball in positions where the coach wants it played then everyone has a chance to play and the keeper has the confidence to take a touch and knows he has options. Rather than just go long to clear the ball, it is a mindset and one I'm sure Joe could become a part of.

To suggest Joe could suddenly start playing sweeper keeper last season without involving a drilled defence is nonsense. And to suggest he could work on it in training yet again without the defensive unit how could he.
The aspects of his game he should have worked and worked on was his long range kicking when pressed by a charging forward ,and the very basics of taking a goal kick.

 

[meeesh]

One thing I can't get out of my head was "the circus" line Joe came out with,maybe that was his way of a complaint,but he must have a point somewhere here.

Us as fans,are stuck between a rock and a hard place here,unless your an outer,of which I know there are a few on here,Pep comes with new ideas,and it is working,4 out of 4,but you can't help feel this could have been dealt with better.

And before one of the "outers" starts blabbing on about money,blah blah fucking blah,I think you will find thy are all paid big wages,so that argument is nonsense.

The guy should have been put on the transfer list the minute Pep came in,but he wasn't,and I've also a feeling that Pep will wake up this morning,and may think to himself.........mmmmmmmmm we may be making a mistake here,surely some emotion must have passed through him.

I really hope there is a change of events over these next few days,and he stays,but looking at reactions and chat after last night,it looks like that will not happen

 

[DannyMcfc1992]

God, that felt good. I've not done that (Oo-err) in ages.

You what