Joe Hart: On the precipice of ignominy

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart fails to stop a shot from Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery.

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart has won the Barclays Golden Glove three seasons in a row from 2010-11 to 2012-13. He holds the Manchester City club record for most clean sheets in a season with 29. He was responsible for benching one of Premier League’s finest veteran goalkeepers, Shay Given. And he has also established himself as England’s number one choice between the sticks.

But judging by last night’s performance against Bayern Munich in the Champions League group stage match at the Etihad, Hart’s reputation as a proven shot stopper stands precariously on the edge of a precipice of ignominy. Stating that his performance last night was poor would be a severe understatement.

Exactly a year ago to the day, Hart was being hailed around the world for a dazzling performance against another German powerhouse, Borussia Dortmund. A string of fine saves from the shot stopper thwarted a barrage of attacks that saw City salvage a draw. Dortmund had peppered Hart’s goal with 22 shots, including 10 on target and the score line would have looked a lot worse if not for Hart.

But last night, Hart was directly responsible for conceding two of Bayern Munich’s three goals in a power packed performance by the European champions who won 1-3 on the night. A goal as early as the 7th minute and two second half goals within the span of four minutes ensured that Manuel Pellegrini’s talented (and expensive) squad had no answer to Pep Guardiola’s star studded line up as Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery tore their defence to shreds with their pace and dribbling.

For the first goal, Ribery came in from the left flank, cut back into the centre, beating Jesus Navas in the process, and let fly a low shot from about 25 yards out towards Hart’s near post. Hart misjudged the trajectory and wrong footed himself, leading to him just stretching a hand out instead of moving towards the near post. The ball hit his forearm before it hit the back of the net to give Bayern the lead. It was a schoolboy error and definitely not what is expected of an international goalkeeper in the Champions League. Ribery almost looked embarrassed after he scored.

Although the second goal was a complete failure from City’s defence, Hart could have done a little better when Thomas Müller went one-on-one with him. As Müller tried to control a lobbed ball near the penalty spot, his first touch wasn’t the best and actually gave Hart a chance to snatch the ball. Instead, he went on the defensive and spread-eagled himself even before Muller had controlled the ball, thereby putting himself in no man’s land. To his credit, the German midfielder took one more touch to free himself and tap the ball into an empty net.

Robben did very well for the third goal. Receiving the ball near the centre circle, he got the better of Matija Nastasi? with a touch of trickery before bringing the ball into the box and lashing it towards goal. From that angle, Hart should have had the near post covered. Instead, the ball hit the bottom of his glove before shaving the near post on its way in. Even though Alvaro Negredo managed to grab a consolation goal in the 80^th minute, it was only because Bayern took their foot off the pedal in the final stages of the game. City were outplayed and outclassed and Joe Hart was one of the major culprits.

This isn’t a knee-jerk reaction to just one game against the mighty European champions. It has stemmed from a collection of poor performances that has seen Hart’s value drop considerably in the past few months.

Another example of some of his major gaffes comes from the Premier League, where he was partly responsible for the 3-2 loss to newly promoted Cardiff City when he came off his line to collect a ball and missed. It even led Pellegrini to state, “For the moment Joe will continue being our goalkeeper. But I spoke with him and he knows he must be quickly in the best shape again and on top form.”

How long will it be before Pellegrini decides it is time to make a change? Perhaps, not for some time yet.

Hart has been given so many opportunities mainly because of his reputation and the fact that there are no quality replacements available. Costel Pantilimon is City’s second choice goalkeeper and he had a fine run in last season’s FA Cup, only to be dropped in favour of Hart in the final where they eventually lost to Wigan Athletic. Even in the England setup, the only players who could usurp Hart’s spot in the team sheet are John Ruddy, who has a grand total of 1 cap for England; and Fraser Foster, the Celtic goalkeeper who has impressed this season, especially against Barcelona two nights ago.

Will Roy Hodgson pick Joe Hart for England’s World Cup qualifiers?

With crucial World Cup qualifiers coming up this month, whether Roy Hodgson will now be looking at other options to give Hart some serious competition remains to be seen. Even Gary Neville, who is on the England national team’s coaching staff, was critical of Hart’s performance last night, “You have to say Joe Hart’s got to do better again at that near post. That’s twice he’s been beaten there tonight. He’ll be disappointed again.”

Hart’s substandard performance last night was compounded by the home fans who were clearly frustrated with him as sarcastic applause broke out when he made some simple saves. Having spent a fortune on players to challenge for the title, Manchester City and Joe Hart cannot afford to repeat the same mistakes again.