Audacity or sheer optimism? What really has happened to England’s number one Joe Hart? Two minutes into injury time the England number one rushes off his line only to see team mate Matija Nastasic head the ball in the path of the trailing Fernando Toress. The Spaniard can’t quite believe his luck as he has the easiest of finishes to score the winning goal which sends the home fans crazy at the glittering Stamford Bridge.
How life changes in a second! Doesn’t it, one moment Torres is the villain as he fluffed an one on one to shoot the ball over when it was harder to miss. Come at the end of the night, he is the hero as he takes his chance being imperious the whole night. In a parallel world Joe Hart might be wondering when he picks up his next Man of the Match champagne. Yet another blunder and this time firmly back under the scanner.
The Microscope is out again and the shadows over City’s number one Goalkeeper is certainly far way from turning azure. In a campaign over shadowed by horrendous mistakes Hart needs to go back to the drawing board as confirmed by former
Liverpool legend and Sky Pundit Graeme Souness,
“It was 100 per cent Joe Hart’s fault. A large part of goalkeeping is making the right decision – when to come for a cross, when to leave your box and Joe’s just got it wrong there; he came, he shuffled to go backwards and then came again. Nastasic is watching the ball come out of the sky, it’s over his shoulder and he’s in complete command.”
“It’s hard to put on Joe because he’s having a difficult season but I’m sorry we’re here to call and it’s his fault today. Fernando Torres was not on Nastasic’s shoulder, there was no pressure. These are all things Joe Hart should have seen, if he stays it’s just a simple, simple header back to the goalkeeper. It’s hard to put on Joe because he’s having a difficult season but I’m sorry, we’re here to call and it’s his fault today.”
Even Pellegrini when asked to comment on the incident sounded a bit critical,
“What do I think about the goal? I won’t talk about it. What do I think about my goalkeeper’s performance? I repeat, the analysis I do with individual players I do with the players. How is the confidence? You must ask him how his confidence is, I talk just internally with the players. We are losing stupid points. In our three away defeats, we’ve had the important responsibility for the goals the other team scored.”
Two seasons back we had this David Luiz syndrome- great for the first 89 minutes and then throwing the game away in the last final minutes. Looks like the virus hasn’t stopped findings hosts. Certainly Joe Hart is the new one. One feels sorry for the English fans by the way. Are we to see yet another Robert Greenesque moment in next year’s World Cup.