The general opinion surrounding the elite level keepers marks the likes of David De Gea, Petr Cech and Hugo Lloris as the league and the world’s finest. It’s a rarity that anyone other than a Manchester City supporter would throw Joe Hart’s name in that same bucket and it’s unfair that they don’t, there’s no real reason as to why he’s so generally overlooked.
Maybe it’s his imperfect kicking and patriotic character that engineers rival fans to take England’s number one for granted, but it shouldn’t. Like any other world class keeper, Hart has suffered from a slump of form in his career and made a revival that transformed him as a player, so it’s wrong that people are still living off his mistakes that were made years back. There’s no justice in the fact that Hart is still having troubles shaking off an iffy reputation like his co-keeper on the red side of Manchester did ever so easily.
Now looking to potentially secure his sixth Premier League golden glove on the weekend at Southampton, the most in its history, Joe Hart has, in my opinion, cemented his place in the list of elite keepers of world football. Not as relied upon as others but when tested has passed with flying colours; think back to his duels with Messi last season, his heroics against Dortmund in 2012 and more recently his game-saving stops on Tuesday to deny Real Madrid. He seems to enjoy it more on the big stage, you could see the smile on his face when he was interviewed on the pitch after the match, he said:
We are playing against good teams, so I get a lot more to do. In the Premier League people don’t necessarily come here to win, as a good result against us is a draw.
In the past, English players have been a centre-piece for the overrated, which makes this situation even more bizarre. Could it be that Hart is a victim of overcompensation for the stereotype? Are English fans scared to give him the heights of hype he deserves? Joe Hart is a solid, consistent keeper capable of performing on the biggest of stages – the best Englishman of the last two decades – and for that, we should be appreciative.
There’s a reason as to why Hart has been the first name on one of England’s most resourceful clubs for the past six years and that’s down to his exceptional traits, everything from his mental attitude and willingness to sacrifice to his ‘Schmeichel-like’ mechanics is spot on. Manchester City have no fear in replacing their players, they’ve done it before and they’ll do it again, but with Hart they choose not to and that speaks volumes.
