*Official* English Football Season 2013-14

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Still can't believe we spent 100m pounds yet again this off season and spent absolutely none of it on our defense. Clichy is, at best, awful and Nastasic has potential but is lazy and makes too many big mistakes.

 

[grecian]

So will Pelligrini or Hodgson have the bottle to drop Hart, not much options, but can you afford to keep him in?

 

[Cabinet96]

Here he is, Man City's saviour.....James Milner.

 

[Furball]

Still can't believe we spent 100m pounds yet again this off season and spent absolutely none of it on our defense. Clichy is, at best, awful and Nastasic has potential but is lazy and makes too many big mistakes.

Was Kolarov banned?

 

[Cevno]

Solid boring away from home performance by United and a good point.

Defending was very good and Vidic was immense ( arguable error aside) while Smalling and Rafael were good too.

Concerns in attacking remain but the control of the tempo in first half was pleasing. 2nd half sat back too much and invited them before the equaliser.

Good to see Welbeck getting amongst the goals this season as well.

 

[Furball]

Solid boring away from home performance by United and a good point.

Defending was very good and Vidic was immense ( arguable error aside) while Smalling and Rafael were good too.

Concerns in attacking remain but the control of the tempo in first half was pleasing. 2nd half sat back too much and invited them before the equaliser.

Good to see Welbeck getting amongst the goals this season as well.

Just seeing the goals on Sky Sports News, it's not even arguable. Massive error.

And Clichy

 

[Uppercut]

That's a great goal from Negredo tonight. Unstoppable.

 

[Cevno]

Just seeing the goals on Sky Sports News, it's not even arguable. Massive error.

Guess, it was a error. Won't say a massive one though.

He doesn't expect the ball to get past in between Smalling and the attacker at the near post and gets caught out reacting late. Manages to get a half clearance on it which goes toward the attacker who is quickest to react.

Anyway, he was immense today. Had 20 effective clearances which is more than combined of the remaining 19 players. Plenty of crucial interceptions as well.

 

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Was Kolarov banned?

He's also atrocious at defending, so not sure what your point is here.

 

[GIMH]

So will Pelligrini or Hodgson have the bottle to drop Hart, not much options, but can you afford to keep him in?

Doubt it, given the lack of experience elsewhere. Bit of a quandary really, Hart is liable to make mistakes at key moments but it seems a massive risk bringing someone with one cap in at this point.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Just who is next in line, really? Ruddy? Foster? The big lad from Celtic who can't catch crosses?

Keepers used to be the one area of strength for England. Looks incredible with hindsight that Johnny Lukic (who was an infinitely more reliable goalie than Hart has even been so far) never got a full cap now, but at the time it didn't seem massively unjust.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Have to be Ruddy though the press will go for Forster as he is a flashy shotstopper. I'd go for Foster but he is injured at present anyway. Hart needs dropping, almost as if he knows he is not going to be dropped so doesn't care, might do him good.

 

[sledger]

Keepers used to be the one area of strength for England. Looks incredible with hindsight that Johnny Lukic (who was an infinitely more reliable goalie than Hart has even been so far) never got a full cap now, but at the time it didn't seem massively unjust.

This got me thinking about where I would rank Hart against all the other keepers who have played for England in my lifetime. I think his current poor form is making him look considerably worse than he is, but I would still rank him as comfortably behind Seaman, Chris Woods, Tim Flowers, Nigel Martyn and David James. I may even take Ian Walker and Kevin Pressman ahead of Hart too actually, though admittedly the latter only player for England B iirc.

I'd have Hart above some of the other dross we've had as well (i.e. Rob Green, Scott Carson, Ben Foster, Richard Wright). Would probably prefer him to Paul Robinson as well, and Chris Kirkland. Bit early to judge some of the newcomers like Butland and Ruddy.

A lack of backup at the moment is undoubtedly a concern though. He looks massively short on confidence (as you would be in his position, I suppose) and a spell on the bench could probably do him some good.

 

[Uppercut]

This got me thinking about where I would rank Hart against all the other keepers who have played for England in my lifetime. I think his current poor form is making him look considerably worse than he is, but I would still rank him as comfortably behind Seaman, Chris Woods, Tim Flowers, Nigel Martyn and David James. I may even take Ian Walker and Kevin Pressman ahead of Hart too actually, though admittedly the latter only player for England B iirc.
.

It's hard to say. He was better than any of those keepers for a while and now he's been worse than any of them for a while. David James at his worst was probably even more dire though tbf.

I wouldn't drop him at this stage of the qualifiers, they've made that mistake before with Schteve bringing in Foster for the crucial Croatia game. From what I've seen Ruddy is a really good keeper and none of the Norwich fans seem to think any different, I'd really be thinking about bringing him in for some friendlies before the World Cup (if they qualify). But you never really know how keepers will react to the increased exposure etc.

 

[sledger]

I dunno, Hart at his best has looked like a very good keeper, but I'm still not sure I'd say he's ever been at a level where he's been better than all of those I mentioned. At his best he would certainly be better than Walker or Pressman I should have thought, but I'm not sure about most of the others, and certainly wouldn't rank him higher than Seaman. I'd agree that David James at his worst was even more dire though, he really was comically bad. That said, I never remember him having a really poor run like Hart's been on. His calamities would generally be interspersed with prolonged periods of good form. I don't remember any really huge gaffes he made playing for England either come to think of it. The time at Euro 2004 when he brought down Henry for a France pen was pretty bad, I suppose.

 

[Furball]

Most of James' big gaffes came for Liverpool, which is quite acceptable really.

 

[Eds]

Made a pretty horrendous blunder for England circa 2006 IIRC.

Google says it was against Austria.

 

[Uppercut]

Most of James' big gaffes came for Liverpool, which is quite acceptable really.

Yeah this and he was round about the same age Hart is now.

I don't remember enough of Seaman at his peak to compare him to Hart's peak. I mostly just remember his bizarre and hilarious vulnerability to loopy misplaced crosses from 40 yards out. Maybe there was a season in there that was as good as Hart's 11/12 but I haven't seen too many of those from anyone. Cech's pre-injury years for Chelsea are the only ones I can think of in the Premiership.

 

[sledger]

Seaman around 1997 was gun.

Ftr, the only reason why he kept getting caught out by loopy crosses was because his ponytail was weighing him back and caused him to overbalance. The fact that he's also a fairly horrible person, by the sounds of things, may also have something to do with it.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Yeah this and he was round about the same age Hart is now.

I don't remember enough of Seaman at his peak to compare him to Hart's peak. I mostly just remember his bizarre and hilarious vulnerability to loopy misplaced crosses from 40 yards out. Maybe there was a season in there that was as good as Hart's 11/12 but I haven't seen too many of those from anyone. Cech's pre-injury years for Chelsea are the only ones I can think of in the Premiership.

Seaman was brilliant at his peak. Best keeper I have seen for England along with Shilton. Hart at one stage looked like he may reach that level but has regressed.

Cech was great but not a match for Schmeichel in the Prem though Southall was better than everyone in the mid to late 80's.