After two disappointing loan spells upon exile from parent club Manchester City that have cost him a place in England’s World Cup squad, Joe Hart’s decision to change agents may seem like a case of pointing an accusative finger to cover up for his own misgivings.
There’s certainly been more than a few of those; it’s quite incredible that a goalkeeper so coveted previously at club and international level can have such a glaring weakness in his armoury – that perpetual struggle to save any half-decent shot that comes to his bottom left-hand side.
And yet, any footballer of Hart’s quality can look like a world-beater or a fraudulent pretender when they’re put into certain context. Even for goalkeepers, the most idiosyncratic position on the pitch, that rings crucially true.
Fabien Barthez was branded a liability when he continually attempted to build attacks from Manchester United’s penalty area, but that’s exactly what Manuel Neuer and Ederson have been doing over the last few years. That sweeper-keeper style is now seen as the future of the trade, and every major club in Europe wants a goalie who can do a half-decent job of it.
Of course, Hart isn’t battling generational perceptions or standards in quite the same way as Barthez was at the turn of the millennium. Only a few years ago, the former England No.1 was at his peak – lifting the Premier League title with Manchester City and reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League – and while expectations of glovesmen have shifted quickly in the time since, they haven’t changed so dramatically that more traditional goalkeepers of Hart’s age have lost all relevance.
The grievance with the 31-year-old is how he’s quite simply failed to produce his best form and become painfully susceptible to errors since his pair of howlers at Euro 2016. Last term alone, he made four errors leading to goals from just 19 Premier League appearances.
But in terms of the clubs he’s represented over the last two years, since being cast aside by Pep Guardiola, the idea of being placed in the right context applies as well.
A West Ham so toxic that the 3-0 defeat to Burnley in March almost lead to a full-scale riot was never going to be the ideal setting for any player to revive his career after slipping outside the elite bracket, and those from inside the club will have known that kind of reaction to David Gold and David Sullivan’s ownership, and that kind of season, was coming after the precursor turbulence of 2016/17.
That season too, West Ham conceded 64 goals – the second most of any club inside the top 14 – so the chances of Hart restoring his reputation with a healthy supply of clean sheets was always going to be slim. It takes much more than a top-class goalkeeper to plug up a porous defence.
The Torino move a year prior, albeit largely due to a lack of viable alternatives, was a poor decision as well. Much like West Ham, the Italian outfit had serious defensive problems when Hart arrived; their 55 goals conceded represented the worst defensive record in Serie A’s top 14 during the 2015/16 season, and was only two concedes healthier than Carpi’s in 18th place.
There is an obvious counter-argument here, in that Hart’s experience and presence should have made some kind of positive impact on the defenders in front of him. In fact, Torino ended up conceding eleven goals more with the England international between the sticks, while West Ham’s goals conceded tally rose by four during Hart’s single season there – and the fact he could only hold down a starting berth for exactly half of it, making 19 top flight appearances, tells its own story of how the City shot-stopper struggled to convince for large periods.
But compare those defensive records to clubs like Brighton and Newcastle, who both needed to sign goalkeepers last summer. In fact, the Magpies were so desperate they ended up signing Martin Dubravka on loan in January after Karl Darlow proved unfit for purpose, while Brighton took a punt on Valencia’s Mat Ryan following a loan spell at Genk.
Although neither team could match the Hammers for reputation at the start of the season, the key difference is the philosophies of both sides. Whereas David Moyes couldn’t guarantee consistent defensive solidity from the east Londoners even by the end of his interim tenure, Brighton and Newcastle spent the entire season protecting their goalkeepers as much as possible and eventually reaped the rewards by ensuring top flight survival.
Perhaps those two examples are only convincing with the benefit of hindsight – neither looked particularly ready for Premier League football during the first few weeks of the season – but they nonetheless illustrate the crucial point; although Hart’s had the final say of the locations of his last two moves, it’s clear he’s not been advised on them properly either.
Instead of joining teams geared in a way that would make his job easier, that would take the pressure off him and that would help revive a stuttering reputation to improve negative perceptions of him, Hart’s ended up out on loan at two clubs with porous defences and in West Ham’s case, mitigating influences behind the scenes.
That’s not to excuse Hart’s mistakes and his underwhelming performances over the last two seasons, and that’s not to suggest his fall from grace is all merely a matter of perceptions. But it’s undoubtedly true that Hart’s a much better goalkeeper than he often appeared last season at West Ham, and it’s equally true that during the most vulnerable moment of his otherwise largely successful career, he’s ended up at two clubs that have only further highlighted his weaknesses.
Which begs a simple question – what do professional footballers pay agents for if its not to avoid those kinds of situations? Having given a percentage of his pay cheque to Stellar for the entirety of his professional life, Hart is right to ensure they don’t take another penny from him – not to mention oversee what will now be the most important transfer window of his career partly due to their failings. With no obvious clubs of noteworthy reputation on the horizon but City likely to desperate to sell before his contract expires in 2019, that challenge must now by conquered by new representatives Pitch.
Hopefully for Hart’s sake, they do a much better job.
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