England Captaincy Is Further Proof Of Joe Hart’s Redemption

Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart captained England for the first time on Friday night when the Three Lions played Spain in a friendly match. Being handed the armband will be seen as a huge honour for the 28 year old who will doubtless be proud of this career milestone.

The achievement can also be seen as an acknowledgement of a pretty phenomenal turnaround in fortunes for the City stopper who, just two years ago, faced something of a personal crisis.

Having built a reputation as one of the world’s finest young goalkeepers whilst helping Manchester City to FA Cup and Premier League glory in 2011 and 2012 respectively, it didn’t take long for him to suffer a significant dip.

One thing that was noticeable about City’s number one when he rose to prominence with his club side was that he had an undeniable swagger about him. From the way he walked to the way he talked, he was clearly an extremely confident young man basking in the glow of regular rave reviews. Along with German Manuel Neuer, he was held up as the future of world-class goalkeeping.

Early on in the 2012/13 season, questions were being asked of his concentration. Some commentators suggested that he had started to believe his own hype too much and had taken his eye off the ball – a little too literally on some occasions. Hart brushed off the accusations and many of his club’s supporters leapt to his defence. That season came to a close with City meekly surrendering their Premier League title. Manager Roberto Mancini paid with his job and Manuel Pellegrini took the hot seat.

City were linked with the new gaffer’s former goalkeeper at Málaga, Willy Cabellero. Many had said that Hart had become complacent because he had no real competition for his position between the sticks at the Etihad. The Cabellero deal didn’t come to pass that season so Hart kept his spot with only Romanian Costel Pantillimon as a rival, and not a serious one.

Those who had supported the England stopper soon began to turn when his form nosedived beyond all recognition. Mistakes were a regular occurrence; he had little command over the defenders in front of him, he was flapping at crosses and his footwork was questionable, to say the least.

The manager stuck with his number one through a few clangers, but in an October game against Chelsea, a dreadful mix-up between Hart and defender Matija Nastasic handed the Stamford Bridge outfit a stoppage time win. It threatened to be costly in the title race and Pellegrini had seen enough.

Costel Pantillimon was introduced into the team despite clearly being significantly inferior to Hart. He played eight games before the regular number one was reinstated for a fixture against Liverpool. He’s never really looked back.

It did take a while for Hart to return to his very best, but his concentration had clearly improved. If the intention had been to remind the stopper that he could not take his place for granted, it seemed to have worked. Further reminder that Hart couldn’t afford to be complacent came when Willy Cabellero was finally recruited in the summer of 2014, seemingly with the intention of rivaling the England man for the first choice spot.

The improvement has been gradual. Whilst he was definitely in better form at the start of last season, he was still guilty of bad footwork in a disappointing 0-1 defeat against Stoke City that set the tone for his team’s underwhelming season. His distribution was also poor throughout and was generally seen as an area of his game that was destined to never improve. However, he was showing that he could be relied upon in big moments to produce jaw-dropping saves.

His real redemption came in Barcelona. As the Blues slipped to a 0-1 defeat on the night and exited the Champions League, their number one produced a display that stopped the scoreline being an embarrassment and caused Lionel Messi to call the ‘keeper a ‘phenomenon’ – high praise indeed. It was confirmation that Hart had returned to the very top of his game. He also went on to make the undisputed save of the season in an end-of-season fixture at Swansea; it was as beautiful to watch as any great goal.

This season, he’s been in fantastic form. His command of his area is impressive and his distribution is unrecognisable from the player who would kick the ball out of touch more-often-than-not in previous seasons. He has made one bizarre error in which he dropped the ball at the feet of Norwich striker Cameron Jerome to gift the Canaries a goal in the recent fixture. It wasn’t too costly though as City won the game and he redeemed himself with a match-saving reaction stop in the final minute.

Though his country slipped to defeat on Friday night in Spain, that he was handed the captaincy is further proof of Joe Hart’s redemption. He has overcome a trying period that could have broken him, instead coming out an even better player.

Manuel Pellegrini deserves praise for his handling of Hart. He had the guts to drop his goalkeeper without damaging his fragile confidence and spurred him on by signing a capable rival. The real credit, though, belongs to Hart himself. His swagger is back, but this time with the maturity of a man who has experienced testing times.

Joe Hart has retaken his place amongst the world’s best goalkeepers; this time, he’s likely to stay there.