Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Joe Hart was conspicuous by his absence on Thursday.
The 33-year-old started three Europa League games for Spurs since joining on a free transfer this past summer and it was expected that Jose Mourinho would give him the nod again for the trip to Antwerp.
Instead, the Tottenham boss elected to field Hugo Lloris between the sticks as Mourinho’s side lost 1-0 in Belgium.
It was pretty harsh on Hart by virtue of the fact that in his last appearance – a 3-0 win over LASK – he kept the team’s first clean sheet of the season.
But the snub could perhaps suggest that the Portuguese coach is already experiencing some trust issues.
If Mourinho named a full-strength side against Antwerp then fair enough, Lloris’s inclusion is logical, but he didn’t.
He left Harry Kane, Son Heung-min, Lucas Moura, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, Matt Doherty and Toby Alderweireld on the bench.
It must be stressed that Hart didn’t do much wrong against LASK to warrant being dropped but, by the same token, there has to be a reason as to why Mourinho preferred Lloris and the former England international has had a couple of shaky moments earlier in the season.
It’s also possible that the player was carrying a slight knock, but in that case why not leave him out of the squad?
With the Lilywhites having a Premier League game today, it really didn’t make sense to risk Lloris if Mourinho did indeed trust Hart.
Signing him on a free transfer didn’t seem to make a huge deal of sense by virtue of Gazzaniga’s form at times last season and if Mourinho leaves him out again for the trip to Ludogorets on Thursday night then it’ll raise even more questions.
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