Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart is England’s big hope for Euro 2012, we are lucky to have him but where is his competition?
England head off to Euro 2012 with the nation behind them. The country expects to win and rightly so; the Premier League is the best league in the world after all.
In Joe Hart they have a good goalkeeper who has just won the title. With John Ruddy out with a broken finger, England’s number two Robert Green has just been promoted with West Ham and the third keeper is an untried 19 year old who’s at Birmingham.
My question is; where have all the England goalkeepers gone?
It would appear to me that with the arrival of all the foreign players, the first position that shows signs of great weakness is the goalkeeper.
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When I was growing up the debate was; Clemence or Shilton? Two world class keepers who kept the other one at the top of his game or they’d know they’d be watching an international match instead of playing in it.
Chris Woods and David Seaman were also good goalkeepers along with Paul Robinson and David James.
The problem now is the lack of competition and the reason for that is there are not enough English keepers coming through.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Joe Hart is very good and at just 26 he’s yet to hit his peak which can only be good for both England and Manchester City.
But where is his competition? What happens if he gets injured? The problem is most of the elite teams have a foreign goalkeeper.
I suppose if you want the best you pay for the best; but in following that the country suffers. Ben Foster’s retirement from international football has been another blow, as he could have provided Hart with genuine competition.
The goalkeeping position is just the first of many that has, and will continue to suffer with the invasion of foreign players unless a fresh wave of talent comes through, and club attitude changes.
image: © mr-football
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