Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart has admitted that it was a challenging time for him in his career when he was dropped to the bench for his club after several blunders in between the sticks.
Due to numerous back-to-back errors, Manuel Pellegrini finally made the decision to bench Hart and play his back-up Costel Pantilimon instead.
The number-two ‘keeper played several games during Hart’s absense before the Englishman was re-called in December, and since then, Hart has been back to his top-form for City and he has admitted in an interview that it took a lot of strength to get over his blunders.
“You have to be able to accept when you are playing or not,” Hart, 26, told BBC One’s Football Focus ahead of Sunday’s League Cup final against Sunderland.
“After being dropped I just did what I always did – I went and trained hard and listened to what the manager had to say and knuckled down and got on with my job to the best of my ability.
“When managers have got decisions to make, whether it benefits me or not, I have to be man enough to take it.
“I work hard every day to win and I understand it doesn’t always go my way and you have to move forward.”
City are heading to Wembley on Sunday to face Sunderland in the Capital One Cup final, but Hart doesn’t know whether or not he will be playing due to Pantilimon playing most of the cup games this season.
“It is for the manager to decide. Costel has played most of the games and done well and played brilliant and not conceded a goal,” he added.
“It is a squad game, which I am learning more and more as I get older and the more and more I am involved in such a great side and squad.
“The manager is making a lot of good decisions at the moment and whether it is myself or Costel, we will play our hearts out for the team to get the result.”
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt – @AlexsArticles
