England manager Roy Hodgson has given his full support to Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart, despite the shot-stopper being dropped by his club for Costal Pantilimon.
Speaking during his press conference, Hodgson was asked about his goalkeeper selection and despite the criticism Hart has received over the last few weeks, it seems that Hodgson still backs Hart to be England’s number-one.
As for City, Manuel Pellegrini dropped the Englishman after his error lead to Chelsea snatching all three points last weekend in the last minute, and it wasn’t the first error Joe Hart has made this season either.
However, on the international front, it still seems that the City shot-stopper will be number-one.
England’s head coach said: ‘If I show a lack of faith in Joe it would be undeserving after what he has done for England and it would definitely affect his confidence negatively.
‘I would be a lot more concerned if, in the spring of next year as we are building up to the selection, he was a constant reserve, never getting a game of football.
‘That would bother me but I will cross that bridge when I come to it. I firmly believe Joe is such a good goalkeeper that he will get back into the Manchester City team sooner or later.
‘Although I haven’t spoken to Manuel yet, I would think he would expect me to play Joe because I’m sure that he has not lost faith in him as a goalkeeper.
‘Sometimes as a club manager you get put under pressure to make a decision, but I’m not convinced in my own mind that he has written off Joe Hart in any way.
‘Maybe he thought that withdrawing him from the firing line might be a good thing. I unfortunately can’t withdraw him from the firing line.
‘He’ll play for England. He’ll be in the firing line there, as he was in the last two games we played against Montenegro and Poland.’
Hodgson added: ‘Joe will definitely start one of the games because he’s our No 1 goalkeeper, but probably not both because we need to look at the other keepers. I don’t know which game. I’d guess more likely Germany than Chile.
Written by Alex Batt – @AlexBatt
