Are the PFA Player of the Year nominations correct?

By Tony Alvarez

Yesterday the shortlist of players who are in with a chance of winning the PFA Player of the year were revealed, the lucky six include three Manchester City players in Sergio Aguero, David Silva and goalkeeper Joe Hart, the other nominees are the Premier League’s top two scorers Arsenal’s Robin Van Persie who has scored against every club besides Man City and Fulham. Manchester United Wayne Rooney and finally Tottenham’s midfield destroyer Scott Parker.

Shortly after the nominations many were questioning the shortlist especially the inclusion of Tottenham man Scott Parker. Unfortunately for Parker he plays a role which is not often appreciated by fans but even aside from that I don’t think his nomination is justified.

Parker to his credit played very well for the first half of the season when Tottenham were a breath of fresh air in the Premier League with their style, however it wasn’t only Parker who was good in that spell Gareth Bale at spells was unplayable, Adebayor was a constant menace either through his goal scoring ability or as a provider of goals.     

Are England lacking depth in goalkeepers?

Who will provide competition for Joe Hart in the England goal?

By Laurie Fitzgerald

Ben Foster announced last week that he is temporarily halting his career with England.

The Birmingham goalkeeper, widely considered as the number two to Manchester City’s Joe Hart, has had to pull out of a number of Fabio Capello‘s squads due to injury. 

Although he made it clear he has not ruled out a return to the international stage, Foster wants to ensure he maintains his fitness at club level. 

“Every time I’ve had the opportunity to give my body a rest there has been an international fixture and the demands that come with that,” said the 28 year-old.

While it’s disappointing to hear the news of Foster’s break, you cannot begrudge the Blues stopper the chance to ensure he remains at the top level for as long as possible.

However, following Blackburn goalkeeper Paul Robinson announcing his retirement earlier in the campaign, it means that England’s goalkeeping options are starting to look limited.

There’s no doubt that Hart is the current number one; the 24 year-old has matured enormously in the past couple of seasons on loan at Birmingham last season and now back with his parent club at Eastlands.

But while Hart has the potential to be the number one for many years to come, who would challenge him over the next few years?

The first names that spring to mind are players that have had a chance with the national team before.

Robert Green has produced some good performances for West Ham this season, despite the fact the Hammers have been relegated.

Scott Carson has also done well in his first year back in the Premier League to help West Brom stay in the top-flight.

But both goalkeepers have struggled at international level before, so it remains to be seen whether Capello would provide them another chance given the opportunity.

The rest of the division demonstrates limited options; Chris Kirkland has been unable to get back in the Wigan side due to the excellence of the on-loan Ali Al-Habsi.

The only other contender would be Newcastle’s Steve Harper, and the experienced Geordie has had to deal with injury problems of his own this season.

Maybe the Italian will decide to look to the future to provide long-term strength in depth.

The likes of Fraser Forster, Scott Loach and David Stockdale could prove to be viable options to Hart over the next few seasons.

23 year-old Forster has had an excellent season in Scotland with Celtic after making a loan move from Newcastle.

Loach has continued to gain plaudits for his performances at Watford, and the 22 year-old could well end up making the step-up to the Premier League in the next 12 months.

Meanwhile, 25 year-old Stockdale showed in several games for Fulham this year that he has what it takes to become a very good goalkeeper, and if Schwarzer was to leave in the summer, he will get regular action at Craven Cottage.

There are long-term contenders out there, but whether the England coaching staff decide to go down this route remains to be seen.

Whatever Capello and co. decide, they need to make sure there isn’t an over-reliance on Hart in the years to come.

Source: BBC Sport

So what do you think? Is there a lack of depth in England’s goalkeeping options? Will Capello look to the future to provide competition for Joe Hart? Let us know your thoughts.

Is Joe Hart losing his way?

 By Tony Alvarez

Following a number of costly errors sections of the media and football managers alike have had their say on just what has happened to Joe Hart and whether he should retain his status as England number one.

    Whilst Hart has not made many if any glaring mistakes the little mistakes have been costly, pushing Ashley Young’s shot straight out to Darren Bent two yards out, failing to deal with David Bentleys cross shot regardless of whether or not Zigic got a touch.

    As previously stated these are not clangers that are likely to make it onto any end of season bloopers DVD but have cost the title chasing side 4 points out of the last 6 they have played for.

   Hart has ever really been through a tough patch in his career to date, he shone whilst on loan at Birmingham City last season and up until the last month or so had been outstanding for City. His display against Arsenal at the Emirates was one of the best I have seen from a keeper in a long time.

    But following these recent blunders his England manager has come out and said Hart needs to work on his concentration before he can be considered a world-class keeper. Whilst this may not be the most helpful of things when you are out of form is there much truth in it.

   His club manager has leapt to his defence saying “Joe, for me, is the best goalkeeper in England…The problem for a goalkeeper is that when they make a mistake you can lose 1-0. If a striker doesn’t score a goal, it finishes 0-0. That is the problem.”  Mancini then went on to display his confidence in Joe Hart by declaring “I am happy though. I will not change because Joe Hart is the best goalkeeper.”

The question you must ask if which Italian is to be believed, for me Hart is already a top class keeper for me World class is a term branded around too often and in honesty there are not too many World class keepers around.

All keepers in their time make mistakes unfortunately for Hart they have came within a few weeks of each other and in a time that really mattered for City if they were too push on and challenge for the title.

We should remember that even the legendary Edwin Van Der Sar has made hug mistakes, such as the one at Old Trafford against West Brom which gave Somen Tchoyi a tap in, but he has never been questioned its if you have the character to come through these problems a better keeper, something I am sure Joe Hart will do.

What do you think? Is Joe Hart top or even world class? Does his recent form warrant him being dropped? Was Capello right to question him publicly? Let us know your thoughts

 

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Can Birmingham cope without Dann?

By Tony Alvarez

Birmingham have been handed the worse possible news in that their star centre back Scott Dann will be out for the rest of the season following surgery on his hamstring which he damaged in Birmingham’s Carling cup semi final against West Ham.

To compound the misery a Dann less Birmingham were hammered away to Manchester United with their usual water tight defence conceding five.

Birmingham have often fielded the same back five for the most part of this season consisting of Steven Carr, Roger Johnson, Scott Dann, Liam Ridgewell and Ben Foster behind them, even last season their backline was much the same although Joe Hart was the man between the sticks.

In the early stages of Dann’s lay off Liam Ridgewell has moved into centre back the position he used to play in at Villa and David Murphy has taken the left back slot.

However Birmingham have been a side that have prided themselves on being miserly at the back and picking up points although they don’t score too many goals.

But the early signs show that without Dann and a back line that has very seldom played together show that this defence may no longer be as hard to breach .

Although this article could be a bit harsh considering it was away at Old Trafford where they conceded five, something that could happen to any team if United are on a good day.

But and at the moment it’s a big but, should Birmingham lose their defence record with the loss of Dann it could also signal the end of their time in the Premiership.

With the club lying in 17^th place in the division just one point outside the relegation zone these are dangerous times for the Midlands club.

They may have been fortunate in that the loss of Dann came during the transfer window, of course they would not of wanted to lose a star player but at least at the moment they have a chance to replace him with a signing or a loan deal.

However should the potential problem not be sorted and the goals start flying in and the problem of scoring isn’t rectified then Birmingham will do well to avoid relegation.

What do you think? Is Scott Dann as big a loss as I make out? Will Birmingham get relegated should they start shipping goals? Would you replace him if you were in charge? Who would you bring in as cover for him? Let us know your thoughts.

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