In Praise of Joe Hart

When it comes to “Goals Against” in the Premiership, it’s pretty much a given that the big guns rack up the clean sheets at a canter whilst the others struggle not to concede. This season, however, Birmingham City are proving the exception to that rule, as Alex McLeish’s team sit eighth in the table, having recorded an incredible eight clean sheets from twenty games so far.

Pivotal to that statistic is the man between the sticks and my choice for Goalkeeper of the Season so far, Joe Hart. The England hopeful has been beaten a mere eighteen times, the joint-second best record in the league, and is certainly showing the form that had Sven, during his Eastlands tenure, describing him as “one of the biggest talents in this country“…

McLeish’s tactics, whilst ensuring Birmingham are difficult to break down, do come at a consequence; the team lack a cutting edge, and have scored just twenty times in the league this season, meaning the onus is always on defence and goalkeeper to be on top of their game. Hart’s performances since joining the club on loan at the start of this season have been nothing short of sensational, and -despite Man City’s acquisition of the undeniably top-class Shay Given last January- perhaps cast aspersions on Mark Hughes’ decision to demote him in the first place.

Ironically for McLeish, Hart’s form has been too good for Man City to ignore, and the Birmingham boss, with Carson Yeung’s alleged £40m transfer kitty burning a hole in his pocket, has no chance of making the loan deal a permanent one, with his parent club recently confirming the 22 year old is heading back to Eastlands in the summer. Whether he will be content to play second fiddle to Given again is another matter.

The individual statistics are impressive, too; Hart has made sixty-nine saves, which is an 80% success rate and puts him second in the shot-stopping category, just behind Spurs Heurelho Gomes. With the World Cup a mere five months away now, surely the smart money must be on him to travel to South Africa, even if it is as England’s third-choice keeper. Lucky for him then, that Fabio Cappello won’t judge squad inclusion on his dancing.

Honourable mentions must also go to Brad Friedel and Thomas Sorenson. Freidel’s consistency between the posts shows no sign of letting up, with his performances integral to Aston Villa’s own vastly-improved “Goals Against” column, and a reason why the club are widely-tipped for a Champions League place this season. Sorenson’s penalty-saving antics for both club and country have been astonishing (five out the last six have failed to beat him), and despite Stoke showing signs of wobbling, the big Dane’s form has helped pick up valuable points in their fight for Premiership survival.