Who’d want to be a goalkeeper?

The City kit boss and former Latics star writes every week for Chron Sport
JOE Hart has copped some flak this week and it just goes to highlight that being a goalkeeper is an unbelievably difficult position.

It’s certainly a position I’ve never fancied. I wouldn’t want to be a goalkeeper if I was starting out my career again.

You might play fantastically in 50 games, but make one mistake and you get hammered for it.

With the way TV and the media is these days, every little error is put under the microscope and just that split-second attention slip from a keeper can be criticised harshly.

Whatever anyone says, Joe Hart is a fantastic ’keeper, probably one of the world’s top three.

These things happen, people make mistakes and Joe will rise above the scrutiny.

I’m glad Roy Hodgson has supported him. He will be the England ’keeper for many years to come, and I firmly believe we will qualify for the World Cup finals in Brazil next year.

It’s going to be a great spectacle. There’s one or two South Americans I fancy to do well, while at least the expectancy heaped on England seems to be dipping a little in recent years, which can only be a good thing.

The way we conceded from setplays on Sunday at Cardiff was disappointing. We created a lot of chances and dominated the game really, but some slack defending let us down in the end.

The atmosphere inside the stadium was phenomenal, and that definitely helped the Cardiff players.

It was their first home game, of course, and the fans were unbelievably up for it.

Now our attentions must turn to the Hull City game on Saturday. We need to get back to winning ways because there’s no game for a fortnight then because of the international break.

We’ll give respect to Hull, but we certainly don’t want to go into the break with only three or four points on the board.