Joe Hart

Tryping error Nobby

 

Back in February, Parma announced that Gianluigi Buffon had signed a contract extension until 2024.


Now plying his trade back at his first club in Serie B, the legendary Italian goalkeeper will be 46 by the time that deal expires.


Old Father Time can probably now relate to the frustrations endured by a generation of strikers across Europe. One of the greatest custodians the game has ever seen also seems to be impervious to the onset of middle age.


But while Buffon remains the best contemporary example of the potential longevity of a keeper’s career, it is also still very much an outlier.

While goalkeepers do tend to peak later than outfield players and are often capable of playing well into their 30s, a great number still discover that there’s far more to it than simply putting mind over matter.



Allan McGregor will have few regrets from his own playing career but agreeing to stay on at Rangers last season after his 40th birthday will be one of them. Lacking the agility and sharpness he once had, he was simply no longer at the requisite level.




Across the city, it’s legitimate to now wonder if Joe Hart may have arrived at the same juncture.

The fact the Celtic keeper is five years McGregor’s junior is neither here nor there. Younger shot-stoppers than the Englishman have awoken to discover that their instincts aren’t quite what they once were.

Football moves at a breakneck speed. It’s brutally unforgiving. There always comes a day when even the very best of them have to reconcile themselves with the fact that no one goes on forever.

Culpable as Anderson Lopes helped himself to an early tap-in in Yokohama F. Marinos’ 6-4 win over Celtic on Wednesday, the growing perception is that Hart may now have reached the tipping point.

That the former England keeper has been a fine signing for the Parkhead club on and off the field over the past two years is not worthy of debate. He provided the calming influence Ange Postecoglou needed after a rocky start.

A significant upgrade on the unconvincing Vasilis Barkas, Hart deputised for Callum McGregor when the skipper was sidelined with injury.

But time and tide wait for no man. With Champions League football and a taxing league campaign stretching out ahead, Brendan Rodgers can ill-afford to be selecting anyone based on past reputations.




In the aftermath of the opening game of Celtic’s tour of Japan, it was intriguing to note that while the returning manager naturally didn’t hang Hart out to dry, nor did he issue a ringing endorsement of the former Manchester City man.

‘It’s a period of the season where we are only a few weeks in and assessing every player and where we are at,’ he said.

‘We could have been better for the first goal before it got to Joe. It’s 25 yards out and we have a player turning inside our organisation, which shouldn’t happen.’

While it always feels harsh to castigate any player for making an error in a pre-season friendly — that is, after all, one of the main purposes they serve — the concern that the 36-year-old’s blunder raised among Celtic supporters was understandable.

Hart didn’t cover himself in glory during his side’s 3-0 loss at Ibrox in May. The following week, he let Curtis Main’s weak shot roll under him as St Mirren took a point from Celtic Park. Back in October, he’d erred horribly as his side lost 3-1 in Leipzig in what proved to be a pivotal Champions League match.

Even as Celtic motored towards the Treble under Postecoglou last term, Hart was not blinded to the fact that the clock was ticking.

Speaking after keeping a clean sheet in the Scottish Cup semi-final win over Rangers, he said: ‘I can only speak for myself personally but there aren’t that many (more finals) I’m going to be playing in,’ he said.

‘I’m not in the middle of my career. I’m not at the start. I’m coming towards the end.

‘I don’t try to savour these days more. I just do.’


Even if Hart hadn’t made a clanger with his first involvement in Japan, his position in the side would still be under scrutiny.

Back in 2016, Craig Gordon discovered to his cost that Rodgers likes his goalkeepers to have complete mastery of the ball at their feet.

The Scot eventually reclaimed his place from Dorus de Vries but that was only after the Dutchman had succumbed to injury




Hart has never been at his most comfortable when playing out on the ground — it was one of the reasons why Pep Guardiola ousted him from City — and he’s plainly not going to improve on that discipline at this stage. It’s becoming an enormous call for the Celtic manager — by far the biggest of any he’ll make before hostilities resume against Ross County.

Misplaced faith in Jon McLaughlin and an ageing McGregor contributed hugely to Giovanni van Bronckhorst losing his job at Rangers last season. Yet, despite that obvious weakness at the heart of their team, the Ibrox side only finished seven points adrift of Celtic.

With money to spend, it’s hard to see Rodgers not attempting to get in front of the issue. Hart has a year left on his contract but is hardly going to be happy seeing that out from the bench.



Benjamin Siegrist and Scott Bain are both contracted until 2026 but it seems highly unlikely Rodgers would view either man as a suitable replacement for Hart in the event that the veteran is sold.


Dominik Livakovic’s £7m move from Dinamo Zagreb to Fenerbahce means the Croatian international is tied up but acquiring a goalkeeper of such pedigree is fast becoming Rodgers’ top priority.

 

It's no really.

 

I don't blame Joe for the Leipzig goal. He passed the ball out to his right, and it came back to him. He passed out to his left and it came straight back to him.

He he then took it on himself to try and do something and it didn't work.
But if either full back had taken a bit of responsibility to do something with the ball then Joe wouldn't have tried to thread a pass through a crowded midfield.

So I can see Brendans point that others had a chance to prevent the goal earlier, but still we can't go into next season with Joe as our main goalie.

If Siegrist had kicked on from his Dundee Utd days, he'd be an option, but he didn't and so he isn't.

 

Strongly disagree.

 

Guy is clearly a lovely guy, loves the club and is obviously a positive influence in the dressing room.

We need an upgrade though.

 

We’ll do nothing in Europe with him in nets.

 

I love the guy, but he's done, he's done nothing in pre-season to convince me (or Brendan I suspect) that he's good enough for the season ahead.

Absolutely no issue with keeping him, but he needs outright replaced. Hopefully we have a new keeper in before the Aberdeen game, but ideally have one in before Ross County.

 

Love the guy, few good saves, few nightmarish moments as well. Still our number one as far as I'm concerned but we should be planning ahead obviously.

 

Father time catches up to everyone, nobody escapes and Hart has made his time. Lovely guy, provided us two really good seasons but it’s time for him to move on before he can’t. He stays for this year and he’ll struggle to make that big MLS move or similar marquee move to crown his career.

 

Thought he played well enough tbh. No complaints here. I'd take an upgrade like all positions.

 

Hes done, its glaringly obvious

 

Yep. Gonna be costly..

Been great but time for better..

Terrible on the deck and his reactions are getting worse..

Don't think s single Tim will disagree..

 

Gave away a penalty (and again got nowhere near saving it). Also had another calamitous pass straight to their attacker in the box that he got away with.

He NEEDS to be replaced. Urgently. Would love him to stay as no.2 if possible.

 

I like the big guy, think he's done a good job for us, especially as a free transfer.

I think most good goalkeepers have a bit of madness in them, he seems make daft decisions regularly though.

Today he received the ball from a defender, and he just kicked the ball out, when he should've played a five yard pass to his left sided center back, think it might have been Scales.

You know when we condede a penalty it's as good as a goal, and we concede quite a few with this VAR *, and handball bollocks these days.

I don't really see us signing anybody to replace him this season anyway, but I think he'll cost us.

We dominate domestic football obviously, but I don't remember him pulling us out of serious *, or stopping us from getting a pasting in Europe, or making those top saves against the huns to keep us ahead or keep us in a game.

I expect that occasionally from a celtic number 1. For instance Boruc did it all the time, Forster on both spells, even Gordon did it for us. Hart just seems to be a sorta 6 out of 10 for us.

 

It's a difficult one. Terrible with the ball at his feet but an outstanding save at the end of today's game. I just think he has a presence that's good for us but it's hard to say how much he's going to regress due to his age.

 

He isn’t terrible on the deck I think, he’s not amazing or particularly great either. He’s just about alright enough at it and moves into the right places enough for it to be more dangerous because he’s trusted with passes back to him more than he should be. Even playing from the back, doesn’t mean he’s the one that should be dictating that play.