<div style="text-align: center"><a href="http://view.picapp.com/pictures.photo/news/england-bulgaria-2010/image/9648970?term=Joe+Hart" target="_blank"><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="http://view4.picapp.com/pictures.photo/image/9648970/england-bulgaria-2010/england-bulgaria-2010.jpg?size=500&amp;imageId=9648970" border="0" alt="Wembley Stadium, England v Bulgaria, European Championship Qualifying Group G 3/09/2010  Joe Hart of England gives the thumbs up as he leaves the pitch at half time Photo Marc Atkins Fotosports International Photo via Newscom" width="500" height="626"></figure></div></a></div>
<p>While Jermain Defoe took the goal-scoring honours on Friday night at the other end of the pitch Joe Hart was going a long way to establishing himself as England’s goalkeeper for the&nbsp;foreseeable future with another fine display.</p>
<p>Fabio Capello’s decision to opt for an experienced ‘keeper at the World Cup at the expense of Hart was one of the biggest blunders he made in South Africa. Hart was a bench warmer throughout the tournament but since then it appears that Capello has seen the error of his ways.</p>
<p>The former Shrewsbury man has now well truly established himself as number one for club and country and if all goes well this should be the case for many years to come. It makes a refreshing change for England who after the retirement of David Seaman have been craving somebody to take on the role as England’s long term ‘keeper.</p>
<p>David James, Paul Robinson and Robert Green have all threatened to make the position their own. But a general lack of form, or high profile mistakes have ultimately lead to their downfall. Now it is Hart’s chance to shine, and if he can fulfil his early promise, Capello may finally have found the answer to the position which has become the most debated spot in the England side.</p>
<p>Hart’s confidence is the key to his success.&nbsp; We must remember that at only 23 Hart is a baby in the goalkeeping world. But his commanding presence and immaculate performances demonstrate his confidence and portray a sense of stability that can only help build confidence in an England side which after the World Cup is understandably insecure.</p>
<p>The worry for Hart is that he succumbs to a Scott Carson like mistake. Carson was tipped to claim the England number one spot ahead of that infamous defeat to Croatia at Wembley. But ever since he failed to deal with Niko Kranjcar’s long range effort Carson has struggled to rebuild his career and only recently managed to fight his way back in to the England squad.</p>
<p>Should Hart make a similar error we may be searching for a keeper once more, but without meaning to jinx the former Shrewsbury Town&nbsp;man you just can’t see this happening, and even if it did you’d be backing Hart to bounce back a lot quicker then Carson.</p>
<p>To couple his obvious ability he appears to have a strong mentality, which for a ‘keeper is oh so vital and with him in goal the future of English football seems to have a securer base in which to build on.</p>


Hart Set For A Long Spell as England&#039;s Number One

Hart Set For A Long Spell as England&#039;s Number One - World Soccer Talk

Hart Set For A Long Spell as England's Number One

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<p>The halcyon days of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s were apparently a boom time in England’s glorious history of great goalkeepers. From the benchmark that was the great Gordon Banks and his understudy, Peter Springett, to the rotation of Ray Clemence and Peter Shilton in the 70’s and early 1980’s, England always had a top class goalkeeper.</p>
<p>As Chris Woods and then David Seaman continued the tradition, despite every other pundit claiming the English goalkeeper was a dying breed,&nbsp; but until Seaman’s retirement from England duty in 2002, that looked an empty prediction. Since then England’s number one has rotated between David James, Paul Robinson, Scott Carson, with sporadic appearances from Robert Green, Ben Foster, Chris Kirkland and Joe Hart. An unusual situation after decades of stability between the sticks, which clarifies a pressing issue for Capello. Just who can he trust with the number one shirt?</p>
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<p>The obvious choice is David James, but the situation at Portsmouth has had far reaching consequences. James found himself in a situation were Portsmouth wouldn’t play him as it would trigger a clause in his contract rewarding him with an extension. Of course, being the goalkeeper of a side marooned at the foot of the Premiership table and with a worrying tendency to implode under pressure, is James really the best English goalkeeper?</p>
<p>Euro 2004 saw James’ performances came under criticism after admitting he hadn’t studied French set pieces, when England were undone by 5 minutes of madness in the opening game of the tournament. A penalty from Henry and a free kick from Zidane saw England collapse and ultimately end up with the harder run of the tournament.</p>
<p>Yet since those rickets, consistency has returned to his game and as one of English footballs more eloquent footballers, James would be one of the three goalkeepers for me and probably keep the No.1 shirt unless his form completely collapses before the end of the season.The other two places are realistically up for grabs.</p>
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<p>To all intents and purposes, the stand out English goalkeeper of the Premiership season has been Joe Hart and what a season. He’s certainly been one of the key reasons that Birmingham City have had such a successful season so far. In fact,I was stunned that Hart didn’t make his second appearance for England in Wednesday nights friendly against Egypt. I’ve been very impressed with his form throughout the season and felt for him when Manchester City splashed out big bucks to bring Shay Given to Eastlands in January 2009.</p>
<p>One criticism that seemingly comes Hart’s way from some quarters is his age. It seems a perennial English trait that players are perpetually too young to play for their country. Hart has plenty of international experience, with his time with the Under-21 squad even scoring a penalty for his country. Yes, it may not be the same level of intensity, but competition experience is invaluable, what ever level it is achieved at. The future England custodian of the gloves for me and a shoe in for the second goalkeeping place.</p>
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<p>The final place is the one that several people have a real chance of grabbing, but I’ll rule out the three who I wouldn’t consider. Poor Scott Carson, another one who was touted as the future of English goalkeeper until a wet night at Wembley in 2007 that saw the end of the dreadful Steve Mclaren reign. Critics blamed the pitch, oblivious to the wonderful football that Croatia played. Tactically inept and with his powers of spin unable to cover his failings, Mclaren went down taking Carson’s England career with it.</p>
<p>He’s never recovered and several high profile mistakes last season saw his hopes of an England recall all but disappear. Carson simply hasn’t had any luck with certain mistakes perhaps over analysed in the media but I think this World Cup has come too soon for him. Add to that with him not playing Premiership football as well&nbsp; coupled with not being the best English goalkeeper in the Championship and it’s doubtful he’ll get a sniff unless bubonic plague strikes the England goalkeeper set up.</p>
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<p>Chris Kirkland is another that time has not been kind to. Touted as the next great England keeper,&nbsp; injuries stalled his career development and it is only in the last couple of seasons that he has managed to get a consistent level of appearances together. The irony of goalkeeping was shown in no clearer light than on November 22nd when Kirkland conceded 9 goals in Wigan’s mauling at the hands of&nbsp; Tottenham.</p>
<p>Remarkably, without Kirkland, Spurs would have probably scored more, he saved a further 7 shots on target. Classed as injury prone, despite playing over 80 league games in his last 3 seasons, Kirkland has fallen behind Hart and would currently be 5th in my opinion. At 28, time is certainly not against him, but it’ll be a major surprise if he gets back to England duty.</p>
<p>Ben Foster currently can’t get on Manchester United’s bench which says it all and he is a real pickle at Old Trafford. Bags of potential but I don’t care how good you are, playing for Manchester United reserves occasionally isn’t anywhere near the level of getting in to the England set up. I’ve a real fear that he could disappear like Richard Wright did after joining Arsenal and then a disjointed spell at Everton. Now back at Ipswich Town, his is a career of real missed chances.</p>
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<p>Which brings me to my final two choices. Paul Robinson and Robert Green.&nbsp; Last night Capello seemed to give Green the chance to prove he could be part of the squad by playing the whole 90 minutes of the friendly. This seemingly would draw a curtain on Paul Robinson’s chances of making the squad unless James, Hart or Green falls injured.&nbsp; Green didn’t really have much to do and he has certainly been fairly consistent over the last 3 seasons at West Ham United.</p>
<p>So overall I think Capello will pick James, Green and Hart with Robinson as 4th choice on stand by. The wild card would be Chris Kirkland but overall, I think Fabio will stick with the devil he knows but what do you think??</p>

The England Outsiders#1 The Goalkeepers

The England Outsiders#1 The Goalkeepers - World Soccer Talk

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<p>For me, there is only one English goalkeeper that can be England’s number one for South Africa next summer and that man is Paul Robinson. After being so badly treated at Tottenham under Juande Ramos and unfairly blamed for giving away a soft goal for England against Croatia, Robinson has finally got back to his best. He was hung out to dry by Steve Mclaren after Gary Neville’s wayward back pass bobbled over his foot.</p>
<p>Everyone conveniently forgot the string of saves Robinson had made to keep England in a game they were a poor second best in that night. Right now, he is playing better than any of his counterparts, with probably the exception of Steve Harper at Newcastle United and Joe Hart at Birmingham City. Forget the Robert Green argument, he’s nowhere near good enough.</p>
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<p>Of the goalkeepers available to Capello, Robinson is head and shoulders above all others and has been for the best part of a year. David James is injured and playing for a team in free-fall, both on and off the pitch. Robert Green is bang out of form and consistently makes mistake after mistake. He also has a tendency to try and deliberately foul players whenever possible.For all his bravado and wearing “England’s number 6” on his gloves, he’s not good enough. He’s always been poor coming off his line and his aerial ability is not the best.</p>
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<p>Poor old Ben Foster has suffered from some rather unnecessary criticism but still can’t shift the dreadful Thomas Kuszczak from between the sticks at Old Trafford.There is no doubt that the lad can go a long way in the game, but he’s suffering from a crisis in confidence at the moment, but he’s still a better goalkeeper than Kuszczak.</p>
<p>Scott Carson still suffers from a lack of concentration at West Bromwich Albion and still seems to bear the scars from the defeat to Croatia in November 2007 at Wembley. For all his shot stopping ability, Carson can still make some all mighty howlers from out of nowhere and seems to have fallen away from anywhere near the England team.</p>
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<p>Poor old Chris Kirkland simply can’t keep fit, whenever he gets on a great run of form, his long standing back injury seems to flare up and take out of the side. Despite the 9 goal mauling Wigan Athletic suffered at White Hart Lane, it’s no exaggeration to say it could have been twenty if it wasn’t for Kirkland. He showed such promise at Coventry but injuries blighted his time at Anfield and he’s never been able to shake the tag of being injury prone.</p>
<p>Other than Robinson and Hart, the other stand out candidate for the three places in South Africa for me is Steve Harper at Newcastle. He’s now getting the opportunity to show just how good a goalkeeper he actually is week in week out after Shay Given left last January for Manchester City. Whilst most people would have been itching for a move, Harper has shown incredible loyalty to Newcastle over the years.</p>
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<p>After 16 years service, with 12 of those as Given’s back up, he’s incredibly only played 151 games for Newcastle, with 86 of those appearances coming in the last four seasons. He has constantly served the club with pride and is now in the form of his life. Whilst others may have viewed Given’s depature as a real blow, having a player of the ability of Harper would certainly soften the blow.</p>
<p>Whilst some people seem to point out that you need a great goalkeeper to win the World Cup, with the exception of Buffon in 2006, you have to go all the way back to 1982 to find a team with a world class goalkeeper that won the World Cup. Every other winner since then has had good, and in some cases distinctly average custodians between the sticks. Paul Robinson is far better than average and Capello would do well to welcome him back into the fold.&nbsp; With Harper and Hart, that would be a dependable and quality set of goalkeepers to choose from.</p>

Time For Capello To Restore Paul Robinson As Englands No.1

Time For Capello To Restore Paul Robinson As Englands No.1 - World Soccer Talk

EPL Talk Meets Patrick Barclay

EPL Talk Meets Patrick Barclay - World Soccer Talk

<p><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="/files/2008/06/gomes.jpg" alt="gomes.jpg" align="right" height="280" hspace="15" vspace="15" width="280"></figure></div>Tottenham have agreed a deal with PSV Eindhoven to sign goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, subject to personal terms, a medical and a work permit. Gomes is 27 and has played internationally for Brazil. He helped PSV to the Dutch title last season by conceding only 24 league goals.</p>
<p>Should Gomes’ work permit go through, it will almost certainly signal the end of Paul Robinson’s time at White Hart Lane. Robinson was dropped from the Spurs side last season by boss Juande Ramos. Robinson had a season to forget last year as not only did he lose his place in the Spurs first XI but he was also being dropped from the England squad by new manager Fabio Capello.</p>
<p>Robinson is said to be moving to Aston Villa, if only for the fact that he will come at a more reasonable price than Liverpool’s Scott Carson, who spent last season on loan at Villa Park. Villa manager Martin O’Neill is said to be keen to have the goalkeeping situation cleared up as soon as possible, largely because the Villans embark on their Intertoto Cup campaign in a couple weeks’ time. You can find coverage of the Intertoto Cup here on the Champions League Talk website.</p>
<p>Spurs fans will remember Gomes as the man who saved a Jermain Jenas penalty in the shootout that PSV won 6-5 to eliminate Tottenham from the last 16 of the UEFA Cup competition. PSV are rumoured to be eyeing Manchester City and Sweden international goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson as a replacement.</p>
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<p>One player that is not going to be replaced is Jefferson Farfan, who earlier this month completed a transfer to Bundesliga club Schalke for a reported fee of 10 million Euros. PSV confirmed they would not sign a new striker, instead opting to rely on existing squad players like Danny Koevermans, Danko Lazovic and new signings Reimond Manco (signed from Peruvian club Alianza Lima) and Nordin Amrabat (signed from VVV Venlo). Amrabat (pictured above in an appearance with the Dutch U21 squad) should be able to crack the first team at some point, as he is only 21 but impressively scored 10 times in 33 appearances last season for the relegated VVV Venlo.</p>


PSV Lose Another Star &#8212; Gomes Off To Tottenham

PSV Lose Another Star - Gomes Off To Tottenham - World Soccer Talk

<p><div><figure class="external-image"><img loading="lazy" src="/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/gomes.jpg" alt="gomes.jpg" align="right" height="280" hspace="15" vspace="15" width="280"></figure></div>Several news sources are reporting that Tottenham have agreed a deal with PSV Eindhoven to sign goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes, subject to personal terms, a medical and a work permit. Gomes is 27 and has played internationally for Brazil. He helped PSV to the Dutch title last season, his fourth title since joining from Brazilian club Cruzeiro in 2004, by conceding only 24 league goals.</p>
<p>Should Gomes’ work permit go through, it will almost certainly signal the end of Paul Robinson’s time at White Hart Lane. Robinson was dropped from the Spurs side last season by boss Juande Ramos. Robinson had a season to forget last year as not only did he lose his place in the Spurs first XI but he was also being dropped from the England squad by new manager Fabio Capello. Robinson is said to be moving to Aston Villa, if only for the fact that he will come at a more reasonable price than Liverpool’s Scott Carson, who spent last season on loan at Villa Park.  Villa manager Martin O’Neill is said to be keen to have the goalkeeping situation cleared up as soon as possible, largely because the Villans embark on their Intertoto Cup campaign in a couple weeks’ time. You can find coverage of the Intertoto Cup on the Champions League Talk website.</p>
<p>Spurs fans will remember Gomes as the man who saved a Jermain Jenas penalty in the shootout that PSV won 6-5 to eliminate Tottenham from the last 16 of last season’s UEFA Cup competition.</p>
<p>PSV are rumoured to be eyeing Manchester City and Sweden international goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson as a replacement for the departing Gomes.</p>


Spurs To Sign PSV&#039;s Gomes &#8212; Will Robinson Move To Villa?

Spurs To Sign PSV&#039;s Gomes - Will Robinson Move To Villa? - World Soccer Talk

Spurs To Sign PSV's Gomes &#8212; Will Robinson Move To Villa?

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Hart Set For A Long Spell as England's Number One

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Time For Capello To Restore Paul Robinson As Englands No.1

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EPL Talk Meets Patrick Barclay

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PSV Lose Another Star — Gomes Off To Tottenham

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Spurs To Sign PSV's Gomes — Will Robinson Move To Villa?