England's Joe Hart and The German Model

Article by Stephen Attridge

It's amazing how things change. Not since the days of David Seaman have England had a goalkeeper with so much ability.

It's been an area of the pitch we haven't had to worry about. All the discussion has been about trying to get the balance right in midfield and how we can best accommodate Wayne Rooney.

But now this... Joe Harts dip in form.

I've got to admit, I've completely changed my tune on selection policy regarding international football. I used to declare to anyone that could be bothered to listen that if I was England manager I would only pick form players. There could then be no argument about who plays and surely the team would have the best chance of winning that particular match.

Many domestic managers frequently change players according to form and that's perfectly understandable.
The problem is that international football is a different animal. Make a mistake at domestic level at you may hit the back pages of the morning news. Make a mistake at international level however and you will be on the front page of every paper in the country.

England players will shudder when thinking about what was printed about David Beckham after his sending off in the World Cup in 1998. It's no wonder we keep getting associated with a fear of failure.

The pressure is different, and when the pressure is on you want the guy next to you to be someone your familiar with, someone that was alongside you in the last match, and the match before that.

Look at the Germans, they have put faith in a squad of players that have grown together over a number of years, and when a tournament approaches whether it be the Euros or the World Cup we all fancy a cheeky tenor on them reaching the final.

Cohesive, effective, successful.

They have been through it all before, as a unit.

So my opinion these days is look at what works, especially as we haven't won anything since 1966.

I think that any England manager has to decide what his ideal tournament team is as far as possible in advance and then try to get them to play as many games as possible regardless of dips in form.

Joe Hart isn't at his best right at this moment but the pressure on someone else coming in to deliver a faultless performance isn't worth the risk in my view and keeping faith in someone helps to restore their confidence anyway.

Luckily Roy Hodgson is no stranger to international football and has seen it all before. I was delighted to see him rubbishing the idea of bringing in an unproven international goalkeeper at this vital stage of the qualifying campaign, highlighting the need for experience when questioned on the security of the England number 1 jersey.

The only worry for him is if one of his big players happens to loose his place in his Premier League side. Then I admit he really will have a decision to make. Rather him than me.

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