Neil Warnock on Joe Hart: Judge keepers by how many errors they make, not saves and catches

Warnock's World: A manager cannot allow the size of headlines to influence his judgement

Dropping Joe Hart is a bigger decision because he is England’s goalkeeper (GETTY IMAGES)

It is never an easy decision for a manager to drop his established goalkeeper, as Manuel Pellegrini appears to have done ahead of Manchester City’s match at home to Norwich City on Saturday.

When that goalkeeper is the England No 1 the decision is even harder, but a manager cannot allow the size of the headlines to influence his judgement.

Perhaps Hart was already going to be left out of the Capital One Cup game in midweek to give him a rest, along with a lot of other first team regulars, but the 2-0 victory over Newcastle United, and the way Costel Pantilimon played in goals, gave Pellegrini food for thought. A clean sheet away from home and some decent saves probably made his mind up. He had supported Hart until now, but the mistake at Chelsea last weekend will have infuriated him so much inside, being so late in the game against title rivals. If it had been a one-off, however, he could have put it to one side, but it was not.

Hart is a better keeper than Pantilimon, and the manager knows that, but he’ll have thought, “Costel wouldn’t have made that mistake”. Dropping Hart is a big decision because of his status. How often has a regular England keeper been dropped? I can’t remember a club manager dropping David Seaman, Ray Clemence or Peter Shilton.

It is not a case of punishing Hart, but releasing him from the pressure of the moment and giving him time off. When you are England keeper and at a top club every game is a pressure game, especially when the spotlight is on you after a couple of mistakes. Some managers keep picking a player as they believe that support will help them through a loss of confidence. But sometimes leaving a player out of the firing line might do him more good. It comes down to knowing your player, what is best for him.

I had an outfield player at QPR who I left out after a bad run of games. I honestly thought to myself I’d never play him again. Yet gradually, in training, you could see his self-belief come back. With that came the little swagger I knew he had when he was playing well. He did well in a couple of reserve games and, a few weeks later, when an opportunity arose I knew I could put him back in without a problem. That is what confidence does to a player, and how quickly it can change, for good or ill. He ended up playing a key part in our promotion push.

The best goalkeepers make the fewest mistakes. Early in my managerial career I had good shot-stoppers, good keepers who came for crosses, but I also had bad decision-makers. If a goalkeeper makes a series of bad decisions, not coming for a cross when he should have, or running out of the box when he should leave a situation to his defenders, they have a knock-on effect. The keeper becomes even more hesitant, or more rash.

That’s why, once I found Paddy Kenny playing for Bradford Park Avenue, I stuck with him, taking him from there to Bury, to Sheffield United, to QPR and to Leeds, where he is still No 1 under Brian McDermott. Paddy’s mistakes were so rare that I never got in a situation where I thought about dropping him. I knew if he made a mistake he probably wouldn’t make another for 15-to-20 games. I don’t think I ever saw him make mistakes in consecutive games.

I’ve always thought the worst part of Joe Hart’s game was the decision-making, ever since I watched him playing at Shrewsbury. He had a great game against one of my teams in a cup match yet he still made a couple of bad decisions. You get away with that when you’re a young goalkeeper, but he’s not that young now, at 26, and he’s played more than 350 senior games.

The problem is at a team like Manchester City the keeper doesn’t have that much to do in most games, so concentration and decision-making are even more important. The team has so much possession a keeper is watching the game most of the time: that is far more difficult than being at the bottom of the league, having 25 shots against you and umpteen crosses to field. In those circumstances the odd mistake can be missed amid all the saves.

Arsène must wonder how he can beat Jose

Chelsea’s midweek win against Arsenal made it nine games without defeat for Jose Mourinho against Arsène Wenger, which is remarkable. Arsène must sit there on the bench thinking: “How am I going to beat this man?” It is funny how there are some teams and managers who always seem to get the rub of the green win against other teams and managers. In my case it always used to be my ex-clubs I never lost to. Which was good, because there are plenty of them. They always used to say “not you again” at Rotherham and Barnsley, but Barnsley had the last laugh when I was well beaten there with Leeds last season.

In the build-up to matches against teams my club always lost to, such as Leeds v Derby (who have won the last nine meetings), or QPR at Nottingham Forest (Rangers have never won at the City Ground), the media would always say things like “you’ve not beaten them since 1980”, which you don’t really want to hear before a game – though a part of you thinks: “It’s bound to happen eventually, maybe this will be the year”.

Chelsea always used to beat Arsenal because Didier Drogba battered their centre-halves, but now they set out to nullify Arsenal’s midfield strength. Arsenal will have to show they can overcome that if they are to maintain their good start. It’ll be interesting to see how they respond against Liverpool today to successive home defeats. Teams can lose confidence just like players do. When that happens a manager will try anything: a different training approach, a different day off, or a couple of days off, a different training pitch, let someone else take the warm-up. Anything to stop the rot.

And when you won, someone like me would use the same razor to save before the next match, wear the same shirt, drive the same way to the ground, park in the same spot. Sharon used to say: “How can that shirt affect the game?” But it made me feel better wearing it, which might affect the game as it might affect the way I was in the dressing room before kick-off.

Going to games as a neutral is such a relief

One thing I have not missed this year is that sickening feeling in my stomach on a Saturday morning that used to hit me a couple of hours before going to the ground. I’d always have a big breakfast because after that I couldn’t eat anything. The feeling lasts until the whistle goes, then you become involved in the game and don’t notice it any more.

Instead I can look forward to attending matches as a spectator. I managed to get a week off from my other media commitments this week and went to Scotland. Last night I took William to Rangers v Airdrie at Ibrox. William had never been to the ground before. I still can’t get over a club like Rangers being in what is effectively the third division. I was pleased they reached a cup final this week, the Ramsdens Cup. It’s a reward for Ally McCoist and the supporters, though I can understand why some fans are not too pleased at having to play Raith Rovers at Hibernian. Not only are Hibs one of Rangers’ biggest foes, but Easter Road only holds 20,000 so there will be lots of fans missing out.

One match we didn’t get to was Morton’s cup tie against St Johnstone in midweek. When we got to the ferryport at Dunoon to get to Greenock, William and I looked at the huge waves and decided we didn’t fancy getting aboard, especially as we would have to make the return journey to get home. Morton lost to a last-minute re-taken free-kick, which suggests it’s not just in England that the bigger clubs get the benefit of major decisions.