Hodgson is methodical, predictable, organised and steady he typifies what the FA want. The problem with this country is in when something is run by an institution such as the FA it installs and indoctrinates certain behaviours and beliefs in those who work for it e.g. it has a long standing culture or way of doing things, then when something is independently run in this country encourages those that work for it to think creatively or differently, basically in a nutshell organisations like FA hate individual thinkers or people that think differently to them it's seen as radical.
let's be clear on this - joe hart is not a crap keeper. he's a very good keeper, potentially superb, but he is having a really rough patch of form over the past 12 months or so. he should be dropped if his form is poor and a rival is in better form - that is how it works at club level, why not at international level? it shouldn't matter who they are or who they play for but sadly, as suggested elsewhere many times before, it's precisely this sort of selection that causes fans (and some players) to think there is huge bias towards certain players who in almost every case, play for a big club
No, Hart had one absolutley amazing season and has lived off that through two or three indifferent seasons with the number of howlers starting to climb. But Woy claims he has never let him down, so that's alright then!
we should always want the best for our players imo if that means they end up moving on to bigger and better things then so be it
In what way? 16 clean sheets in 35 matches looks good, but when you factor in that they were against: - San Marino (x2) - Bulgaria - Moldova (x2) - Montenegro - Wales (x2) - Trinidad and Tobago - Ukraine (x2) The only good ones have been against Spain, Italy, Belgium and Sweden. Of those, Belgium was before they became good and Sweden isn't all that special. Spain was a good performance though, as was Italy.
The thing that really passed me off is in the friendlies we try out different players in different positions, give younger players a chance, different formations and yet Hart plays 90 minutes every time. What are we gaining by playing him for 90 minutes in friendlies? Absolutely pathetic.
I would Love Ruddy to play consistently for England, I'm just saying a lot of the fans currently outraged that he's not playing for England would be outraged when he leaves, not really talking about people on here.
If Ruddy becomes England's first choice 'keeper, then you know McNally is going to squeeze every penny out of whoever comes calling, and it'll leave us with more than enough money to find a Premier League quality goalkeeper and invest in other areas of the squad. Whilst I'd be sad to see him go, in that scenario I don't think we'd be able to complain too much.
I wouldn't wish being England's number one on anybody. See careers of Paul Robinson, Scott Carson etc. and what happened to them after making mistakes for England.
Joe Hart just has that certain something to be World Class, be it temperament, charisma, he seems to have that all important aura required. I think he's Englands best player I certainly think Ruddy has the potential for that, he's definitely got an element of what I've described of Hart, he's just not been able to prove it yet.
O/T here but this is exactly what I thought had happened to Ramsey, the seasons after his injury (And it was a horrific injury and one it's impressive he has come back from) he never really seemed to show any sign of this brilliant player that Wenger had seen. Boy has he shown it this year now! His incredible form and the purchase of Ozil are what make Arsenal such a scary team to face right now, those 2 just seem to bring everything together!
The thing I like about Ruddy is his size as a Goalkeeper, he's much broader than Hart or many other PL keepers. You don't see that very often these days. This means Ruddy can really get stuck in and it gives him that added presence when coming out and collecting crosses. Also, when you're charging down a striker through on goal it probably helps having that bit extra surface area to block the shot. I know I'd be worried if I had JR rushing out at me!
As long as Joe Hart has four limbs I have more chance of playing for England than JR. I agree with many that Hart is a superb keeper but he is out of sorts and has ben for a while now - from memory he made a few howlers at the end of last season as well as having a pretty mediocre start to this campaign. That said I don't think that JR is at the point where he can reasonably be expected to take over as he is only just back from a very nasty injury and has had no chance to prove himself to Hodgson. His kicking still is not what it was and I reckon he will improve over the coming weeks as he returns to 100% fitness and gets a few games under his belt. It certainly does not help England that we seem to have a policy of not trying out alterante keepers in friendlies as were Hart to get a serious injury Englands No.1 would almost certainly go to the World Cup with less than 10 caps which seems a worry to me. You also have to ask what happens if Hart keeps making errors and is dropped by Man City - very difficult to pick him for England if he is not playing in the PL week in week out.
I'm a fan of both Hart and Ruddy, but he hasn't let England down so why should he dropped? Against brazil he was superb, and consistent in the last 2 qualfiers, although he could have conceded a penalty against the ukraine. Unfortunately for Ruddy he needs to wait until injury or loss of form for England from Hart to then seize his chance and hold on to the spot. To me the biggest crime in the england team is Leighton baines not being first choice left back!
