Why is Joe Hart still England's number one?

Hart's performance in the Champion's League was worrying; is it time for Fraser Forster or John Ruddy to take over?

No matter how many goals he saves, people will always talk about the one he missed. This is the story of Joe Hart. For those of you who are not familiar with him, Hart is Manchester City FC's and England’s national football team's goalkeeper. He has won three consecutive Premier League Golden Glove awards and has also been rated as one of the finest goalkeepers in English football.

However, the Manchester City goalkeeper has been criticised for his performance during the Champions League match against Bayern Munich, in which his team faced defeat. In that match, Hart missed a long-range kick by Frank Ribery (current European player of the year) which resulted in Bayern Munich scoring the first goal of the game, and hence getting an early lead. Next, Hart missed another goal by Arjen Robben near his post, placing his team in the danger zone.

With some crucial international matches knocking on England’s door, this performance was nothing but a worrying sight for England national football team manager Roy Hodgson. However, to be honest, it didn't just start from here. Hart was at the centre of criticism for his errors in Manchester City's defeats at the hands of Cardiff and Aston Villa in the Premier League this season.

So is it time for England to consider someone else before the decisive World Cup qualifying matches for next year’s big event in Brazil take place?

We have been hearing names like Fraser Forster and John Ruddy as possible candidates to become England’s goalkeeper. No doubt both of them are amazing goalkeepers, but how do we evaluate a keeper's performance?  Is it from the number of goals conceded by the player? Or by the number of matches in which the player has given a clean sheet (when the goalie does not let a single goal pass through during a match)?

Well, if the latter is the criteria, then Hart should be considered as one of the best.

Last season Hart had 18 clean sheets in the Premier League and Manchester City conceded the fewest goals as well. Yet his level was widely considered to have slipped.

Let’s talk about another measure – goalkeepers from top European leagues who have made mistakes leading to a goal or shot, from 2009-10 season onwards.

Hart has made 15 mistakes during this period of time, which is the same as Petr Cech and better than Victor Valdes (16), Manuel Neuer and Iker Casillas (17). Only two goalkeepers have a better record, Hugo Lloris and Gianluigi Buffon (9).

Hart also ranks reasonably well on another chart, which is about the big chances (goals) saved. Last season his figure of 24% (9 saves out of 37) was nothing extraordinary but still better than the likes of Buffon (16%) and Casillas (19%), although he was still behind De Gea, who saved 11 of out 25 big chances for a 44% conversion rate.

Considering all these aspects, one should not be surprised to see why Roy Hodgson and John Ruddy have shown so much confidence in Hart.

"Joe's the England number one. Rightly so," said Ruddy.

And during a press conference Hodgson stated:

"As far as I'm concerned, Joe Hart is my number one. He has never let me down."

If all this wasn't enough for Hart critics, England’s former keeper Peter Shilton, who made a record 125 international appearances, also spoke about Hodgson being right to back Hart, saying:

"It is a difficult decision but the right one."

I would like to conclude this with a few statistics. Of Joe Hart's 35 games for England, 21 have finished in victories, while 12 have been drawn, and he has been part of a losing England side only twice. So, there should be no more confusion left.

Hart is indeed the best goal keeper for England right now.