ENGLAND...2 SLOVAKIA...1
WORLD CUP QUALIFIER ACTION AND REACTION:
GARETH SOUTHGATE might live to regret not having the heart to drop his favourite keeper.
Until now the England boss has shown only unconditional love towards West Ham’s Joe Hart.
He insists Hart remains his No.1 between the posts, despite him having had a worse 12 months than Tiger Woods and Novak Djokovic put together.
Southgate’s reluctance to drop Hart is startling. Such blind faith in someone whose confidence is shot is a sign of weakness.
The England boss showed great strength to ease Wayne Rooney out of the international picture.
Those before him never had the guts to do it and treated the record goalscorer and former captain like some sort of God-like figure.
But there is now a clear and genuine argument to suggest that Hart is even less deserving of his place in the team than Rooney was towards the end of his time with the Three Lions.
Confidence is such an important thing for a keeper, but Hart has none. How could he? He spent last summer on loan with Serie A strugglers Torino because Pep Guardiola rejected him.
His performances at Euro 2016 were shambolic and in his final 20 games with the Italians he failed to keep a clean sheet.
He joined West Ham because no-one wanted to sign him from Manchester City permanently – and he has conceded 10 goals in his first three games with Slaven Bilic’s top-flight strugglers.
Returning to the bosom of the England set-up has provided some solace for Hart. But Southgate shouldn’t be using World Cup qualifiers to help Hart feel good about himself again.
For so long Hart did not have much competition for his place. Now he does, but it appears to have made little difference.
Jack Butland has been waiting in the wings. So has Tom Heaton, while Jordan Pickford is emerging as the best of the lot following his summer move to Everton.
It’s not like Southgate has no alternative but to pick Hart. Some impressive options are staring him straight in the face.
The most damning criticism of Hart is that he personifies all that is wrong with this England team. He thinks he’s better than he is.
Hart sung the national anthem last night with his eyes closed. He must have forgotten to open them after kick-off because he was picking the ball out of his net within three minutes.
Marcus Rashford takes most of the blame, having given the ball away then tracked back with all the aggression of a wet sponge.
But Hart could have done much more to stop Stanislav Lobotka’s shot – like reacting quicker and making himself bigger, like Peter Schmeichel.
Although he did redeem himself a little with a key save off Adam Nemec when the score was 1-1.
Southgate has less than 10 months to pick a team capable of competing at next summer’s World Cup in Russia – if we qualify.
But if he thinks our chances will be in safe hands with Hart then, not for the first time, those chances look destined to slip through our fingers.