Tottenham Quarterly Keeper Ratings – Clean Sheets Coming?
By Aaron Coe
Joe Hart:
Games played – 4
Minutes played – 360
Goals Conceded – 4
Clean sheets – 1
When Joe Hart was signed over the summer, for many it seemed like just a numbers thing with him bringing another homegrown player to the squad. However, it has become abundantly clear from preseason until now that Joe Hart was signed to be the number two keeper for Tottenham as he is the only keeper other than Hugo Lloris to play in a real game this season.
To date Hart’s appearances have been confined to Europa League, with two appearances during qualifying and playing in two of the three Group Stage matches thus far. While the work for Hart has been intermittent his presence on the pitch hardly ever goes unnoticed. Whereas you can pick up some of the chatter coming from Hugo Lloris, Hart’s booming voice is almost as unmistakable as that of Mourinho himself.
In fact, two of the improvements in Lloris’ game this season, his verbal command on the pitch and aerial command in the box seem to have come directly from some of the work of Hart, particularly in Europa League Qualifying. Hart’s domination of his penalty area set the standard for the team and displayed how much easier life can be for the defense when the box is being dominated by the keeper.
While Paulo Gazzaniga may be the better shot stopper at this point in their careers, there is no doubt Joe Hart is the better overall goalkeeper, which is what Tottenham need in a number 2, a steady, reliable goalkeeper. Given that is what Hart was signed to do, he has done it really well thus far.