Tottenham Hotspur signed Joe Hart this past summer and he has become the obvious #2 to Hugo Lloris, so how have the two faired so far this season between the sticks?
Tottenham Hotspur technically have four first team goalkeepers in Hugo Lloris, Joe Hart, Paulo Gazzaniga, and Alfie Whiteman. However, only Lloris and Hart have played for Spurs this season with Gazzaniga and Whiteman both likely gone in the coming offseason. With just Lloris and Hart to review, how have they done?
Hugo Lloris:
Games played – 11
Minutes played – 990
Goals Conceded – 12
Clean sheets – 2
This is a big season for Hugo Lloris, after his year last season was beset with a terrible injury, which kept the captain out of action for several months of the campaign. Thankfully, Hugo came back better than ever and finished last season strong. For the most part those strong performances have carried over to this season, although he does not have all the clean sheets to show for it.
Technically Hugo’s save percentage in the league is down on the season at .727 after posting a career best .796 last season. Hugo has made 17 saves on 22 shots on target; however, the percentage is skewed. We need to remember that 3 of those 22 shots have been penalty kicks and all three have been converted. If you take away those 3 attempts, Lloris has saved 17 of 19 attempts in league for an unworldly .895 save percentage. However, those penalties were taken and were scored, as was one goal on three attempts in Europa League, meaning Hugo’s save percentage is probably about right.
Beyond the saves Lloris has continued to grow as a leader for the team, in both his actions and his words on the pitch. Hugo Lloris has been stronger than we can remember seeing him in the air in working to command his penalty box. Whether he is learning from Hart, Mourinho, or both, Hugo has been a more assertive presence with high balls this season.
Additionally, we have heard more of Hugo on the pitch, calling out commands and directing the team from the back. Maybe this is something that has always happened and just removing the fans makes it more obvious, but it is definitely more obvious and a very positive occurrence for the team. Factor in that Hugo has not many any real mistakes this season that have cost his team goals and you have to feel pretty good overall about his performance. While a few more clean sheets would be nice, some of that is down to luck and better defending, not just the goalkeeper.
Rating – 7.5
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.