The former Liverpool and Sunderland goalkeeper Simon Mignolet once said you can only speak about goalkeeping if you’re a keeper yourself.
Mark Schwarzer wrote that most TV goalkeeping assessments are “cheap throwaways or inaccurate”. Kasper Schmeichel said pundits “don’t fully appreciate the intricacies of goalkeeping”. All Gary Nevilles considered, that’s quite generous.
Joe Hart’s Match of the Day bow on Saturday made him just the fifth goalkeeper on the show in 60 years. Bob Wilson was a long-standing presenter rather than pundit, Peter Schmeichel and Schwarzer were both one-season wonders immediately post-retirement and Shay Given, more of a Sunday specialist, rarely offers any notable insight into his former position.
Yet Hart, already impressive in a Euro 2024 stint better remembered for his extraordinary sergeant major’s posture and less extraordinary tattoos, has a remarkable gift for explaining a goalkeeper’s perspective and thought process.
The primary function of ex-players as pundits should be their ability to translate footballing intricacies to the masses, but that’s rarely the case.
Modern panels increasingly mimic pub debate and social media discourse, rewarding the loudest voices and takes so scorching they will wipe your eyebrows off. Informative analysis is for Monday Night Football and that alone, thank you very much. No-one wants lecturing to on the weekend.
But much like Christina Unkel’s revolutionary refereeing analysis on ITV, Hart’s analysis of Jordan Pickford and David Raya inspired a Matrix-exiting moment of clarity. Everyone acknowledges goalkeeping requires an entirely different skillset and mindset to any outfield role, yet most still believe they understand the fundamentals enough to comment. Spoiler alert! They don’t.
While Hart was discussing Pickford’s positioning – obligatorily introduced by Gary Lineker saying “Joe, you want to make a point on behalf of the goalkeeper’s union” – a subtly brilliant graphic illustrated the goal from the keeper’s point of view.
The explanation itself was little more than 15 seconds, but Hart outlined everything his England successor had to consider simultaneously. He made what could have been misconstrued as an error appear the only sensible course of action. It was magnificent in its simplicity and efficacy.
Now, Hart has obvious improvements to make – he’s a touch too upright and uptight – but that will come with time and experience and comfort. Given Lineker has long doubled up as both presenter and pundit, there’s plenty of scope for a goalkeeping specialist to become a full-time addition to the Match of the Day cast.
In fact, every punditry panel should include a goalkeeper as a rule. There’s a fair argument it’s the most important position and it’s certainly the most widely misunderstood.
The language of football has its foundations in cliche, but the entire industry of goalkeeping analysis and punditry appears to depend on it solely. It is indicative of how goalkeeping is viewed by non-goalkeepers that most pundits and TV executives believe shot-stopping analysis can be covered by outfielders.
Hart is uniquely placed for analysis as his career was split and defined by a goalkeeping’s Guardiolan schism. The work he’s had to do to keep up with the increasingly distribution-dominated industry means he understands all facets of the game – he was renowned for his depth of personal analysis as a player.
His post-Pep decline meant Hart’s legacy is often undervalued, but it is not his fault elite football stopped valuing his skillset. His 75 caps are 12 more than Shearer won and seven more than Pickford currently has. There’s no issue with his qualifications for this role.
“I wanted to get into punditry to educate people who are interested in goalkeeping, and hopefully I can help people understand the position a bit better,” he wrote before Euro 2024.
“There is often a lot more to a goal than might first appear and I want to try to explore and explain that, and all the different variables that can affect the goalkeeper – from the positions they take up and how they work with their defenders, to the movement of the ball and everything else that is happening in front of them.”
It’s bizarre there haven’t been more great goalkeeping pundits given the type of person the role traditionally attracts. Albert Camus, Pope John Paul II, Vladimir Nabokov and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle are among the erstwhile ‘Keeperarti, the goalkeeper’s union often a network of self-reflective “lone eagles, men of mystery”, as Nabokov put it.
With Ian Wright’s studio seat now up for grabs, Hart, Theo Walcott and Steph Houghton are the three options to replace Britain’s premier footballing national treasure.
They will get this season at least to vie for a permanent role, but Hart’s unique perspective and pure Match of the Day-ness should make him a shoe-in. Nothing would transform the nation’s understanding of goalkeeping quicker.
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3Y0efV4
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