Joe Hart backs Vincent Kompany to recover from City Omission

‘There is no one destined to play every game – I have learned that,’ says Hart



Joe Hart believes Vincent Kompany will bounce back from being dropped for Manchester City’s victory over Leicester City, the goalkeeper stating how his own removal last season by Manuel Pellegrini taught him no player is “destined” to feature in every match.


Kompany was left on the bench at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday evening for the 2-0 win over the bottom-placed team, the central defender paying the price for his latest mistake at Anfield on Sunday, which led to Liverpool’s opening goal in the champions’ 2-1 defeat. While the Belgian has struggled for consistent form all season it was the first time in his seven-year City career Kompany had not been chosen due to playing reasons.

However Hart, who was left out last season following a 2-1 defeat at Chelsea in which his mistake allowed Fernando Torres’s late winner, said: “Vinny appreciates, same as we all do, that sometimes the manager will change the squad. There is no one destined to play every single game – I have learned that lesson. Vinny’s an unbelievable player, one of the best I have ever played with, and this was his night off. I’m sure he will be back in the team again with that captain’s armband, being one of the best defenders in world football.”

Speaking before helping City to what was only a ninth clean sheet of the league season, Hart accepted his side’s faltering title defence has been down to poor defending. “It’s not been good enough – we’d all accept that – myself included,” he said. “As a team we have to accept that it’s not just the back four and the goalkeeper when we defend – we defend as a team. I don’t set out to be brutally honest but I’d struggle to say things any other way. I’d always protect my team and protect my team-mates but it’s pretty hard to not tell the truth when millions of people have just watched what happened.”

Hart is enjoying a fine personal campaign but is still keen to improve. “I am still learning the game, still growing into it,” he said. “I have been here a long time but I want to keep improving and that is not going to change as long as I put on a Man City jersey. I am just enjoying the run of games I am involved in at the moment, and the opportunities that keep coming my way, and hope that I can keep taking them.”

City, who trail Chelsea by five points and have played a game more, next play Burnley a week on Saturday as Pellegrini’s side are not involved in the weekend’s FA Cup action. “I have come to love playing every three or four days,” Hart said. “Quite recently we had one game every week, and it just doesn’t feel right, but we are out of the Cup and have to accept it. We have the days off and have to use them to recover and get ready for Burnley.”


By Jamie Jackson, Guardian