Joe hart ,26, was rested for Wednesday’s 2-0 Capital One Cup
win over Newcastle -- a game in which his replacement Costel Pantilimon kept a clean sheet.
And City manager Manuel Pellegrini is set to keep faith in second-choice goalkeeper
Pantilimon, and give him his Premier League debut in
the weekend’s clash at the Etihad Stadium, a source claims.
Hart has not been omitted for league game since replacing Shay Given as City's first choice in 2010, but it was Pantilimon who trained behind the first-choice defence in the build-up to Saturday's match.
The England international has been under pressure after
making a series of high-profile mistakes this season, and
Pellegrini has not publicly backed him since his last- minute error allowed Chelsea’s Fernando Torres to score the winner against City on Sunday.
The City boss admitted he considered omitting Hart for
the 3-1 win against Everton on Oct. 5, which came three
days after he was at fault for two goals in the Champions
League defeat to Bayern Munich.
Pellegrini, however, refused to confirm his team selection
at his Friday prematch news conference, but did concede
that he faces a difficult choice between his two
goalkeepers for Saturday’s game.
“Tomorrow [Saturday] you will know,” he said. “It is a
decision I have to take every week with the 22 players.”
Dealing with Hart without denting his confidence is a test
for Pellegrini’s man-management skills, and he added: “I
am very careful with all the players, not only Joe.”
He said: “I can’t say for him how disappointed [he was].
All of you and the players and me saw what happened but
he is a football player and every week he is under the same pressure.”
No comments:
Post a Comment