Unless you have been sitting in a darkened room all day, without any access to the many forms of media which surround us, you will know that Manchester City are considering asking Birmingham to return loan star Joe Hart, because they have lost number one goalkeeper Shay Given to a dislocated shoulder.
My immediate reaction to this story, was "tough!"
There is no need to tell any Spurs fan just how many key players the club have had missing for massive games, throughout the season.
Part of Spurs achievements this season, is that they have overcome injury after injury, not to mention an unpleasant illness, and have continued to be strong in defence, creative, and reasonably prolific in attack.
Spurs have beaten Arsenal and Chelsea - any excuse to write that again!
City have lost Given, so would normally look to their second choice, but he, Joe Hart, is on loan at Birmingham. This does not seem to matter however, as the FA have decided that the decision will be between the two clubs.
From Birmingham's point of view, the 'favour' of returning Hart would likely be compensated handsomely, would strengthen good relations between the clubs, and would surely be the choice of the player.
City meanwhile, will not miss the money, and would pay a king's ransom to finish fourth, which would naturally be extremely lucrative to the smaller of the Manchester clubs.
The argument is that 'goalkeeper' is a specialised position and City's other established goalkeeper, Stuart Taylor, beat Given to the treatment room.
However, the City squad consists of 12 defenders, 12 midfielders, 10 strikers and 4 goalkeepers. This is without even glancing at the academy, which includes another five goalkeepers.
The point is that City's squad is massive! They have more than adequate cover in every position, including between the sticks.
The other named goalkeeper at City, Gunnar Nielsen, played the 17 minutes after Given got injured against Arsenal, and did not concede.
Nielsen may look more like the lost member of Abba than a Premier League goalkeeper, but he is more than capable of taking the jersey for the final two games, and if he's not, that's City's fault!
Former boss Mark Hughes worked with the Faroese at Blackburn, where Nielsen failed to break into the first team and subsequently brought him to City, as one of a couple of cheaper players he recruited presumably to prove he wasn't all about the consortium's money.
He is 23, 6 foot 3 and has two full international caps for the Faroe Islands. Is he as good as Shay Given? That is highly unlikely, but is he an adequate short term replacement? Hopefully we will find out on the 5th of May when Spurs travel to Eastlands for what will be the penultimate game of what has been, regardless of finishing fourth or fifth, a fantastic season.
First published on www.ComeOnSpurs.com on 27/4/2010
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