JOE HART is over-rated and should no longer be considered an automatic selection for England, according to former goalkeeping great Peter Shilton.
Hart, who will make his Torino debut at the weekend after moving on loan to the Serie A club following the loss of his place at Manchester City, has been England’s first choice since 2010.
But Shilton, England’s most capped player, has advised manager Sam Allardyce to widen his goalkeeping options.
"I’ve never felt he is as good as a lot of people thought he was,” he said.
"Obviously he’s a good keeper but although he has great games, a keeper is judged by the amount of mistakes he makes and those have happened right through his career. In the Euros he made two mistakes in three games.
"What I don’t understand about Joe is that he has 60-odd caps and yet people were saying he was getting too wound up before games in the Euros. If you don’t know what you’re doing after 60 caps, there is something wrong. I thought he was too wound up but apparently that is his style.
"He’s under pressure now and he’s come back to the pack. Joe was always looked upon as the No1 but now there is competition.
"It’s all to play for now. It’s up to the other keepers to make the shirt theirs.
"You need three or four keepers to choose from and then Sam makes his choice from there and stands or falls by it.”
Fit alternatives are thin on the ground with Stoke’s Jack Butland undergoing ankle surgery this week and Fraser Forster dropping out of the squad to face Slovakia last week with an arm injury.
But, when restored, they and Burnley’s Tom Heaton will have the advantage of playing under Allardyce’s nose in the Premier League – unlike Hart.
Peter Shilton has blasted England goalkeeper Joe Hart
"The Man City thing is unfortunate for him,” said Shilton. “The manager has his opinion and Joe just has to take it on the chin and try to re-establish himself. It’s not the end of the world but it’s going to be a real challenge for him to play in the Italian League.”
Hart was a virtual spectator in England’s first game under Allardyce but the 1-0 win over Slovakia did not enthuse Shilton.
"I was a bit disappointed with the team selection and I was even more disappointed with the way we played throughout the game,” he said.
"I just didn’t see anything new in terms of breaking the opposition defence down. It didn’t seem any different to the Euros. I couldn’t see anything different that Sam had done to change it.
"Maybe given time he will develop it a bit more but I didn’t see us as a unit knowing what we trying to do. It was all off the cuff.”
Shilton also feels it is time for England captain Wayne Rooney to stand aside.
"I’ve been a massive Rooney fan throughout his career but there comes a point when that little bit of edge isn’t there any more and that’s what I feel about Wayne,” he said.
"I have to emphasise this is nothing to do with my caps record but he didn’t set the Euros alight and I’m surprised he’s talking about another two years. It seems a very strange thing to say.
"I was disappointed in Wayne’s leadership as skipper in the Iceland match. I never saw him leading anything. If he couldn’t do it in that game is he going to be able to do it in the next two years?
"And I just don’t think he is a midfield player at international level. His position is striker. It always has been and always will be. He’s never been a midfield player.”
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