Many Celtic supporters have today been thanking Joe Hart for keeping the scoreline at Livingston from being a total embarrassment.
Hart was in between the sticks for the Hoops’ 1-0 loss at the Tony Macaroni Arena this afternoon. Unsurprisingly, he proved himself to be reliable when called upon.
The experienced Englishman made a superb reaction stop in the first half. He then made another smart low stop from Alan Forrest late on which could’ve saw Livi double their advantage.
In the end, zero points is zero points. But Hart certainly didn’t deserve to be on the losing side. He produced another top performance with a ropey backline in front of him. Again, he’s fully justifying the decision from Ange Postecoglou to sign him in the first place.
You could also argue that Cameron Carter-Vickers had a decent display at the heart of the Hoops backline too. However, in a day of low-level performances, it was Hart who took a shred of credit from the game.
Joe Hart again solidifies himself as Celtic number one on disappointing day
Look, it’s not something the Englishman will be jumping up and down celebrating. As much as he’ll likely appreciate kind comments from the support, he’ll feel just as much of a failure today as the rest of his teammates.
But he can certainly hold his head high. If it wasn’t for him, goodness knows what kind of embarrassing result we would’ve been on the end of. If we had Scott Bain or Vasilis Barkas in goal for example, would we still have only lost 1-0?
In truth, Hart probably doesn’t have the clean sheet record he would like in Glasgow. So far in his 11 Celtic appearances, the former Manchester City title-winner has kept five clean sheets and conceded 12 goals. Yet we all know why that is, and the responsibility doesn’t sit on his shoulders.
If Celtic can get a settled and confident backline in front of Hart, we’re on to a winner. It’s clear he has the confidence and authority to be a Celtic number one. But so long as we have a nervy backline in front of him, his affect on the team will be minimised.
In any case, the Celtic support have thanked him for his display today, and you can see some of the responses below:
In other news, Ange Postecoglou addresses why Liam Scales didn’t play for Celtic today
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