Paul Merson: Joe Hart absence from Premier League is 'crazy'
Tuesday 13 December 2016 12:21, UK
Paul Merson says it is "crazy" that Joe Hart is playing abroad while Loris Karius and Claudio Bravo struggle to adapt to the Premier League.
Both Liverpool goalkeeper Karius and Manchester City's Bravo have come in for criticism following recent performances.
Bravo was signed by Pep Guardiola in the summer to replace England No 1 Hart, who is on a season-long loan with Torino.
But Sky Sports pundit Merson said: "This is what does my head in about Premier League football sometimes. We worry that England are not very good as a team and don't have a lot of kids coming through and all that, but our best goalkeeper by a million miles is having to play in Italy because he has no club.
"And we have two goalies at Man City and Liverpool - two of the top four teams in the country - who couldn't lace his boots.
"What chance do we have? It's crazy, it's an absolute joke. Our best goalkeeper has to play abroad to get a game. And we have two goalkeepers in the top four who can't catch a cold."
With Karius and Bravo looking unconvincing in recent weeks, Liverpool and City have slipped off the pace in the Premier League.
And Merson added: "This is the problem with Man City and Liverpool, they have goalkeepers who will lose them points, not win them points. To win the Premier League you need goalkeepers who are going to win you points.
"You look at Chelsea and Arsenal and you would have to fancy them because of the goalkeepers."
Having come in for criticism from Sky Sports pundits Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher for his display in Liverpool's 4-3 defeat at Bournemouth, Karius responded last week during an interview.
The summer signing accepted Carragher's verdict, but dismissed the comments made by Neville.
"Karius has to get his head down," said Merson. "Don't worry about what people say on the TV, that's our job, to give an honest opinion of what we think. If he saves three penalties next week, everybody will be saying how great he is.
"When I was watching on Sunday against West Ham, I was thinking 'if [Dimitri] Payet just chips this free-kick over the wall then it's a goal'. It was unbelievable, I was thinking 'what are you doing?'.
"It went nowhere near the corner, he pushed it near the corner to make it look decent. Just go and do your job, don't worry about what people are saying."
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