Guardiola made a great mistake replacing Hart with Bravo – Peter Reid

7 years ago

Guardiola made a great mistake replacing Hart with Bravo – Peter Reid

Former Manchester City player-coach, Peter Reid believes new manager, Pep Guardiola, made a mistake in replacing Joe Hart with the Claudio Bravo.

He said his former club still need to sign a new goalkeeper.

Guardiola quickly made it clear that Hart was not suited to the style of football he is trying to implement at the Etihad Stadium, and brought in Bravo from Barcelona before sending the England No.1 out on loan to Torino.

The Chilean has had a couple of shaky moments during his time at City so far – most notably in his debut in the Manchester derby and with his red card at Camp Nou – but his generally calm use of the ball has contributed to the build-up play that Guardiola demands.

But Reid agrees with the many Man City fans who believe Hart is a better goalkeeper and should still be No.1.

“It’s been well documented that he wants Bravo to come out and play from the back, but I think Joe Hart is a better goalkeeper than Bravo, and has got better feet,” Reid told Goal .

“It’s just a matter of what football’s like, it’s about opinions. I don’t agree with Pep on this one but he’s got a great record, so time will tell if he’ll be right on the goalkeeping one, but certainly I think it’s a mistake.”

“Let’s put it this way, if you look at teams who win big trophies, and you look at the goalkeeper, you look at [Manuel] Neuer, you look at [Peter] Schmeichel, [Edwin] Van der Sar, you look at [Petr] Cech, I don’t see that at Manchester City.

“I think you’ve got to have a top-class keeper and for me he’s a very good keeper, but he’s not a top one.”

Reid does believe City are doing well under the Spaniard and has been impressed with their attacking play, but is yet to be convinced by the Blues’ defending, and says they still need several new signings – including a replacement for Bravo.

“He likes to press and get the ball back early and he likes to go and play. I’m still not convinced about them defensively at this moment in time but certainly the attacking brand of play is really exciting.

“But I think they need three or four signings to be honest.

“If he doesn’t fancy Hart I think he’s got to get a better goalkeeper, I think [John] Stones has got all the attributes but I think he needs another centre-half in there.

“I still think he needs another striker to go with Aguero, and I still think he needs another attacking midfield player who can go past people, to go with [David] Silva and [Kevin] De Bruyne.”