Joe Hart: The events of last summer left me distraught

JOE HART admits he was left distraught by his Euro 2016 disaster.

Posted Thursday, October 13, 2016 by Dailystar.co.uk

The England keeper was badly at fault for goals against Wales and Iceland the second of which led to their tournament exit and national hummiliation.

He also suffered the indignity of being dumped by new Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola and ending up in Italy on loan at Torino.

But after embracing his new life in Turin, Hart was back to his absolute best for his country on Tuesday with a string of eye catching saves to deny Slovenia their goalless World Cup qualifier.

It was a far cry from the shellshocked 29-year-old who returned from France in July, having been beaten from 30 yards by Gareth Bale and failed to stop Icelander Kolbeinn Sigthorsson’s tame effort in England’s 2-1 humbling.

"The summer was difficult,” he said. “I am gutted about how the summer went but it has gone now. Football moves quickly.

"I have done the same when I have won things, including the league. You have got to move on.

"And you have got to keep fighting. I will continue to keep fighting for my country. I cherish every moment I play and long may that continue.”

Interim boss Gareth Southgate made a point after Hart’s Slovenia heroics of stressing he plays at his peak when he stays calm, addressing concerns he becomes too hyped-up before games.

"I don’t know,” he said. “I would have loved to have saved the two shots that I should have saved but they are gone.

"I am going to try and rectify that by being in a good place. As a goalkeeper, you can’t chase situations. Saturday against Malta, I didn’t have anything to do.

Joe Hart: The events of last summer left me distraught
UPSET: Joe Hart was affected by his Euro 2016 blunders

"Against Slovenia, I did. You have got to let the ball come to you as a keeper. I am trying to grow and I am trying to improve every single day.

"The main objective is to qualify for Russia and that is what we are dying to do. If we had won and had three out of three, that would have been great.

"But this is our situation - seven points, three clean sheets and we are top of the group. Our objective is getting to Russia. There is nothing else we can achieve other than that.”

Hart injured his shoulder making a wonder save from Jasmin Kurtic, first tipping the ball onto the bar with one hand, then clawing away to safety with the other, hitting.

He crashed into the goal-frame for good measure and said: “I just love diving around in goal.

"Being able to do it for my country is amazing and I remind myself of it every single time I pull on an England shirt.

"Sometimes you will take a whack but I will do anything to keep the ball out of the net. They hurt but we get up and get on with it.”

Hart, who has skippered England in the past, insists he has no problem with Southgate handing the armband to Jordan Henderson, with regular captain Wayne Rooney on the bench in Ljubljana.

He is full of praise for Southgate, who said he had inherited a mess after Sam Allardyce was axed.

"It has been a really tough situation but you wouldn’t be able to tell that,” said Hart.

"He is a polite, interesting man but it is nice to get to know him and you can see he has grown as a manager. He has really tried hard to give us his identity.

"He believes in us. Even if he didn’t before he took over the reins, I think he has seen how we work, how we train and how we are around the hotel that we are giving all we have got.”