There’s something sad about Pep Guardiola dropping Joe Hart

There is something terribly raw about the dropping of a goalkeeper.

A first-choice goalkeeper is, after all, Number One. Not just in a practical, traditional, shirt-numbering sense, but with all the associated implications of preeminence, of seniority. Even in these times of bloated squads and widespread player rotation, the vast majority of football clubs have their goalkeeper, and then their back-up goalkeeper, to the extent that being a back-up goalkeeper has become something of a way of life for a lucky few.

There are, of course, a few clubs that go in for cup goalkeepers. But it seems clear that in many cases this is simply a ruse to get away with having a back-up keeper slightly better than would normally be possible, and as such an offence against the natural order of things. And sometimes it simply serves to drive home the hierarchy, particularly when the final rolls around and the cup keeper suddenly finds themselves sat back on the bench.

Then again, he might not. Caballero started the first game of the Premier League against Sunderland, while Hart watched from the bench. And unlike most other footballers, where non-appearances can be rationalized away, the dropping of a goalkeeper is a resonant and telling thing. A very different kind of clanger, if you like.

Guardiola hasn’t explained his decision — beyond noting, helpfully, “I have a squad and I decide what I see” — but the general consensus seems to be that Hart, as a keeper, hasn’t got enough “sweeper-” attached for his new manager’s liking. Certainly, Caballero spent a fair amount of time outside his box and playing football on Saturday night; what will have worried Hart is that his rival didn’t look particularly good at it. Guardiola’s previous teams have been anchored by Victor Valdes and Manuel Neuer, and Caballero, for all that he seems willing to give it a go, isn’t quite in that lineage. He looked, frankly, like a backup goalkeeper.

Which is what makes this a brutal decision on Guardiola’s part. The implication here is that if Hart is behind the number two, then he’s the number three, which is a jarring thought. Goalkeepers, when they’re assured in their position, have a presence about them, an aura of assertion and righteous ownership, and Hart, with his ostentatious, chest-thumping swagger, often took that to parodic levels. This, in part, is why he looked so silly every time he made a mistake. And this is why the sight of him sitting on a bench, watching the game pass him by, was oddly affecting. The king, deposed; the hero, humbled; the Big I Am struggling with the notion that he might, in fact, not be. The very embodiment of life coming at you fast.

Historically, this rarely ends well for the goalkeeper involved. Alex Ferguson’s strange season of dropping first Tim Howard and then Roy Carroll, whenever one or other made a mistake, did nothing beyond establishing that he didn’t really rate either of them and that he needed to buy Edwin van der Sar. And while José Mourinho’s defenestration of Iker Casillas was perhaps as motivated as much by dressing room politics and his own simmering vendettas, he was right about the Real Madrid legend’s declining utility. Not long later, Casillas had moved on from the club and been dropped by his country. Maybe Hart will find his way back into Guardiola’s affections, but it would be a surprise.

The rumor mill is already turning. There are suggestions that his England place may not be safe, and that one of Barcelona’s Claudio Bravo or Sporting’s Rui Patricio may take Hart’s place. Hart, in turn, may move onto Everton, a move which certainly seems to make sense. Goalkeepers have long careers, and Hart is a mere 29 years old. He’s also a very good keeper. Maybe not quite good enough with his feet for City, maybe not quite reliable enough to be irreplaceable at the very highest level, but generally competent and capable of brilliance. He’ll be back, along with his swagger; and if that swagger is, in future, ever-so-slightly inhibited by his dethronement, then so much the more interesting for the rest of us.