Under-fire keeper Joe Hart dropped by Manchester City for clash with Norwich

STILL no love for Joe Hart, City manager Manuel Pellegrini dropping the under-fire goalkeeper for their clash with Norwich.

ENGLAND goalkeeper Joe Hart has paid the price for a series of recent mistakes by being dropped by Manchester City for Saturday's home game against Norwich City.

City manager Manuel Pellegrini broke the news to Hart directly on Friday, explaining that he thought it was time for a change in goal.

Romania keeper Costel Pantilimon will deputise against Norwich after keeping a clean sheet in midweek against Newcastle in the Capital One Cup.

Although disappointed by the decision, Hart appreciated Pellegrini for explaining man to man and he has a much better relationship with the Chilean than previous manager Roberto Mancini.

However Hart, 26, did not feel mentally affected by criticism for rushing out of his goal in the final minute at Chelsea last Sunday, which allowed Fernando Torres to score the winning goal after Hart's mix-up with defender Nastasic.

Hart has been encouraged by City's coaches this season to come and collect long balls as Pellegrini tries to play a higher defensive line.

In recent weeks he has also been blamed for mistakes against Bayern Munich and Cardiff City and for England against Scotland.

But he also played a starring role in England's World Cup qualification, making a decisive save to deny Poland's Robert Lewandowski in England's final qualifier.

Hart's absence means City will play without any English players in their starting XI on Saturday, with Joleon Lescott and James Milner joining Hart on the subs.

Hart faced an anxious wait to discover if he would be in action this weekend after Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini refused to give his under-fire goalkeeper a vote of confidence on Friday.

Pellegrini kept his cards close to his chest when asked Friday if Hart would play against the Canaries.

"Tomorrow (Saturday) you will know the answer," the manager replied.

Pressed on whether it was a difficult decision, Pellegrini said: "It is a decision I have to take every week with 22 players."

A gutted Hart leaves the pitch after his mistake during Chelsea game.

And he was equally unforthcoming when asked how Hart had reacted to missing the Newcastle match.

"You must ask Joe - I can't answer for him how disappointed he was," Pellegrini, whose side are now six points behind leaders Arsenal, said.

"All of you and the players and me all saw what happened. But he is a football player and every week he is under the same pressure."

He added: "I am always very careful with all the players, not only Joe."

Meanwhile former England goalkeeper Ray Clemence said what Hart needed more than anything now was the support of club and country.

"Joe Hart is the best goalkeeper England have got at this moment, but he is going through a difficult time," Clemence told Talksport Radio.

"And I'm pretty sure he would be the first to admit that. We all go through bad times and you need people to stand by you and have confidence in you," the Liverpool great added.

Clemence, who recently stepped down from his position as England goalkeeping coach, highlighted the cases of Paul Robinson and Scott Carson, both widely criticised for errors while on international duty, as precedents to be avoided when criticising Hart.

"What we have to be careful of, and we're terrible for it in this country, is getting on somebody's back and destroying their confidence," Clemence said.

"I've seen it happen to Paul Robinson when that ball bounced over his foot in Croatia, and Scott Carson was never forgiven for the Croatia game at Wembley (a defeat in 2007 which meant England failed to qualify the 2008 European Championships).

"It just affects them and some don't recover from it. I don't want to see that happen to Joe," Clemence said.