In a Sunday times interview Shay Given had this to say, although he never said he wishes to leave the Club, He does needs to play. City fans cant really argue here we all know shay is far to good of a keeper to warm the bench and isn’t fair to ask him to do so with the European qualifiers coming up . Here’s a few of the quotes taken from the interview.
“It’s very, very frustrating. I know it doesn’t matter what I do on the training pitch, I won’t be playing at the weekend. If I’m flying around like Clark Kent in goals, I still won’t play on Saturday. That can be demoralising,”
“We’ll see what happens come January and hopefully if the situation’s the same I can go on loan and try and get some games in.”
“I’ve never said I want to leave Man City. I believe it’s a big club that in the next couple of years is going to do big things. I want to be part of that but I also want to be playing football.
“I wouldn’t mind where a loan was and wouldn’t rule out abroad if it was a good club and a good team, no disrespect to a club that’s fighting relegation and getting pummelled every week, though at the minute that probably seems better than what I’m doing.”
I honestly feel for Shay at present with the return of Joe Hart it has been a battle and a half to pick the first choice keeper. Mancini’s decision was in fairness properly based on the subconscious. There is not a lot to separate these two goalies in talent and the ability to read the game however, On Thursday night Joe Hart was forced to make a hard dive save to left of goal forcing him his left arm outstretched and hitting the ground hard. Just like the one that caused the damage to Given’s shoulder and the end of last season I firmly believe that sometimes in situations like this subconsciously you aware of the danger from the first time round forcing a less hard reaction. This is no reflection on Shay and I’m certainly not saying he is not commited on the pitch 100% but in situations like this the subconscious can be a factor unbeknown to the player. The manager and coaches on the other hand, its their job and are well paid to spot these things.
