Manchester city midfielder James Milner has said that the goalkeeper Joe Hart is a victim of his own success. The England goalkeeper has come under severe criticism in the last few months following poor form with his club. He came through the ranks at Manchester city and he has established himself as one of the top goalkeepers in England in a short period of time. Hart has been making a number of errors in pre-season, and it once again came up to the fore during the opening away Premier league match against Cardiff city.

City suffered a shock 3-2 defeat against the newly promoted club after winning the opening match of the season. Milner, though, has backed his England teammate by saying that he still remains confident in the quality of the 26-year-old. He has been picked for the national team squad that will play against Moldova and Ukraine in key World Cup qualifying matches. England certainly not in these two matches in order to stay in touch with the likes of Montenegro at the top of the table. Only the winner of the group will qualify for the World Cup automatically, and England do not want to play in a play-off against a top team.

“He knows what comes with being England’s No1. With Manchester City and England you get to the top and you’re there to be shot down. People talk less about the good things you do because they’re expected and more about the mistakes you make. He’s a victim of his own success because of how good he’s been and how quickly he’s become England’s No1 and playing for Manchester City. People said he had a poorer season last season but he won the Golden Glove,” said Milner ahead of the international round of matches starting with the Moldova match.

England recently parted ways with Stuart Pearce as the under 21 team manager after a run of poor results in the last three years at a time when a lot of progress was expected from the young team. The English FA have been searching for a replacement for the last few weeks. In the meantime, the team was scheduled to play against Scotland in the second week of August. The English FA have decided to ask manager Roy Hodgson to be in charge of the team for this one match, and this offer has been gladly accepted by the former Liverpool and West Brom manager.

England lost all three matches at the recent Euro under 21 championship, and were knocked out of the competition in the most disappointing manner. As a result, the English FA decided not to extend the contract of former Manchester city manager Stuart Pearce. Incidentally, the England senior team will also be playing on the same day, and it is learnt that Hodgson will be back at Wembley to take charge of the senior team as usual. The senior team will also be playing against Scotland. A number of candidates have been linked with the role in the last few weeks.

Former Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate and former Blackpool manager Michael Appleton are some of the names mentioned.

“There is an opportunity while the recruitment process goes on to work with this squad and it is something I very much wanted to do. I watch the under-21 fixtures and I was in Israel for the European Championship but, as a coach, nothing can beat the training field and the team hotel for getting to know players properly. In a World Cup year it makes absolute sense while there is the chance to do it,” said Hodgson.