Former Premier League defender Alan Hutton has criticised West Ham goalkeeper for his poor form of late.
The Spaniard committed a howler in a 3-0 defeat to Burnley last weekend, and was arguably at fault for Jonjo Shelvey’s long distance free-kick evading him the week before that too.
And speaking to Football Insider, Hutton pulled no punches in his assessment.
He said: “When he’s been so shaky, your confidence, you’re just thinking: ‘We can’t make a mistake because he’s not going to bail us out. We can’t give away corners because I don’t trust him to come and collect.
“Roberto just doesn’t fill me with confidence at all. It seems the more he plays, the worse he gets.
“Even at Burnley, a crossed ball that I could have caught, he was punching it to the edge of the box. For somebody to have a strike, it does not fill you with confidence. You need somebody commanding at the back and it’s a situation they have to sort quickly.”
OPINION
It’s hard to disagree with Hutton on this one. One error against Newcastle was bad, but these things happen, and it can be all too easy to get on a goalkeeper’s back a lot quicker than you might if a similar mistake had been made by a player in a different position. But taking into account Saturday’s disaster against Burnley, which was honestly about as it can get for a Premier League keeper, you have to question whether Roberto’s head is in the right place for him to carry on between the sticks next time out. He may have averaged five saves per game so far this season, as per Whoscored, but you simply cannot afford to have a keeper whose confidence is so shot starting, especially when you’re on a run as dire as West Ham are at the moment. It’s harsh, but Roberto has to be dropped.
