Sean Dyche thinks Joe Hart’s performances for Burnley have shown the goalkeeper is “in a good place”.
Hart joined the club from Manchester City over the summer having spent the previous two seasons on loan at Torino and then West Ham.
The loan with the Hammers last term saw him lose his place in the team, and he subsequently missed out on selection for England’s World Cup squad.
This season the 31-year-old has produced some fine work as Burnley’s first-choice stopper.
In the last two games he has conceded nine times – the Clarets losing 5-0 at City and 4-0 against Chelsea – but also pulled off a number of impressive saves.
And he is now set to go up against West Ham, with Burnley visiting the London Stadium on Saturday.
When asked ahead of the contest about the difficult time Hart had at West Ham and if he sensed the player was now back on track, Burnley boss Dyche said: “I don’t think you need to sense it, I think you just look at his performances. He looks in a good place.
“I think he’s enjoying the challenge here. I think he knows there’s a group who will work in front of him, a group who will give everything. I’m not suggesting others don’t by the way, I’m just saying he knows he’s got that, and there is an honesty to the people who are working in front of him.
“I think as a keeper, as long as there’s organisation, honesty and desire from the people in front of you, it gives you a chance to make the saves that you need to make, and I think he’s enjoyed that aspect.
“I’m not saying he didn’t have that anywhere else, I’m just saying here, I think he has got that and I think he’s shown from his performances he is willing to work with that, and long may it continue.”
Dyche said he was “not really” surprised by the level of performance from Hart.
“There’s no guarantees, but he’s not the first player this environment has allowed to shine a little bit,” Dyche said.
“There’s players that we brought in who other people didn’t want and they’ve flourished.
“So I’m not surprised that it’s a good place for him to come in and get on with what he wants to do, but you can never guarantee it.
“A lot of credit goes down to the players when they come in here. We can only offer and align them with what we think is correct, it’s for them to take it on and run with it. But he’s going along nicely.”
Dyche also spoke about the discussions that were had with Hart ahead of him signing on a two-year deal.
“He was very open, very honest,” the manager said.
“It was one of the most refreshingly simple, clean conversations – him, and his agent, a pleasure to deal with.
“And that was the only thing where he said ‘look, I really need that’ – (he said) ‘I need a base, somewhere I can go in and be part of, work hard for’.
“It was about being actually part of a group, and he has done that.”
