Players returning to their old clubs often face abuse from fans that once adored them. If Paul Robinson had such fears when Blackburn cam to White Hart Lane last November, he needn’t have worried; he was given a fine reception. Even though he had lost confidence and form towards the end of his Spurs career, he quickly won and kept the trust of Paul Ince, who signed him for Blackburn Rovers. “He was outstanding,” said Ince. He came here today and I said to him, ‘you haven’t got to prove a point.’ He’s one of the best goalkeepers in the Premiership. I know that. He was excellent today and as I say he’ll get better and better and better.”

Meanwhile, the Brasilian shot-stopper Heurelho Gomes was acquiring a reputation for making mistakes and his confidence was low. Both keepers were treated well by the fans, especially those of Spurs. Gomes made an error early, but it wasn’t costly. A string of errors, including a particularly bad one against Fulham, which affected Gomes’ confidence and cost Harry Redknapp his unbeaten record as Spurs manager. I also resulted in the sacking of Austrian goalkeeping coach Hans Leitert, who was replaced by the much-travelled former keeper Tony Parkes. “It’s important he got a clean sheet said Redknapp, who claims to rate the former PSV Eindhoven keeper highly. “Tony Parkes has come in and worked with him, really spent time talking to him, trying to encourage him and get him to do some good work on the training ground. Guus Hiddink’s not a fool; he’s worked with him and he was telling us that he’s one of the best goalies in the world. I think his confidence is low.”

So has Gomes allowed his loss of form to affect his confidence? “I don’t know,” said Redknapp, “I think maybe he’s had a difficult time and then the crowd suddenly go ‘Woahhhh,’ it can’t help you can it? They don’t need to do it and they don’t realise the effect that it probably has on someone. It’s a lonely position that goalkeeping one. If you make a mistake, it’s not like anywhere else on the pitch.”

And what about the reception that Robinson received on his first return to Spurs? “It was difficult for the boy seeing the welcome Robinson got, so it’s not easy, but he came through okay and had a clean sheet today.” But Redknapp was being unduly harsh on Spurs’ fans, which were gracious to Robinson and supportive of Gomes. It was the Blackburn fans who were taunting Gomes; Spurs supporters gave him several choruses of ‘We love you Gomes, we do,” and he responded by waving to them.

Both keepers were treated well by the crowd, but despite his public show of confidence in Gomes, Redknapp does not seem entirely convinced. He refused to rule out signing goalkeeping cover. César Sánchez Domínguez joined Spurs from Real Saragossa in the summer, but despite the loss of form and confidence of Gomes, he could not displace the Brasilian and returned to Spain to play for Valencia, whose first choice keeper Renan Brito Soares is currently injured. Meanwhile, Redknapp swooped in the January transfer window to sign Carlo Cudicini, Chelsea’s loyal deputy to Petr Čech, which will put pressure on Gomes to perform. He remains Tottenham’s first choice keeper, but Cudicini will push him hard, believing that he can win the number one position after years in the shadow of Čech.

by Satish Sekar © Satish Sekar (February 13th 2009)