EPL Talk » Heurelho Gomes

Tottenham Keeper Gomes Denies Man United

James Harris — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:11:11 +0000

Heurelho Gomes has grabbed his share of the headlines this season mostly for reasons that I am sure he and Spurs fans alike would rather not relive. In the first 3 months of the season it seemed a match week did not go by without the White Hart Lane faithful grimacing and groaning at another howler by the Brazilian between the sticks. If there were a goalkeeping nightmare reel compiled for the EPL thus far this season, the Spurs keeper would feature prominently.

To be fair he seems to have improved in recent games but the spotlight was burning bright as Manchester United paid a visit to the Lane for the Saturday evening marquee match of the weekend.

There has been plenty written about the upturn in the fortunes of Tottenham since Redknapp’s arrival but the goalkeeping position remains closely scrutinized in the Spurs quarters of North London. With the improvement in Tottenham’s form and United ominously starting to threaten Liverpool and Chelsea at the top of the table, this game garnered match of the week billing, heading into round 17. The return of Dimitar Berbatov added to the spice and intrigue, although his status appeared questionable until kick-off.

The game, for the most part, lived up to the hype despite the typical appalling weather, and it was played in front of a great atmosphere. Although Spurs had their chances, testing Van Der Sar on more than a couple of occasions, as expected it was the men in red that controlled long periods of the play. The first half was relatively quiet in terms of goal attempts. But Gomes had to be alert when O’Shea drove in a cross around the 6 yard box that even the crescendo of boos could not have prevented Berbatov from tapping in, had it not been for a quick reaction from the Spurs keeper to get down and knock the chance away.

As United drove forward in the second half Gomes rose to the occasion and appeared to gain in confidence as the match progressed. His performance included a good save from a Vidic shot before he tipped over a rasping drive from Ji-Sung Park. He saved his best effort for the dying seconds as he brilliantly turned away a Ryan Giggs free-kick that looked destined to give Fergie’s boys all the points in injury time for consecutive weeks. The only time he was beaten was from a corner that Ronaldo hammered in, correctly ruled out for handball.

Van der Sar, in the United goal, certainly was not the spectator that he was last week at home to Sunderland as Bentley in particular lashed a couple of goal bound efforts that forced the Dutchman into 2 very good saves. The match finished nil-nil due to the goalkeeping performances on both sides. We might be accustomed to such displays from United’s stopper but there is no doubt Gomes stole the show on this occasion and gained his team a valuable point against very tough opposition.

Who knows if this form will continue? Maybe it was a one off and it is just a matter of time before the next howler. But if yesterday’s match was an indication of the Spurs’ keeper’s capabilities, and assuming he can deliver some consistency, then maybe Harry will have less to worry about between the posts at White Hart Lane.

What’s Wrong With This Picture?

The Gaffer — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 08:05:12 +0000

The Daily Mirror focuses on Monday night’s blunder by Heurelho Gomes, but commits a blunder of its own in the headline pictured above. Let’s see how long it takes before the British tabloid fixes the headline.

Tottenham 1-2 Aston Villa: Don’t Blame The Loss On Scapegoat Gomes

The Gaffer — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 05:58:23 +0000

In British newspaper match reports of Aston Villa’s 2-1 away win against Tottenham Hotspur, almost all of the stories lead with sentences similar to this one found in The Sun: “Calamity keeper Heurelho Gomes messed up to leave Spurs rooted at the foot of the table.”

True, yes, but it doesn’t provide a complete accurate picture of what really happened last night at White Hart Lane.

All of the blame should be placed on the players at Tottenham Hotspur, not on the shoulders of Gomes. One blunder by Gomes was the difference in this game, but the scoreline could have easily been 4-1 or even 5-1 to Aston Villa. Spurs were that awful.

The three things most missing from Tottenham are desire, confidence and rhythm. They’re not hungry to win. They look lacklustre when going in for 50/50 balls. They look beaten, partly due to a lack of confidence. And lastly, they’re having a lot of difficulty establishing a rhythm. Three or four passes in a row were a rarity for Spurs last night. Plus, the team weren’t getting into open spaces to provide options for Spurs players to pass to.

Spurs were completely outclassed by Aston Villa who were by far the better team last night. Villa had a much easier time creating goalscoring chances while it seemed like rocket science for Spurs. It was a fantastic team performance by Villa, who passed the ball around with ease and lots of one-touch passes. Plus, Villa had a lot more pace down the wings with Ashley Young and Gabriel Agbonlahor in tremendous form. Gareth Barry was incredible, too. In fact, it’s not fair to the rest of the team to single out just Barry, Young and Agbonlahor. The entire team performance was amazing. If they continue playing like this, they’ll soon be in the top three.

Most football supporters ignore the league tables for the first few weeks of the season. But, after four games, it’s no surprise that Tottenham are bottom. Juande Ramos has a ton of work to do with this team, but the first thing he needs to get them to do is to play with desire. Right now, they look like a confused team with no leader. Jonathan Woodgate was their captain last night, but he’s no John Terry. Spurs needs someone who can command respect and fear. Someone who can single handly change a game by taking control and setting an example for a team to play better.

Luka Modric still hasn’t come to grips with the English game and is making far too many mistakes. Debutant Roman Pavlyuchenko showed glimpses of brilliance but Villa’s defenders did a terrific job of limiting his chances in and around the penalty area.

Don’t forget that the one goal that Spurs scored in this game was a fluke rebound off Darren Bent. The striker had a terrible game with few clearcut chances, but when he did get a chance, he couldn’t score.

Also don’t forget that while the headlines victimize Gomes as the culprit who “lost” Spurs the game, it was Gomes who pulled off several herculean saves to prevent Villa from scoring.

In response to the defeat, Ramos told BBC Sport that “I’m not going to carry out an assessment after one game. Hopefully with calmness and experience we’ll get a positive result.”

To me, Ramos’s response is as passive as his Spurs team. This was another woeful performance from Tottenham. The third of the season thus far (the exception being against Chelsea where they played at a much higher level).

At this rate, with Ramos’s laissez faire atmosphere, Tottenham could be in for a very long season. After playing Wisla Krakow in the UEFA Cup on Thursday, they face a must-win match at home against Wigan on Sunday followed by a trip to Fratton Park to play Portsmouth the week after. Six points from the next two Premier League matches is a must for Juande Ramos. Otherwise, the Tottenham fans will start to turn on him.