Time for Spurs to rule with their head not their heart?

There was no shame in Tottenham exiting the Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid, but there is one Spurs player who will be extremely embarrassed. Not for the first time, Tottenham Heurelho Gomes made a horrendous mistake to let Cristiano Ronaldo’s strike pass him into the back of the net at White Hart Lane, to follow up the howler he made against the same player’s shot in the Bernabeu. All goalkeepers make high-profile mistakes now and again, but Gomes is more prone to them than most, so should Harry Redknapp be looking for a new number one in the summer?

Heurelho Gomes is something of a cult hero at White Hart Lane. Since joining Tottenham in 2008, the Brazilian goalkeeper has won over a number of Spurs fans after an extremely shaky start in the Premier League. His errors have become less frequent, but this last week has shown that he hasn’t been able to eradicate them and a huge grown still goes around the Lane whenever he decides to punch when clearly he could have caught the ball. But for all his faults, are Tottenham fans still willing to take the risk with Gomes?

The 30-year-old has been honest enough to say that “this was not my first mistake and I know it will not be the last one in my career.” No goalkeeper will ever be error-free, but ‘keepers are judged on how rare they can make those unfortunate occurrences. Gomes went on to say “I need to show character like I did before”, an attribute the goalkeeper has bags of and one reason why Spurs fans have such a soft spot for him.

I have a feeling Redknapp’s patience in his number one may be wearing a little thin, but Gomes still has until the end of the season to prove to Harry that he’s the man for Tottenham in between the sticks for many years to come. If he doesn’t he might just be on his way in the summer, with bet365 spokesman Steve Freeth saying “Gomes’ performance at the Bernabeu got brushed under the carpet after the other goings-on in the first leg, but his showing at White Hart Lane on Wednesday may test Harry Redknapp’s patience.”

In my opinion Heurelho Gomes is a good goalkeeper, but can’t become a great one with him being as susceptible to errors as frequently as he currently is. In their hearts Spurs fans will want him to stay, but their heads might just be telling a different story. In the summer it will be interesting to see whether Redknapp’s head rules his heart, if it does then odds of 5/6 with bet365 on Gomes not to start Tottenham’s first game of the 2011/12 Premier League campaign might just be worth taking. Will it be a case of White Hart pain for Heurelho Gomes or will Tottenham’s cult hero come back stronger than ever?