Tottenham Hotspur had three renowned goalkeepers: Gomez, Friedel, and Cudicini.
There was a tradition in professional football: people liked to judge a player's importance within the team by his shirt number.
Certain highly significant numbers were never handed out lightly, such as number ten, number eight, number four, and number one.
The number-one shirt was the standard issue for the starting goalkeeper. Anyone who wore it was invariably the goalkeeper most valued by the head coach.
To be more precise, that should be judged at the time the squad numbers were submitted.
Man City's number one was England international Joe Hart. That proved he had indeed been the club's starting goalkeeper at the time. But over the course of the season, his position was challenged by the youngster Courtois through their performances. Hart gradually lost his place and had now completely fallen to the status of Courtois's backup.
Tottenham Hotspur was in much the same situation.
Gomez wore the number-one shirt, while Cudicini had always been the team's backup goalkeeper, wearing number twenty-three.
That had been Tottenham Hotspur's regular setup over the past two or three years. But at the start of the season, Brazilian goalkeeper Gomez's performances had consistently failed to satisfy. He had made too many mistakes, and Redknapp had lost faith in him. So he brought in American goalkeeper Friedel on a free transfer from Aston Villa.
Friedel was a renowned Premier League goalkeeper. From Blackburn to Aston Villa, he had always performed exceptionally well.
Redknapp brought in Friedel and gave him the number twenty-four shirt. This put pressure on the former backup goalkeeper, Cudicini, who was already thirty-eight years old.
Having been tempered by many powerhouse clubs, including AC Milan, Lazio, and Chelsea, Cudicini had developed his own way of surviving. That allowed him to preserve