Antonio Conte believes Heung-min Son ‘tried to give everything’ during Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat to Manchester United on Saturday.
Spurs’ volatile run of recent form continued at Old Trafford as Cristiano Ronaldo’s hat-trick was enough to send the visitors home empty-handed.
The Portuguese forward took advantage of some lapse defending from Conte’s men with the visitors conceding crucial points to fellow top-four hopefuls.
Despite the result, Spurs did manage to carve out a number of good chances against United but lacked the quality in the final third to really make things count.
South Korean winger Son particularly endured a frustrating evening and struggled to inspire his side to victory alongside in-form duo Harry Kane and Dejan Kulusevski.
Conte, when quizzed on Son’s disappointing display, reiterated the 29-year-old’s importance to the team while explaining any criticism falls on the squad as a whole over the individual.
When it was put to him that Son looks as though he is lacking in confidence, Conte said (via Football.London): “It’s difficult to speak about single players because in the last game against Everton he was devastating, Sonny.
“I think that we win with the whole team and we lose with the whole team. For sure we have players that for us that are very important.
“There are a couple of players that are very, very important to us and we need to always have good performances but Sonny and I think he played a good game to give everything tonight.
“Then there are games that everything goes well and others where you can slip. Tonight, he slipped twice! He slipped twice and it was a pity because it was in two important situations where you can go towards the goal.
“Sonny is a really important player for us and he’s a player that can make a difference for Tottenham.”
Spurs will be vowing to bounce back from defeat on Wednesday evening when they travel to face Brighton at the Amex Stadium.
Spurs Web Opinion
Son was one of the more disappointing players against United, but he was definitely not the only one to struggle.
He has played so well for Spurs, particularly in recent seasons, so it is expected that he will not always be able to perform at the level he has set.
For all we know he could be struggling with some sort of fatigue that is affecting his performances, so hopefully this is just a blip he needs to snap out of.