Cristian Stellini has insisted that the coaching staff had no doubts about how Son Heung-min would respond to being left on the bench, revealing that the decision was taken due to the South Korean’s heavy workload over recent months.
Son’s form has left a lot to be desired for much of the season but the coaching staff at Tottenham have continued to back the forward, which is why it came as a surprise when Richarlison started in his place for the clash against West Ham.
The 30-year-old replaced the Brazilian on 68 minutes and made an instant impact, getting on the end of Harry Kane’s through ball to double the home side’s lead just minutes later.
That means that Son has now scored four of his five Premier League goals this season as a substitute, and Stellini explained that the plan was to bring the forward on against tired legs.
Tottenham’s assistant first-team coach told Football.London following his side’s 2-0 win over West Ham: “We know that Sonny’s response would be perfect because Sonny is a perfect guy. But after the World Cup, sometimes it happens that the player is not fit 100 per cent.
“In that moment, you have to take a decision and it is difficult with a player like Sonny to drop them, but you have to do it because we have a lot of matches.
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“The risk is you lose a player for a long time and we don’t want to do it. We want to use Sonny in the right way. Now we had Richarlison back 100 per cent fit and we pick the team to play this type of game. The plan was clear.
“We had to fight in the first half and when they stretch the team and we have more space, we can use players like Sonny and players to attack the space.”
Stellini seemingly hinted that Son himself had admitted that he was a bit fatigued ahead of the clash on Sunday.
When asked if it was a confidence issue with the 30-year-old or a matter of fitness, the Italian responded: “No, the confidence is 100 per cent, it is physically that he needs to recover.
“When he plays five games in a row, sometimes you can feel tired and you can feel something is not perfect. It is important for us that the player is mature enough to say this. It is important because you can’t manage the performance of 11 players.
“If you have 11 100 per cent, it is better to have seven and three that are not performing well but you need that they are mature and they speak with us. Sonny in this case was perfect during the week but now we have time to manage him to play the next step with six games in 14 days.”
Spurs Web Opinion
The whole point of spending £60m-plus on Richarlison last summer was so that the Brazilian can take some of the workload off players like Son. All of our squad players are going to have important roles to play over the coming weeks and months, with Spurs still competing on three fronts.
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